How are you feeling that your second film is releasing?
It’s just a lot of excitement. We are presenting the film to the rest of the world and I want to know what they feel about my work as well as the entire film. It’s a little hard to explain in words, but you have the same feeling before very film releases. I have always heard people say that the feeling is the same. But now I can actually say that it is. It’s the same feeling I had before the release of my first film, Ishaqzaade.

Don’t you feel more confident since your first film was accepted and was a commercial success?
Of course, I am confident. I was confident about Ishaqzaade as well. When we were making the film, I knew that we were making something unique. I knew that people will find it exciting. But I did not except the reaction towards the film as it has been unprecedented. So, yes there is confidence. But a year’s hard work goes into making a film and you want to know what people think about it. Even if you are confident, there is always a part of you that is uncertain. Everyone wants validation from the audience.

Your first film, Ishaqzaade, did not get an overseas and UK release. Was that disappointing?
Well, it was unfortunate but I guess, not all films with newcomers get released overseas. I could not have asked for a better debut film. I could not have asked for anything more than what Yash Raj Films already did for me. They have to see value in you as an actor, to spend money on you and release a film. They also had a vision in mind as they wanted to release it as an overseas friendly film for the non-traditional markets as well. They took a chance and I don’t mind that. Life is all about taking chances. They are releasing my second film overseas and in the UK and that means there is a market for my film. I am happy with that.

When will the international cut of Ishaqzaade release?
I haven’t seen it myself. I am sure that they are talking to people. Yash Raj Films International distribution will be able to answer this question better. We have done our job as actors, made the film and put it out there for the Indian audience. I do know that many people from the UK watched the film as it’s out on DVD in the UK. I do know that people enjoyed the film. I hope that the translation of Ishaqzaade’s success in the UK will hopefully unfold with Aurangzeb’s release.

When I saw the trailer of Aurangzeb, it reminded me of Amitabh Bachchan’s Don. What was your reaction when you first heard the script?
The world of the film is set in the confrontational zone of the 70’s and 80’s when we had multi-starrers and films that had ‘dialogue baazi’. The films had dialogues, confrontation, action, intensity and drama. The world is very similar but the take is completely new and contemporary. It’s a very real and rooted story. It can happen to anyone in India. The double role has been given a lot of honest and genuine justification as there is logic behind it. The presentation and vision of Aurangzeb is completely fresh and new.

How was your experience working with your director, Atul Sabharwal?
It was great fun. He is somebody I got along with really well. I spent a lot of time with him for the preparations of Aurangzeb as I play a double role in the film. More than that, we get on really well personally. He is somebody who loves cinema, and so do I. We share that inherent passion for all kinds of cinema. He was also very clear about Aurangzeb. He knew how he wanted to set the world of the film, the way he wanted to shoot it and the way he wanted me to perform both of my characters. He is very patient and calm and a very positive influence. He never loses his cool on the sets and these are good qualities.

Aurangzeb is an action thriller like Ishaqzaade.
Aurangzeb is actually more like a drama and an action thriller. Ishaqzaade was more of an intense romantic film. That is a completely different genre. It would be unfair to put them in the same genre.

But a lot of newcomers start their careers with rom-coms. Was it a conscious decision to do something different in the beginning of your career?
It is good to be the exception right? It gets you the attention in the first place. It was a chance and it is good to take chances, like I said. Ishaqzaade wasn’t something that I planned. I didn’t come into Yash Raj Films and tell them that I want to do a different film. Aditya Chopra saw me in that light and able to pull of that part.

He also offered you Aurangzeb during the making of Ishaqzaade …
He saw the rushes of Ishaqzaade as we had completed the film. I was passing my time sitting at home. I was blissfully unaware that he had seen rushes of the film. He called me into the office and gave me a Valentine’s Day gift two years ago by offering me the film. I was surprise to see him offering me a double role so early in my career.

You worked with senior actors like Jackie Shroff and Rishi Kapoor in Aurangzeb. Tell us about your experience.
See, I have grown up in the industry and for them I am Boney Kapoor’s (producer) son. For Chintu Uncle (Rishi Kapoor), I am Ranbir’s friend. He has seen me in that light. For me it was surreal and life coming to a full circle to be able to work with them and act with them. I had a blast with them as I felt a genuine connect with them. Jackie Shroff is playing my father in the film. I felt that the fatherly love he gave me was genuine. Rishi Kapoor Sir has such an intimidating personality but is a warm person and made me really comfortable. An interesting trivia is that, on the first day of filming, Rishi Kapoor Sir sent my father a message. He said “Don’t tense. Your son is a really good actor”. He basically told my father that he liked my work.

A lot of people from the Indian Film fraternity have been praising you for your acting skills…
You find a sense of belonging and I found my sense of belonging as actor when that happens. I felt like I belong here. I want to do good work and want to be an actor. But when people from the industry and your co-stars find your work good, it feels really special. For me, Amitabh Bachchan watching my film, picking up the phone and sending me a handwritten note, just underlines the fact that I was genuinely accepted into the film fraternity of actors.

When you started out, some fans did point fingers at you for only being casted in a film because you are a producer’s son.  What’s your take on nepotism in the industry?
I respect everyone’s opinion. If they spend their hard earned money on buying a ticket, then they should have an opinion. And they should share it with the rest of the world as well. Social networking is a very big platform and you should use it responsibly. I don’t believe that nepotism exists because many have come and many have before me who are director’s sons, producer’s sons, actor’s son and so on and have not survived.

So it’s the talent that works?
Of course. I think there is a minority that has a myopic view. Our audiences are very intelligent. I don’t think anybody sitting in the UK, beyond a point, cares about my surname. When they watch Ishaqzaade or Aurangzeb, they care about how well I do my job as an actor. They care about how I can bring emotions across to them using the character. It’s very myopic view of looking at it and nepotism is a very strong word. Everybody has their own journeys and struggles. I don’t undermine anybody else’s and nobody should undermine mine. I respect every opinion. They matter. I don’t appreciate it when it is hitting below the belt just because I have a ‘surname’. It’s unfair and unfortunate but sadly it happens. It exists and it’s out duty to break that myth. The more good work you do, you can break that myth and dispel notion.

Yash Raj Films releases Aurangzeb in UK cinemas and worldwide on 17th May 2013.

Arjun Kapoor talks the drama and action of Aurangzeb! is a post from: BollySpice

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BollySpice caught up with Saif whilst he was in London to talk about the film, here’s what he had to say:

So Saif, do you have a favourite ‘western’ zombie film?

I don’t think the Evil Dead qualifies, but it scared the pants off me as a child. My cousin, who was a little older, sort of made me watch it and it scarred me for life! I have not really been a big zombie movie fan. If I had to watch a movie with a monstrous character in it it would be a vampire film, but I believe the makers are well up with their zombie lore. Kunal Khemu who bought the script to me also enjoys his zombie films.

How have you adapted the western concept of zombies for Bollywood?

There is a line in the movie when one of them asks ‘How did these zombies come into India?’, because it is not an Indian thing, where the other responds ‘It’s globalisation!’ So it is meant to be a foreign concept and it works in the script because these two guys go on a holiday to Goa and something happens where everybody at this party turns into a zombie, except them. It’s a European crowd there, so it is semi-alien anyway to a basic Indian watching these hot women in bikinis and dudes hanging out MTV style on the beach. Being the great satan that the white man is perceived as in some parts (of India), the character’s drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle leads to them deservedly turning into zombies. It fits in the sense that they are meant to be alien and the concept it meant to be alien. So it’s a European party of zombies!

