Filmmaker Abhishek Kapoor wasn’t much of a reader until he came across Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations which he recently adapted into Fitoor. He shared with TEAM VIVA about shooting in the paradise of Kashmir and the importance for a film to have its own identity
Tell us about your inspiration for Fitoor.
I read Great Expectations in my younger days and it stayed with me. I’m not much of an avid reader but I just chanced upon this book. I watched the seven films based on the book as well. But while making my own, I interpreted it my way. It consumed me completely. After Aryan, Rock On!! and then Kai Po Che, which revolved around the theme of friendship, albeit against different social backdrops and varied treatment. I wanted to get into a new space. I realised I had never tackled love as an emotion and the crux of a film. This book (Great Expectations) had a lot of complexities in it. It had some wonderful characters, each of whom is in a tumultuous relationship with the other and each of whom has had individual experiences of love. I thought it would be a wholesome experience to translate that onscreen.
Which character has had the most impact on you as a filmmakerIJ
It has to be Ms Havisham’s character. It is she who is the most tormented. For me, she is a very vulnerable woman who has been through a lot. I see no point taking from material where you can’t add value. I felt I could bring something more to this character. If, for example, you tell me a person is mad, that is not enough for me. You’ll probably find that humorous and the person would become a caricature. You will be laughing at that madness but if you get into the person’s head, you understand where all that madness comes from. You realise that the person is not well and sympathise with that character. I tried to get into the character’s head and that has been my deepest journey in this film. Even Noor (Aditya Roy Kapur) and Firdaus (Katrina Kaif) are important characters and it is a love story relatable to today’s people. They are repercussions of Ms Havisham’s experiences.
Why did you choose KashmirIJ Did you want it to be a metaphorIJ
As a kid, I used to watch these beautiful films shot in Kashmir. For a while that stopped and people started shooting in Himachal Pradesh and Switzerland. But they didn’t have the romance that Kashmir brings in. If you’ve been to Kashmir, you’ll see that it is a place stuck in time. And nostalgia. The story is also about childhood love. In that one or two seasons, there was something which cemented and had a lasting impression on this boy (Noor). Somewhere the location and the story marry each other very beautifully. That was the first step and then you bring all the elements of the backdrop into the film like the beautiful chinar trees and where this house is set.
Did you recreate it or went to an actual setIJ
We built the entire house. We shot at Nishat Bagh where there are no houses and at Dal lake. We shot in winter and during fall, so we’ve captured the different seasons of Kashmir and love. Kashmir is beautiful but you don’t need to go everywhere to shoot. You can find one beautiful space and integrate it into the film so that it becomes part of your narrative.
Unlike your earlier films, Fitoor has a lot of digital imprint. Did you use a lot of effectsIJ
Not really. Everything was shot live. The styling is different from my earlier films because it is a totally different story. A story would tell us how we should treat it. It is not about how I want to shoot a film or what’s my style. It is a little too narcissistic for a filmmaker to have his own chaap (mark) to be noticed. I tried my best to hide and not be visible so that the film has its own identity. I would like to be known as someone who can do versatile work.
How much time did you take for castingIJ You shot with Rekha for Miss Havisham’s character but that didn’t work out. Can you set the record straight once and for allIJ
I reached out to Tabu first when I began working on this project three years ago. We’ve known each other for so many years now. We talked about how her hair would be and the type of sunglasses she would wear. But she didn’t have time at that point.
You don’t cast one person in isolation but cast the main characters together because you need to suss out their dynamics. So when Tabu was out, we got in Rekha ji. Unfortunately, she and I didn’t agree on a few things. I had shared the script with her and she loved it but the nature of the script is such that it leaves a lot for interpretation. It is not a literal dialogue-baazi film. It is all in between the lines. How I interpret it and how the other person executes it can vary. Theatrically, we discussed it and jammed but when we got on the set, we didn’t see it the same way. Before we went any further —since I’d already shot for 50-60 days and Rekha ji was joining us to get into such an important part — we decided it would be better to back off. Fortunately, Tabu was available and came in at a short notice. To prepare for a role like that, you take a few months. She is wonderful and very easy.
How did you get around zeroing in on actors to play Estella and PipIJ
Katrina and I would meet socially often and I happened to mention to her that I had just finished scripting the book. She had read it during her childhood and said she’d like to be a part of it. For me, she’s just right for Estella and she’s on top of her game. Whenever I’ve engaged her (Kaif), I couldn’t decipher what she was thinking. There is this mystery and enigma about her which works for the character. Aditya has this inherent innocence and purity. He looks Kashmiri. He’s not done so much work, so it gave me room to mould him and present him in a way people had never seen before. There is no surety when you cast but you go by instinct.
You stand vindicated regarding the Rock On sequel. How do you feel about Rock On 2 being made and you not being part of itIJ
Rock On!! is my child and I was not very keen to do a sequel. I’d rather make another movie. I was asked to write a sequel which I did. I worked on a few drafts. I don’t know what the reason was but they did not want me to direct it. I told them that the brand Rock On belongs to me, so you should make it but don’t use the script that I had developed. But they insisted on using it. They asked me to check the contract and there were some clauses that said they could do what they wanted with it. It then came down to not giving me credit for my work which is not acceptable. The most important power lies in the story. After the story, it is all about breaking it down and chopping it up. I don’t know what the script is now, since I’ve not read it, but it was very disappointing because if I’d written it, I would’ve liked to direct it. Anyway, I’ve made peace with that.
Fitoor seems to be a niche film and not a mass entertainer or a blockbuster. Directors like you are making these changes in story-telling gradually and pushing the edges of the market…
You can’t please everybody in this country as it is so vast. But I don’t think Fitoor is niche. The quantum of emotions it has are very real and relatable. At some level, this is a film about women empowerment. What you’re calling niche is the kind of aesthetic that we bring to the film and the kind of style we use to tell the story. There are people doing the regular Bollywood style of making films. There are so many people repeating themselves. I think it is important to have a new style, a new voice and a new perspective.
Story writing is at an all time low in the creative industry at this point of time. You drew from a literary source but there are a lot of regional stories with as much richness and complexities. Where do we need to get the story right in this industryIJ
It is not just about getting the story right. The problem lies somewhere else. A film is a director’s medium. We need to start empowering the directors. The power lies with film stars. Everything comes out from what the star wants because if you give power to that person, he will look at his own interest first. Stars generally look at what’s in it for them, that it is a vehicle for their stardom. Filmmakers are the only ones in the film business who look at the overall impact of a film. If you take the power from them and give it to the star, you will have an eschewed existence in the business. If a filmmaker is empowered, he will make sure that the story is right and then pick an actor. But it doesn’t work like that. I hope the business streamlines itself a little bit more so that they can empower the filmmaker more and automatically, you’ll see better films coming out.
photos Pankaj Kumar