So Farah, so good
Sep 13, 2014 07:59 PM , By Sudhish Kamath | 0
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http://m.thehindu.com/features/cinema/sudhish-kamat-catches-up-with-farah-khan-ahead-of-the-release-of-her-movie-happy-new-year/article6407981.ece/
The writer catches up with the feisty Farah Khan
ahead of the release of her new heist-cum-musical
Happy New Year
"You better be nice to me in your interview," she
DMs me on Twitter the day after our chat " a quick
session when she made it very clear that she wants
to slap me or anyone else who thinks her films
have no logic.
Only Farah Khan can get away with making these
threats because, apart from the certain honesty
with which she makes her points, she also says it
like it is her right to talk to a friend that way. Even if
you were speaking to her for the very first time,
you would be amazed at how quickly she gets
comfortable in asserting her right to demand
things out of you.
The director ofMain Hoon Na, Om Shanti
OmandTees Maar Khanis back with a new movie
with old favourite Shah Rukh Khan, who she has
known for 21 years. "After I finishedMain Hoon Na,
I got this idea " if you would believe it " in a
dream. The dream was about people going
through a losing phase getting back a house by
winning a dance competition. It had sequences of
the dance competition but it was just an idea. I
wish we got full scripts in our dreams. I took my
own time to write it."
In fact, Shah Rukh Khan in a recent interview told
me that in all the years he has known Farah, she
has only pitched him three scripts.Om Shanti
Omhappened because the idea of reincarnation set
in the 70s was too good to pass up, and then the
two best friends fell out over a spat with Farah's
husband Shirish Kunder. Farah stepped in at the
last minute to direct Shirish's pet projectTees Maar
Khan, an official remake ofAfter the Fox.
The film bombed, but ten days later she started
writingHappy New Yearagain, deciding to take a
sabbatical from filmmaking till she was done
writing it. "I wanted to mix two genres. I don't
think any movie has done this sort of genre-
bending - heist and musical - and meshed the two
so intricately that you can't have one without the
other. It took almost 18 months to crack the script.
I had no clue who would be the producer. I told
my writers (Althea Kaushal and Mayur Puri), Let's
just write a lovely script'."
They had just finished a draft in nine months when
the patch-up with Shah Rukh Khan
happened. "And he said now you have to make a
movie for me'. He was in London. I sent him the
script. He read it and said: Take a flight and come
to London immediately'. So I went to his house
there and he said it's an absolutely wonderful
script, so big and so funny... It's got emotion and
drama and it's an ensemble. Without any
hesitation, he said: I love it'."
Shah Rukh Khan is so proud ofHappy New Yearthat
he had joked thatOceans 14would want to copy
this. "Heist is a formula. There is always a
mastermind, there's a safe-hacker, there's
someone for the stunts... just like if you are making
a love story, there will always be a girl and a boy
and obstacles in the way of their love. But no,
Oceanscannot copyHappy New Yearbecause
George Clooney can't dance like SRK," she says
very matter-of-factly.
"It is the most comprehensive and detailed heist
film ever made," she proclaims. "We have taken a
lot of care to make sure there are no loopholes in
the execution of the heist..."
Was that really necessary, given that people leave
their brains home when they come to see a Farah
Khan film?
"I want to slap those people. I find it very offensive
when people say that. God doesn't come to rescue
people in my films. We do a lot of thinking when
we write our scripts." The accidental
choreographer (she was an assistant director on
the sets ofJo Jeeta Wohi Sikanderwho stepped in to
choreograph Pehla Nasha') had always wanted to
be a filmmaker. But it wasn't Manmohan Desai's
shoes she hoped to fill. "I don't know why they call
me Lady Manmohan Desai. Yes, my cinema is fun
too, but I like Vijay Anand and Nasir Hussain more.
Manmohan Desai's films pack a lot of joy and have
a child-like quality and you can see the director is
having fun, but my movies don't suspend disbelief
that much. But it's good to be compared to
Manmohan Desai. He was run down by critics in his
time."
Farah is almost a Shah Rukh specialist. She knows
what works best with SRK. Is it because she knows
him personally or because she has been a fan?
"As a director and as a woman, I want to see Shah
Rukh like this on screen. I don't want to see him as
a wimpy guy. I want to see him macho and
romantic. I want him to beat up bad guys and still
be without a shirt." And, of course, the
conversation drifts to her getting him to bare his
chest yet again. "Because he promised that he will
do it only for me."
To add to the pressures of breaking box office
records, she has seven-year-old triplets at home to
take care of (They were much younger when she
was shootingTees Maar Khan). Somehow, they
always fall ill during the busiest of shoots and now,
she has to teach them all separate poems for an
elocution competition in school.
"I don't socialise. My social life is minus zero. I hold
the record of the mother who has attended the
maximum school functions. Luckily, filmmaking is
not a nine-to-five job. I get my ten days off in
between shoots. And, after every film, I take six
months off and go on a holiday. I don't neglect my
kids. They are my priority. They come on shoots.
Because they have seen mummy work, they don't
cry. They love my vanity van. It's all about
managing time. Ok, now I have to go, Abhishek
Bachchan is waiting for me," she continues, all in
the same breath.
And she leaves. To attend to the last bit of shoot
left, and you can't help but admire her spirit. And
I'm not just saying that because she threatened me.
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