What preparations did you take in order to play a Russian character for the first time?

The accent needed a little bit of work, but there are a lot of Russians in Goa, so we got a nice lady to come over and make sure I was saying things correctly. I was actually okay, as I am used to learning lines, but I have this partner in the film, who is like a bodyguard. He’s a really nice guy from South Africa and had to say a few lines in Russian and I remember him just rehearsing the whole night and day and having these panic attacks because he was finding the language difficult. Until we wrote it down on a placard for him and he was reading it like…well I was going to say Marlon Brando, but…like Akshay Kumar!

So are there any other out there genres you would like to make, now that you have covered zombies?

What we learnt from this experience is that it would be really nice to do another film that not necessarily follows the dictates of the Indian box office, as it is perceived. What is exciting about this movie, is that it might make a lot of money as the way things stand right now, which would be really great as it is not just a niche idea. Definitely a section of our production should look at international style co-productions, do something that could maybe compete at a film festival one day.

How about another spy film, would you attempt that again?

I would love to! It is a tried and tested genre in every single country and it has run. The achievement of the decade is to mess it up! I mean, how could you not make a basic ex-army spy guy, into a hit? If India can accept a zombie movie, then why not this? We must have just made a bad movie or something, so yes, I would love to have another crack at it. But it should not be a lame attempt at making a kind of Bond movie, it should be a really different kind of presentation and character. You need to find a really unique identity.

Finally, on 100 years of Indian cinema, how would you like to be remembered?

I would want to be remembered as somebody who did good movies and I really feel the best is yet to come. If you were to end my career now, I would feel that there is really not much to write about. But I do feel on top of things at the moment, so I look forward to some productive next few years. I would also like to do a futuristic war film. One has lots of ideas, but not all of them last till the next weekend, but some do, lets see.

Go Goa Gone is on worldwide release from Friday 10th May.

Check out our full video interview here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQeUJAjLOLg

“It’s a European party of zombies!” – Saif Ali Khan talks Go Goa Gone with BollySpice is a post from: BollySpice

The post “It’s a European party of zombies!” – Saif Ali Khan talks Go Goa Gone with BollySpice appeared first on BollySpice.

Was acting something you’ve always wanted to do?
It was always somewhere down inside of my heart. It was hidden, it was a secret, and I wasn’t able to get the guts to actually go ahead and pursue my passion or my dream because I was so far away from it. I was all the way in Dubai and the acting field, the closest one to me was India, Bollywood, and I didn’t know anybody over here in India. So it was kind of difficult initially but at the end of the day I made my mind up and I joined it.

What made you say ‘Okay, I am going to India and I am going to try and become an actor’?
Well, what happened was I was doing business for like three years, back in Dubai and in 2008 when the financial crisis happened I had to take my hands off. I had to basically tell my parents that this business is not for me, I can’t handle all of this and I want to do something that makes me happy. I was already doing modeling since I was 16 years old, I was like let me just pursue performance. I wanted to act; I wanted to go ahead and try it. So I joined the Sherwood Academy in Abu Dhabi in 2009. From there I was about to head off to LA to complete the remaining 6 months of my 1 year course in LA, and my dad randomly just gives me a call and he tells me, ‘You know I think you should go to Bombay and try out your luck’. And I’m like, ‘Okay! If you say so’. So it was a very random thing that I even landed here in India, very random. I was supposed to be here only for 2 days – 5 days just to check out the place but those 2-5 days never finished.

Looking back at it are you amazed that you took a leap and now here you are?
You know when I first came into Mumbai I went into this one place it is called The FICCI Frames. And this FICCI Frames is an entertainment hub where people from all over the world come down to give speeches or talk about or delegate from industries all over the world. The first time I went there was in 2010, and I was like a lost puppy. I was running around, didn’t know who to meet, what to do. I was just so lost. It was just me and my father, who had accompanied me, and we are trying to figure out who to meet, who we can meet, and we didn’t meet anybody that time. The second year, 2011, somebody came along with me and I begged them to introduce me to one person, two people and then the third year, this year, I went and it was a bloody revolution! I met like 50 people.

So when I look back two years and look back at myself running around trying to get one contact, one network, one person, and nothing happened. And now it’s like from all over from Australia, from Bangladesh, from US, from UK, all the gates have opened up. It feels great that you know after two years of learning more things, it’s coming to pay-off.

I was doing some research and I read about your auditions for Luv Ka The End that it was kind of interesting. Do you remember and can you tell me a little bit about that?
The audition was basically two things; one was pretend to be the nice guy with the girl while you take her out. And the 2nd scene I auditioned with was that some girls had put itching powder in my pants, forget my pants, it was my underwear, let’s make it more specific and I was supposed to scratch myself in front of these people and at the same time be funny and at the same time, keep continuing the scene and at the same time, concentrate on the dialogues. So that was my audition. There was this crazy eye movement that I do, which the casting director said, it’s because of your audition but mainly because that eye movement was so funny that we had to take you.

Tell us about shooting for Luv Ka The End.
I was a newbie. They don’t film in order; you know they just jump scenes. So the first day, I went to shoot it was one of the climax scenes, and I forgot all my lines. And Bumpy, who was the director, took me to another room and he was like let’s do the lines and the lines just wouldn’t come out. It just stopped, it just said no I am not going to come out, do what you want. I was so nervous and I think it took me 2 hours to get over that. The camera was right on my face and there were like 200 people there and it was just that… this was not a joke anymore. This was going to be shown on screen dude! This is it. You shoot; whatever you shoot today is it! So that kind of made me feel nervous. I grew out of it and then we got what we wanted. But shooting on the film with Yash Raj you know, so first of all, you are guaranteed the film is going to come out. And working with such professionals, you know they’ve gotten the best of the best, they’ve gotten the top notch people and you don’t have to worry about anything, so that was one of the best factors of it.

Okay so now your next film is Gippi. Tell me why you chose to be a part of this film.
First thing was, you see, I am trying to build a foundation and the foundation is basically to build audience base. Now audiences will only appreciate or see you when you are in films that are actually going to be seen and films that are going to be internationally released. So when Dharma approached me and said let us audition you for this, initially I was like it is not really focusing on me. But then I realized that, look, you know if I want to make a career move then it’s better to stick to people whose movies are definitely going to come out. And Dharma Production is one of the biggest in India right now. Karan Johar is huge!! (Laughs)

So I decided that okay fine as far as the producer is concerned I am okay. As far as the script is concerned, the director Sonam Nair narrated the script to me and I saw the social message in it that every individual should be very confident in their own skin. They should not look down at themselves they should not de-motivate themselves. Many people look at themselves in the mirror and say I am not good enough to do this or I am too fat or I am too this or that. But this film makes you feel good about yourself. It makes you feel I am me and I am who I am and I am happy to be that. God made me this way and you know what, in every day and in every way I am going to get better and better. And your self-image, your way of looking at yourself increases because you are looking at yourself better. That’s why I stuck with the film. So one, because of Karan Johar and two because there is a social message to it.

So what is your character in the film, can you tell me a little bit about that?
The character’s name is Arjun and he’s a very carefree guy. He’s failed a couple of times; he’s repeating the twelfth grade again. A typical 19-year-old guy who wants to have some drinks and doesn’t care about studies, he is all about his friends. He’s a reserved person. Arjun is also a very philosophical person and he thinks about why; why is it there, why is it not there? So he’s a very curious person and that’s what Arjun is.

Tell us about working with Riya who plays Gippi.
She’s a baby. She’s just 16-years-old, yeah? So it’s like I’d go on set and see her for the first time and I’m like ‘Oh okay, so she’s going to fall in love with me… she is going to fall in love with me… All right, okay, so that doesn’t put me in the bad light at all’. (Laughs) The thing is because she’s so young and I’ve done a film and I’ve got a little more experience than her and I am older than her for sure, when she actually came up to me trying to do those scenes, the nervousness that was supposed to come out in the scene came out through her because she was already nervous with me. That really showed on camera that she was actually nervous and that came out and worked in the character and that kind of benefited her in the relationship we share in the film.

Working with director Sonam Nair?
She has this funny way of whenever she gets the shot, whenever she gets what she wants she’s like ‘Cut itttttt!’ (said in high falsetto) and every time it’s like ‘Ok cooool!’ (Again a high falsetto). (Laughs) She has this chirpiness in her which shows up every day when we interact with her, every time she gets a good shot. She is so chirpy. I’ve never heard her shout on set. All I’ve heard her say is please and requesting. And especially working with kids, it’s not easy. You know kids are running around here and there and you want to do this and that, to actually control them and keep them in one place. I think she’s got a lot of patience in the film. Also working with her she didn’t come and impose her viewpoints on me. She let me as an actor and let everybody else as an actor, do what we have to. If she wants to add here and there then she will come and say see I want you to add this emotion or I would want you to decrease this and that’s all that she would come and say, she would not say what are you doing? She will never say you know I want to do it this way, what you are doing is not right. Many directors would do that. It was a great opportunity to work with her. Even my previous director Bumpy, both have been fantabulous.

What have you learned as an actor in your two films?
Well, in the first one since it was my first film, I was a little scared about how I am going to perform, how will my performance look on screen. I wanted everything to be so perfect and I was memorizing the script back and front. Literally, any line you tell me… I know it, without looking, I know it. For this script, I knew all the lines but I think the character itself was so chilled out. In Luv Ka, my character was more of an anti-hero, more of a plotter, more of a manipulator – okay I am going to do this, I am going to get my points in the Billionaires Club. This guy Arjun in Gippi is more reserved, more relaxed, more of a person who basically doesn’t care. From both these guys I’ve learnt more about myself. And I have learned that I can use this part of my life in this role, I can use this part of my life into this role. I think it gives you lot of time to introspect every time you do a character and that’s the best part of it. You get to learn so much about yourself.

Hopes for your career as an actor?
I want to be in world cinema, that’s my real goal. I want to do couple of films over here, I want to be a commercial hero here. At the same time I want to take my talent and my skills outside and try and do world cinema, try and do films in the UK, in the US, try and do films even in Iran if I have to. I want to do world cinema, that’s my passion and that’s what I dream of.

What will we be seeing you in next?
Well, there are a couple of things, which are on. I really want to come in an action role because I do a lot of martial arts and acrobatics and so I am really, really, really planning that. There are a couple of films in line. One of them is action, one of them is not. But I really want to do an action film I think will really set me apart.

Do you have any advice for young actors out there who are just starting out?
Yes I do. I am all ready to give advice because I’ve been through it. Two things, one if you are an actor don’t care about your looks. As an actor you have to look as bad or as good for that character. Don’t base your acting based on your looks. Secondly, one of the main things is why are you doing it? Why are you getting into the arts – whether it be painting, acting or whether it be anything, why are you getting into it? It can be a mindset that I want to earn a lot of money, another can be I want to gain a lot of success, some people want recognition, but whatever it is you need to have a clear path. I believe that. The only reason I stepped into acting was because I had option of business and I said look there is no plan B for me, there is only plan A and A is just for acting. When you are thrown into the pool or lake and told to swim and you don’t have anything to save you then you’ll learn faster. Why? Because you are in a fight or flight situation. When there is no plan B, then you are going to work hard and really, really work your ass off and try and learn everything possible. You know everyday I read my Hindi book, then I go into lumnoisty.com for brain training, then I go to the gym or I go to my martial arts classes, then I go to my singing classes or my acting classes, then I come back and do my meetings and come back and read a book. All these things are planned. I play my guitar. I do my own riaaz (practice) at home. I do weaponry outside on the beach. I keep learning. I got a certificate in paragliding. I’ve got a certificate from the school of scuba driving. You keep growing. I think every time, as long as you keep growing, whether languages or in art or anything it is going to make you, somewhere down the line, a better person and will show the confidence on your face. So never just base you acting skills on acting. Everything else you do in life will make you a better actor. So go and learn. Learning will never fail you. That’s what I tell people.

As you can see it was a fabulous conversation with the actor! We wish him all the best and look forward to seeing in him many more films, including that action film! Gippi is in theaters on May 10th!

Taaha Shah Talks Gippi! is a post from: BollySpice

The post Taaha Shah Talks Gippi! appeared first on BollySpice.

How and when did you know you wanted to be a comedian and an actor?
You know, I knew I wanted to be an actor first. That is what a lot of people don’t know and don’t realize is that I actually used to do a lot of high school and college drama. Then I actually went to the US to study theater and ended up doing a Bachelor’s in theater. So the intention was always to be an actor. However, after four years of really serious acting training I was kind of sick of it because I did a lot of Shakespeare, Chekov, Miller and Simon. I was looking for an art form that was a little more organic and a little more improvised so then I started doing stand-up comedy. I wrote my first stand-up comedy special when I was like 22 and that kind of took off for me so I never really got back into acting until I was 28. For six years I worked full time at a news channel doing my own sort of news comedy show and touring as a comic. Then I saw Rang De Basanti with Aamir Khan and I sort of sat back and said, okay now the kind of cinema that I want to do is being made. That is when I gave up my job at a news channel and really took up film full time.

From Shakespeare and Chekov to comedy that is quite a big leap. I am just intrigued on how you made that transition…
I am fortunate that I am a really observational comic. I don’t really write about politics or religion or race, I write about really small things. So I kind of made that transition when I graduated from college and I was a dishwasher in Chicago in 2003. I was broke and I wasn’t able to pay rent and girls weren’t talking to me… because women can smell a broke man from miles away, and I was juggling five jobs, and kind of I ended up writing about that shit in my life. The transition was more like a venting process and it became a very cathartic thing for me to talk about how sucky life was on stage and that kind of grew into finding my own voice as a comedian and a comedic style. I think the first six months were jokes about being broke and not getting laid… pretty much.

So then to your journey to Bollywood actor, I know you did some other films and then the huge hit of Delhi Belly…
Yes, Namastey London, Love Aaj Kal and a bunch of films. I used to sort of keep ducking out when I was working at that news channel and say let me do a day in this film and let me do a week in that film. When I saw Rang De Basanti for the first time I said okay I want to quit my job and I want to pursue being a lead or at least playing a major role in Hindi cinema. So I quit my job in maybe January and by June I had signed Delhi Belly and Badmaash Company. I knew those were gateways to making it to lead actor. That is what Delhi Belly did for me. It was that last sort of booster shot that I needed to go from character actor to lead.

Delhi Belly was such a huge success and I think that took everybody a little bit by surprise because it was such a different movie for Hindi cinema. Did it surprise you?
Yes and no. We had this sense on set, when we were making Delhi Belly , that everybody in the film knew that we will only make this film once in our lifetime. That spirit was there from everybody from the caterers to the actors to everyone. We all sort of comprised, took pay cuts, worked 20 hour shifts and did what we needed to do because we knew that this was not going to be a normal thing, it was something special. Post Delhi Belly, when it hit and it became this monster phenomenon that it was, that is when I signed seven films. Starting with Go Goa Gone I am going to be seen in a release every two months pretty much in a leading space, but I have been still seeking out that experience. That same sense on set that this is the film we know we may never make again. That is kind of what I have been actively seeking for in scripts as well.

Getting to Go Goa Gone, what made you say yes to this film?
After Delhi Belly, I had this particular situation that suddenly in two months I got like 35-40 scripts. All of them were lead roles and I thought this is my chance to go lead and there is this nice kind of new age, comedy leading man space that doesn’t exist right now and I want to be able to fill that gap. I don’t want to do another Delhi Belly and I was offered like six other Delhi Bellys and I kind of said okay what have I not done? I said I have not done a really commercial love story and I find a film called Sooper Se Ooper with Reliance, which is a boy who goes to Rajasthan and falls in love, which is me and Kirti Kulhari. I said I have never really done an urban kind of rom-com like in a Harry Met Sally Dharma space so I signed this film Amit Sahni Ki List. It is actually with 10 girls and it is this guy who has OCD on the look out for love, it’s nice and it is in a funny space. I have never done a kids film, so I signed a nice kids family film Golu Pappu, which is with me and Kunal Roy Kapoor from Delhi Belly.

Then I was looking for my fourth film and I said okay I am going to steer clear of that Delhi Belly young humor zone unless it is really, really, really something special. Then Raj (Nidimoru) called me in for a meeting and we had this really weird/odd meeting where he looked at my face and I looked at his face for five minutes and we said nothing and then we both left. And then after that I would see Raj and (Krishna) DK at all of my stand-up comedy shows, they came and saw my band, saw the History of India, saw my improv troupe so I kind of knew a script was coming… Then when I got it and read it I was like okay this is young and it is sort of in that same zone as Delhi Belly in terms of humor and casting but it’s Zombies and it is India’s first. I liked it so much I postponed the shooting of all my other three films that I had already signed and shot this one first. That is how good the script was. Then I went on to sign three more films, which are very interesting as well. (Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Revolver Rani, Santa Aur Banta, Shaadi Ke Side Effects).

Go Goa Gone is a horror zombie movie and it is a comedy, so how was it to work on India’s first zom-com?
What I really liked was that I usually get to play the really high-energy, funny guy with the funny lines and in this one I am playing the mellow, slow paced pothead who doesn’t really give a tight shit about much. What I also really liked about this film was that confusion was kind of the main tool for humor, where here are three guys who are essentially stoners and slackers, just real idiots who have never seen a zombie before, don’t know what a zombie is and for damn sure don’t know how to kill it! And that is kind of the audience as well; the audience has never seen a zombie film before in India. The audience is just as confused as we are and so as we learn, the audience learns as well. I thought that was a really cool comedic tool. That is what I really liked about it.

Tell us about working with the directors.
Raj and DK are fantastic, they really are. I think if they were the opposite sex they would be a married couple – they just compliment each other and they finish each other’s sentences and there is never really any conflict between the two. They are technically fabulous as well and you know, horror movies really allow for a lot of technical play. If you are really interested in shot-taking and makeup and the GC side of cinema, then horror is really the genre to do. It was just really good fun. The film was an entire unit of people that were under 30 years old and shot in Goa and in Mauritius so we just partied for two months, that is really all we did.

And just made a film on the side…

Yeah, yeah (Laughs)

What was the hardest thing about making this movie?
Just the elements. You know there is no sets there is no studio. We shot on the hillside, in the jungles and in the sea, so at any point we are either running, shooting, jumping, climbing, falling or swimming, so that was really tough. So yes, it was a comedy but what a lot of people don’t realise is there is a heavy amount of action in this film as well! There are guns and explosions and zombies and stabbings and killings and all of that stuff. So shooting for all that was really tough. I really enjoy it – I do my own stunts, every single one, in Delhi Belly as well, but that is always tough.

I know you are an actor and you can play scared but is it hard to be scared of a zombie? Because that is something that you have not experienced so is that hard to play?
Yes, it is hard to play, especially if it is a super hot girl who arrived in a bikini that morning and then they make her into a really scary looking zombie. (Laughs) If you have seen the hot version of her before in the morning it is not easy to be scared but you do it…you know what I am saying?

I read that you and your band Alien Chutney have done a song for the film.
We are! We are doing a promotional song for the film, it’s cool.

What do you think of the other music in the film?
It’s great. I like music that is very contextual to the film. I don’t like it when it could be like, a zombie comedy, but if there is romance suddenly you are in the mountains… So what I like about this is we have a song called ‘Slowly Slowly’ because all these zombies are created all really slowly. This movie begins on a Monday morning so we have a Monday song called ‘Khoon Choos Le’, because zombies like to suck blood. We have a song called ‘Babaji ki Booti’, which is about being a pothead. So it’s very contextual and relevant, the songs feel almost a part of the screenplay.

Now the reaction to the trailer was amazing, which was surprising a little bit because it is the first type of film like this…
It got a million hits in 2 days! That audience is so specific and decisive about what they want: the audience that makes something go viral. They have so many options available to them, they are watching 10 new trailers a week and so they are very decisive. I view that as a huge vote of confidence. I am very optimistic because I know the best parts of the film are not in the trailer. I am excited because if you liked the trailer there is much better stuff yet to come in the film.

What excites you about being an actor?
It’s really is a different part of the brain working and I like that. Stand-up comedy is very high adrenaline and it is over in an hour and a half. It is all about broad topics and changing very, very fast. But film is about the minutest detail. It takes eight months and it is about being extraordinarily patient and doing the same thing over and over again. It’s like a different side of my brain and it is a different way to find funny. I am in this very interesting predicament where typically an actor has one audience, but I have three audiences. I have a music audience, a comedy audience and a film audience and all the audience consumes all of my content so the expectations are very high. The pressure is very high. I am always searching for innovative ways to be funny and film really provides that. Like in Badmaash Company, it was I am a very urban guy and I have never played sort of a roadside cheek Romeo and that is a good way to be funny. In Delhi Belly, what was really exciting to me was the fact that I had no voice for the second half of the film. I had no lines and no voice so the idea was can I not speak and still get the laugh, that was what was interesting to me. And in this, Go Goa Gone, can I be sort of mellow and not be high energy and still get the laughs as well? So film gives you the opportunity to do that. Stand-up is about jokes and using the same tools but in film you change your tool kit now and then.

Now do you use your experiences on set now in your comedy?
I do. I figure there will come a day when I want to end my Bollywood career and then I am going to write this 90-minute show and say everything I have been waiting to say secretly.(Laughs) I am not going to do that this year, I hope to be around for many, many years. (Laughs)

Looking back over your career so far what would you say?
It’s weird because I like to think of myself as an outsider who worked myself inside every industry. I am not fully accepted in films because I am a comedian. I am not fully accepted in comedy because I am a film actor. I am not full accepted in rock music because I do comedy and film. But at the same time I am being able to work in all the industries with the studios, large audiences and best musicians and that’s kind of cool. I like to think of myself as having snuck my way into many, many rooms (laughs) that maybe I didn’t belong there. And that has been fun.

What do you think of Hindi cinema today?
I think it is in this wonderful space where if you are super smart about your economics you can literally make any film you like, on any subject, with any cast. That is something that happened to American cinema and British cinema a very long time ago and that gave birth to people like Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey who grew up to be 20 million dollar stars. We are in that space right now where if you are really smart about your economics these high concept comedy, high concept horrors, high concept romances really, really, really work. It is only when you cross spending 25 crore on your film then you need to make a certain formula film. It is just this really cool time to be in Bollywood where you’ll see new kinds of leading men and new kinds of heroines and new kinds of scripts. It is tremendously exciting!

What can audiences expect when they come see Go Goa Gone?
First, I think they can expect zombies in an Indian context. We are not trying to be cool, we are not trying to be macho, we are not trying to be edgy, we are just trying to be Indian and that has never been done before. The film is very honest in that sense where it is really an Indian take on the horror genre. Second thing is that it is very much still a buddy comedy, it is a slacker movie. There is a very cool friendship between me and Kunal Khemu at the center of that film and we have got good chemistry. You know even in Delhi Belly it was the chemistry between the three boys that carried that film and I like to believe that the chemistry is there again in Go Goa Gone. As I said that sense that nobody has ever done this before really, really, really brings about good improvisation and camaraderie between the three boys and that is true here. It was fun. And it is Saif, as you have never seen Saif Ali Khan before!

Go Goa Gone will hit theaters on May 10th!

Vir Das: “I loved the script of Go Goa Gone so much I postponed all my other films to make it first” is a post from: BollySpice

The post Vir Das: “I loved the script of Go Goa Gone so much I postponed all my other films to make it first” appeared first on BollySpice.

Check out what fabulous Sonam Nair had to say about the story, the message, the casting, what KJo said and more as she talks about all things Gippi! I loved talking to her and I know you will love reading about her enthusiasm, excitement and love for this film!

What inspired you to make this film?
Actually my own life. It is very heavily based on my own experiences as a teenager going through that puberty stage and also being overweight at that point of time and how that affected my self worth. I thought it would be a fun thing to write about because I had been through it. I think now, looking back at it, it seemed like a really fun, different experience, but while you are going through it, it is really tough and agonizing.

Tell us about how Gippi came to be.
I worked on Wake Up Sid and I worked on Saat Khoon Maaf and then after that I kind of got over AD-ing (Assistant Directing). So I thought I would write a script just to show people, ‘Listen, I am a good writer! Hire me to write your scripts!’ because I didn’t think anyone would let me direct. I wrote the script and gave it to Ayan [Mukerji], who directed Wake Up Sid, and asked what he thought. He said, ‘Listen, this is a really good script and it should be made into a movie, so do you think you can do it?’ I was like ‘YA, I CAN DO IT [you can hear her enthusiasm! - ed] … but who wants to put their money and faith in me?’ He said, ‘Why don’t you work on the script a little bit and I will take it to Karan [Johar]’. After a couple of drafts, he gave Karan the script and said, ‘It is a cute script – you might want to read it’. Karan started to kind of read it and then he got really hooked on it and he kept reading it. The next day he called me and he said to come for a meeting. I went thinking, okay, he will be like, good job, stay around Dharma, something like that, but he said, ‘I really like your script and I want to make it’! It was pretty much overnight.

So what was your reaction when he said that to you?
I was actually really blank and I was in denial. (Laughs) I couldn’t believe him. I thought it can’t be this easy: I can’t just write a script, give it to him and three days later he tells me he wants to make it. So, yes, I was in a bit of denial for a couple of weeks. Then Dharma called me and they said, ‘When did you want to start working? Do you want to hire a couple of people?’ I was like, ‘Oh My God, this is really happening! Oh, okay then, I guess I will just make a film now’.

Okay so then first day, first shot, what was that first feeling?
You know I didn’t think of it as a really big thing. I don’t know why. It was just a really young, fun atmosphere on set. We all had been doing workshops and hanging out together anyway to get all the kids comfortable. It just seemed like another day and I just went on. It was really comfortable. I didn’t think I was doing something really out of my comfort zone. I was like… Okay, great now it is time to put it on camera…Roll Camera – Action! (Laughs)

Tell us about casting Gippi.
OH GOD! I think this was the toughest part of the entire experience was finding Gippi and finding her classmates. Gippi is the most important, but then you have these five-six kids who are really important to the story as well. We knew that we would not be able to find actors at that age. We don’t really have that kind of age group in India, so I knew I would have to cast real kids. So we went to about 50-60 schools in Bombay and Delhi. We first started to just look at kids and see if any of them looked like the characters. Then we would see, okay can they act even a little bit or anything? (Laughs) Because you know they were just going to class one day and we would be just like, ‘Hi guys, we are here for a film, come talk to us’. It was a long process and we saw about 30,000 children. And it wasn’t like I was spoiled for choice by the end; I barely had one or two choices for each character. I just went by my gut feeling. Casting was very, very tough.

Riya is amazing… in just the trailer and songs she has such a great screen presence and is just so natural. As you said she had no acting experience, so how did you get that out of her…
She is so shy and withdrawn in real life that you would never guess that she was going to be a lead actress of the film. What helped is that she never was acting. I had to explain the scene to her and I would tell her why Gippi is doing this and what she is going through. It was pretty similar to her own life – all these kids were going through that stuff. The natural thinking she did very easily, because she doesn’t know how to act, she didn’t face the camera and give any fake expressions, she would just say the lines as she would in real life, so that helped. Then, well, I would just well basically have to do it and then she would imitate me. We really became a good team where she knew how to imitate me perfectly and then we would get the scene.

I bet you had a lot of fun doing that…
(Laughs) Ya! I love acting and like I said, I had written the character based on myself, so it was really easy for me to say, this is how I would say it so now you say it like that.

It seems a director almost has to be an actor at the same time, would you say that to be true?
That was how I directed everybody on set, even the experienced actors. I told them the scene and I explained to them the motivation of the character. But the easiest thing I found, because also I had to finish my film really quickly, was to act everything out and they would just get it and I didn’t have to explain. But I think more experienced actors might find it a little condescending. (Laughs)

So there is an old saying, never work with kids or animals on films, what would you say about that?
Yeah!(Laughs) I loved it! I thought it was one big party with kids. They were so much fun. There was never any kind of egos on set. There was never a filmi environment on set. It was always like you were at a summer camp doing a little bit of film as a project. It really helped everything to be easy and everybody just talked to each other really casually. There was no this person is a star, this person is a lesser star, this is a character actor, everybody was kind of like a big group of kids. My crew was also consistent of really young people. I had a lot of fun. Also they were so hungry to work they would never say okay that is enough… I could get 30-40 takes out of them and they would still keep giving it.

Tell us about working with the amazing Divya Dutta.
She is such a good actress. Her character has a lot of depth. The other kids are having fun and they are going through life in the movie, but her character has a past. She is a single mother, she is trying to cope; she just wants her kid to be happy. She is a little sad and lonely so her character needed this kind of dual personality thing going on. Each scene where she is really happy and bubbly, you know there is an underlying sorrow to her that is unspoken. It was a really tough thing to pull off and she would do it really well. Her scenes are the best scenes I think performancewise. I still cry for a couple of her scenes and she does too and she says I have never made myself cry. They have come out really well, I think.

How was it to work with Taaha Shah on the film?
I always thought of him as one of the kids. I just didn’t think of him as an experienced actor though he is slightly older than them. But it was really fun. His character is like this brooding, cool, bad boy, so we all kind of had fun with it. I would give him tips on how to talk and how to seduce girls. (Laughs) I was like come on man you should know this. (Laughs) But it was really sweet because he also was really hungry and wanted to do a lot with each scene. It wasn’t like I will just do it and go home, he would come fully prepared with hundred questions and I would like be okay, fine I will answer each one. (Laughs) He is a very, very hungry passionate actor so I hope he gets a lot of work after Gippi because he is really good in it.

He told me about how excited you were on set and about your calling cut and how you would say it really enthusiastically…
(Laughs) I was having the time of my life on set because I was getting to make my film. Every day I woke up really happy and I would be excited on set! I think that it was also needed because you need to motivate the kids like that. I couldn’t go all grumpy and let’s just do this scene. I had to get them excited. I was like a little kid myself. I did these things to make them feel like they have done something good today. If they have a really good take I would scream on the mike ‘THAT WAS AWESOME!!’ and come give them a hug and it was so happy. I would just yell something and it just makes everyone feel happy that they did something good, you know? I think that sometimes I would forget he’s an adult or the other stars are adults and I would do the same to them. (Laughs)

One of the things he said he loved about the film is that it talks about and the message is you have to confident in you own self. Would you say that to be the message of the film?
Yes and not just confident, but the message is you should love yourself for who you are and not try to be like other people or try to set standards that are not meant for you. It just shows how, especially at that age, you feel very kind of insecure. You don’t know were you stand on the ladder of what’s good, what’s not good, where do you fit and you just listen to your peers and what they say. So if someone calls you ugly you feel ugly, if somebody calls you stupid, you feel okay, I am ugly, stupid. You don’t know what you are, you haven’t figured out who you are yet. Especially at that point, a lot of how you feel about yourself then kind of defines how you think about yourself forever. I think it is an important message to put out there, so at that time, when you are going through puberty and becoming an adult just kind of try and like yourself at that point, otherwise you are going to have serious issues when you grow up.

This is a new avenue for Bollywood, a teen adolescent film, which even as I watching the trailer I said yes this is something that cinema needs…
Yeah! When I wrote it, I didn’t think of it like that, but now that it is coming out I really think it shocking that we don’t have a film like this already. It is so shocking. It is not really a very complicated plot, it is just a simple thing that every girl goes through and we haven’t yet managed to put these things up on screen… I don’t understand why that happened or how that happened. I am very happy that I am going to be the first one to talk about what a girl goes through during puberty, in India at least. That is a cool thing for me. I hope we can be a little more proactive in dealing with these kind of subjects that exist around us, but I don’t know, people just shy away I guess because they think it won’t make a lot of money.

How was it to work for Karan Johar?
He is awesome. He is totally generous and giving. I mean first that he made the film, is really generous of him and then he just never says no. I didn’t go to him a lot because I was a little hesitant to go to him with all my problems. But whenever I went to him and I said, ‘Can I have this space? Can I have this? Can I have Vishal-Shekhar? Can I have the rights to some song?’, he was always like, ‘Ya, ya sure, sure, we will arrange it for you don’t worry.’ He just doesn’t say no. And he lets you make the film you want to make. He doesn’t interfere; he doesn’t constantly look in on you. I am so thankful he has the confidence in me to let me make my own film but then you get a little extra scared actually, because he has given you so much freedom… you better deliver. So that’s a tactic I think that worked. (Laughs) He’s great. I don’t think I can work with any other producer after him.

You mentioned the great Vishal-Shekhar, Tell us about the music of the film.
I went to Vishal-Shekhar and I said I know I am coming with a children themed film, but I want music that everyone would like. I don’t know why but people limit themselves to the genre of the film and say okay, for example, if my audience is children I want only kids music. I didn’t want that, I didn’t want only kids music. I wanted music that everybody can dance too and have fun. It is a very eclectic album. There is a Bhojpuri track ‘Baby Se Babydoll’, which is my favorite. It is so quirky and out of the blue. It is super fun! Kids love it, adults love it, truck drivers love it, businessmen love it (laughs) everybody loves it and that is what I wanted for the entire album. The first song ['We Are Like This Only'] was a bit modern, ‘Baby Se Babydoll’ is full rustic, the third one ['Pehn Di Takki'] is a Punjabi track and it again is like a club super fun dance song. Then I have a love song, which is a waltz, which is so pretty and has a beautiful symphony that they recorded in Chennai. That also has the best video I think because it is this girl Gippi in love. She is just in love and it is that first love. It is the best video. Then I have a sad song, which Shekhar has sung. It is really beautiful. He has sung it like I don’t think he has ever sung before, so beautifully.

The response has been so fabulous from the first trailer; did you expect that because this is something different for Hindi cinema?
It was a risk. I obviously was hoping for the best, but none of us knew what was going to happen the day we put the trailer up. We really didn’t know because it could just be a wash out and nobody gives a shit or could be like something everybody found interesting. Thankfully it was the second thing that happened. It created a buzz and now the film has to speak for itself. Thankfully without any stars or glamour or any like new thing, you know, usually if there are no stars there is sex in it or horror in it or something really dramatic. This is none of those things. It is just a simple sweet film and I guess that worked on its own level.

What are your hopes for Gippi?
I don’t know I am just happy I made a film and it’s going to be watched by people. (Laughs) I hope that I can establish my own voice with this film because it is 100% my voice. I have written it, I have lived through it and I have directed every little ounce of it myself, there are no other opinions or voices in there. I think that will be nice, that people can see me and what I am about and know what I can offer to the industry.

Are you happy with your final product?
I am very happy!! I love my film. When people ask me I just tell them, ‘Listen, my film is really good, just watch it!’

So after this more films?
Ya, Ya I can’t stop! I have already been thinking about my next film. I have a few ideas jotted down. I am going to meet Karan the day after my film releases on what’s next. So yeah this is something I will never stop doing. It is addictive. It is the best job ever!

Be sure to check out Gippi on May 10th!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-G-XGG7xno

“The message of Gippi is you should love yourself for who you are” – Director Sonam Nair is a post from: BollySpice

The post “The message of Gippi is you should love yourself for who you are” – Director Sonam Nair appeared first on BollySpice.

What made you and DK come up with the zombie idea? Was this something that was gestating in your minds for a while?

Yeah, it’s been with us for a while, this film. I was living in Detroit and I saw the zombie subculture there, in terms of zombie walks and so many of those, along with small films being made. But, I wasn’t finding the edge, I wasn’t really excited. I mean, I liked the idea but I didn’t know what I’d be doing differently. So I wasn’t really excited by it till we married another idea that was a comedy about the slacker generation, about how we see the youngsters in Bombay. Then that came about and beyond a point it was just that idea. I guess both of them fell together in one film where slacker generation guys go and land up in an island full of zombies.

Do you think the Indian audiences may be apprehensive but also receptive to this concept?

Really most of the audience aren’t well versed with zombies in the first place, so a pure zombie film I don’t know how receptive people are going to be or how alien it’s going to sound. It’s like making a Star Trek out of nowhere. The idea was that we have been making our own kind of comedy for all our films so far, the idea was really to make our brand of humour in a horror setup more than anything else. And that freshness and humour was really grabbing, because we are dealing with a completely alien object: a zombie! So that kinda of increased the humour quotient for the film, I look at it more as a funny film, a comedy with a fresh subject.

How did you balance the humour in this film? Instead of going for a straight horror film with zombies?

It’s just in taking two very strong genres, that don’t usually mix, horror and comedy, that’s the idea that appealed more. Just like in Shor in the City, where it’s a gritty film about the city where humour doesn’t work really, it becomes a hardcore gritty drama. So we wanted to take it still gritty drama with large doses of dark humour that’s how we tried to make it balance.

Did you guys have a lot fun with the tropes that come with the zombie genre, like the big shootout or finding the hideout, or did you aim to deconstruct these aspects?

The basic idea in this film is that the template of the genre sets you up to play with it and also knowing the clichés of a horror film gives you fodder to play with. At the core of it, it does follow the original horror concept of three guys going off to a forest/island/location, overnights things are going bad and then a guy comes to their rescue, ending in a shootout. The whole idea was to deliberately pick it, because we’ve never really followed that pattern so far in Flavours, 99, and Shor. But this we wanted to make as a genre film, but the extra things are the layers. The obvious layer of it being a zombie comedy but take a dig at the slacker generation who lack complete survival skills or they are into their own iPhones and Samsung mobiles, and are not exposed to the world really. So if you take them out into the forest and give them zombies, what happens?

How did the stoner vibe evolve into the film?

The slacker generation or the stoner thing is something we had for maybe 2 or 3 years, about these guys in a shared apartment who don’t really feel any responsibilities whatsoever and basically stoned and lazy. They’re living in an apartment where the electricity has gone a week ago, and nobody is willing to go pay for it. So it started off there, but we wanted an edge, and then we found this older ideas of zombies that we had. Except they would be going to look for a party!

Did the setting of Goa help to establish that vibe?

More than the stoner aspect, I thought that everybody living in Bombay wants to take off to Goa. So it’s that thing that of people who have a couple of days will get in their cars, trains, or take a flight to Goa whether if you’re a stoner or a party guy to just have some fun, or quiet time. It goes for everything, and so that was a destination where it gave us that little paradise away from Bombay.

Since this is the first major zombie film after Luke Kenny’s Rise of the Zombie there’s bound to be a few comparisons to Shaun of the Dead or The Walking Dead, did you look to any Hollywood films for a bit of inspiration?

Right, there’s almost always an automatic reaction to a film as soon as you put it out there. There’s always a bunch of guys who’ll say, “It’s a copy of Shaun of the Dead, it’s a copy of Zombieland, it’s a copy of The Walking Dead.” So, you know, we have been taking pride in saying all of our films are pretty original, we’ve always written our own things. One thing we don’t want to do is commit hara-kiri by taking in or copying any zombie films. the main idea is that zombies are definitely not Indian concepts, it is an influence; it is a borrowed concept from the Western world and the whole idea is to get a Western object like a zombie and put it on Indian soils and see how the characters react to it. So yes, I’ve seen all these films and made sure that we don’t cross paths and look inspired, in the Bollywood sense. But, we did take a nod towards these films that we liked in the zombie series, and there’s at least 5-6 films we take a nod at in our films. Nobody would really notice it, but it’s for the hardcore fans out there.

So, what went into the casting process? Especially Saif as this zany character Boris?

We needed an actor who would have that ability to come and play an exaggeratedly macho role of a gun-toting Russian mobster kind of thing, with that blonde hair and when the times comes he snaps out of it to show that he’s a Delhi Chopra! The balance of machoismo and quirky sense of humour is the core of the Boris character, and we couldn’t think of anyone but Saif!

You’re also working with Kunal Khemu again; did you have him in mind earlier on?

Kunal we’ve been wanting to work with him for a while, so he was in talks with us, and we were in talks with him. So we always said let’s do another film, he was going to be one of the slackers in the slacker film but we didn’t have a script. So he was there, kind of on from the beginning that we should do another film with him, then came Saif then came Vir, and then Anand Tiwari.

You guys are also known for choosing actors from a theatre background, how did Anand’s casting come about?

Right, well we’ve been kind of addicted to looking for somebody fresh most of the time and we think theatre is a great source. Like in 99, we found Amit Mistry, and Shor in the City, we found Pitobash and a host of others like Radhika Apte. In this film, I thought the great discovery was Anand Tiwari.

Vir Das said in his interview with us that there was some room for improv, how did that work on set in letting the actors play around the script?

Yeah, we always believe in a strong bound script, so we’re going into shoot that one particular scene and that particular number of pages. But, once you go there the homework is done for them in those pages for the direction team and everybody. Once we go there, we pretty much shoot what we want and then we start to experiment within the boundaries of that scene we start to do a little improve. Whenever they want to try something new we encourage them, sometimes we push them, and take what we want. Or they give us 10 different options, only one works but as directors we take that call to what works and what doesn’t, but it’s great fun when the actor can do than what was rehearsed and they came for.

What excites you about the filmmaking process since your earlier indie films in the US to the success of your ventures in Bollywood?

I think it’s really the creative satisfaction in doing something that I still feel wasn’t even planned in my life. Right, I’ve wasted a whole lot of years on engineering, with my Masters, some 6-7 years of hardcore machines, and then a few years in corporate work with further consulting and traveling and all that stuff. At least 10-12 years I spent on that, but it was the really monotony that drove us, me and DK, to do something more, because that wasn’t helping. It wasn’t giving us the level of satisfaction that you get from a job. So I think most of that monotony in that job gave fodder for lots of small ideas in all our films, which somebody pointed out to us weeks ago that if features in our films one way or another, like maybe in a character or a plot point that hint at it. That’s what I was saying that I was feeling like a zombie when I was working.

How does your bond for you and DK work as writers and directors? Is there a workable balance that you guys can achieve?

There’s no method or systematic structure to it, basically DK and me, and Sita Menon usually are behind every film, and we form the core creative group that comes up with ideas, develops scripts, and then goes through the filmmaking process together. She [Sita] kinda remains behind-the-scenes but she is the creative director on these films, so she handles everything else. So we formed a balance, but we didn’t sit down and form a balance. It just works out everytime, we just write it in a messy way initially because it’s just ideas from all over the place, and then it forms a cohesive whole as we go towards the film.

You’re working with Sachin and Jigar, and this album is so whacky and hilarious, did you give them any pointers or directions in approaching the songs?

Yeah, we wanted to go for a completely whacky soundtrack without worrying ‘will this work’ or ‘will this be an item number’ and all that stuff, so we just went for a whacky film. we sat down for a long time and we found great partners in Sachin and Jigar after Shor in the City. We found that we could push them to get what we wanted and when they gave it, it exceeded our expectations so it was a nice back and forth. For this film, I had given them a clear ideas about what each song is about so we had a nice seed of an idea for these songs. Once it is defined, Sachin and Jigar, or any composer for that matter, revel in the fact that there is that defined structure to it, and then they just go bonkers with it! they have a great team between them of Sachin, Jigar, and Priya and they come up with great lines and tunes and we have the freedom to sit with them, to go back and forth to find what we need. It is a big collaborative effort; it’s almost like an extension of our own team with Sachin, Jigar, and Priya.

Any favourite song on the album? Babaji ki Booti is definitely the funniest one.

Yeah, I like the ‘Babaji ki Booti’ one, a little more than others, because we all sang together! Some seven of us sang, DK, me, Sachin, Jigar, Priya, Kunal, and Anand; we had a great time doing it. I think it’s a very well-produced song.

With songs, how do you see the rise of sync-songs used more in the background? Is there still a place for lip-sync songs in cinema?

Well, the ‘Khoon Choos Le’ is not in the film, so it gives us the freedom in making a music video that doesn’t go in the film. It’s giving filmmakers like us the freedom to keep the core of the film intact in theatres, and that play around with these music videos that most of the viewers like and enjoy, unlike a collage thrown at them every time. So I have come to realize after a couple of films that we should cool music videos every time and not worry about destroying the fibre of the main film.

Are you guys hopefully going to be doing a more romantic comedy like Flavours, which you started off with?

Well, our next film with be a romantic comedy. Finally we’re going to a romantic comedy, which I call slice-of-life film, which does have romantic comedy bits in it. We’re going out with a full romcom and one in that genre we promised ourselves, which is going to be our next film. You know I would love to do another film in the US, for the Indian-American and NRI audience, I just hope the market evolves a little more that it supports a film like that.

Definitely, Flavours was one of the first of its kind, do you think the crossover market has evolved since that time?

I doubt it; I think it’s kind of gone down actually, which is sad according to me, because it hasn’t evolved at all. It has just taken refuge in the Bollywood and Hollywood films really, so I don’t see many indie films coming out of it. I see the whole indie revolution with Flavours, and American Desi, ABCD or the four five films that came and that was that. I don’t see it, I mean there might have been smaller films, but they didn’t catch the global attention or Indian attention. I don’t know it’s kinda sad, I think I have to blame it on the market. The whole business cycle, I think it’s very hard to recover money and the audience where there’s not enough patrons to support films like that.

We’re approaching the 100 years of Indian cinema; do you think this film might get its dues later on as one of the first zomcoms of our time?

I didn’t think of it (laughs) yeah that would be great for this film to find its place as one of the first horror comedies, or something that bent genres or cool stuff like that. That would be nice, but we didn’t think of that!

Stay tuned we have an exclusive with Vir Das coming up soon!

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The sultry actress recently descended into London to attend a fundraiser for Pratham UK, a charity that helps to educate illiterate children throughout India. The event raised a staggering £42,000 for the charity that was attended by a 350 strong audience of women. India’s leading fashion designer Payal Jain mesmerized the audience with her collection ‘Butterflies In My Heart’ for the fundraiser.

Jacqueline spoke to our Bollywood Reporter Sunny Malik ahead of the event and talked about the cause, her films, friendships in Bollywood and much more…

Welcome to London.

Thank you. I love London. It has been amazing to be here. This time it’s a little different because I am here for a certain cause. Its work but it’s very fulfilling as well.

You are in the city to attend a fundraiser for Pratham UK. How did your association with Pratham come about?

I have a friend who is part of the Pratham group. Pratham is also very well-known in India. My friend knew that it’s a cause I am quite interested in and passionate about. I think education is something every child in the world has the right to. That is how my friend got me involved in the fundraiser in London and so I am here.

Can you tell us a little bit about Pratham and their work?

Pratham is all about education and literacy. Over the last twenty years, they have been able to educate over 33 million children all over India. They have done some amazing work. It’s great and really important to have a helping hand for such an issue in a country like India. Pratham has educated over 2 million children in the past year. They want to reach a target of about a 100 million kids. It’s amazing that we have such generous and passionate people involved. Being a Sri Lankan myself, I see the need for it in India. Pratham is one of the most important charities that we have.

You filmed for Housefull 2 in England. How does it feel to be back here and what do you like to do?

You know, I haven’t been back in London since I filmed Housefull 2 in 2011. It’s been a while (laughs). I am actually here just for Pratham but after finishing that up, hopefully I will have time to visit Harrods (laughs). I also love Hyde Park and I have to go there (laughs). That’s about it.

Congratulations on the super success of Housefull 2 and Race 2 at the UK Box Office. Housefull 2 earned over £1 Million and Race 2 earned close to £1 Million here and is still the highest grossing Bolllywood film for this year, so far. How does that feel?

It feels good. It has been a graduation of sorts. It has not really always been this way. It has been a slow process for me but I think since Murder 2 happened, a lot of things have changed for me. With films like Housefull 2 and Race 2, it has been about working with great directors, producers and actors and I think there is just no looking back from that.

Lat Lag Gayee from Race 2 is the most watched Bollywood song on YouTube this year, so far.

Yes, it did get quite big on YouTube.

When we met Saif Ali Khan in London he said the makers should cut him out of the song because his dance moves are really bad.

(Laughs) I know. He keeps telling me ‘Thanks Jackie. You made me look really bad’. I always tell him that I did not do anything. You did it all by yourself (laughs).

Did you expect that Lat Lag Gayee is going to be so popular?

The song was really good. I was definitely promised a very good song by my producer, Ramesh Taurani. He said that I am going to have a ‘Touch Me Touch Me, Kiss Me Kiss Me’ song like Katrina Kaif. When I heard Lat Lag Gayee for the first time, I thought it is nice. But I think what really helped the song was the choreography. Ahmed Khan gave us a really cool signature move and made it really fun and funky. It just came together really well. I did not expect it to become as big as it became but I knew that it would do well.

After Lat Lag Gayee, Tips Films signed you for an item song in Ramaiya Vastavaiya. The song is very ‘desi’ compared to what you have done before.

I wanted that actually. Initially, I was not interested in doing an item song. I told Ramesh ji that I am not interested in doing another item song. He told me that it was with Prabhudeva and that they want me completely desi. That is something I haven’t really done. I thought to myself that it is something I haven’t done and that it could be quite interesting. At the end of the day, songs and dance mean so much to us. I thought, maybe if I get another one in my pocket, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I also really wanted to work with Prabhudeva. He is someone I have been dying to work with. He has danced with me in the song and trained me for it as well. That in itself was an experience.

Sonam Kapoor considers you as one of her best friends. That’s rare in Bollywood, to see two contemporaries being close friends. Asin is also a good friend of Sonam and yourself.

I have worked with Asin in Housefull 2, which is how we became friends, after doing an entire movie together. But Sonam is just one of those extremely cool and confident young ladies. She just has no insecurities about her. That is amazing and you can tell that. She wants to go out all the time and is all about having her girlfriends around her. She is one of those typical kinds of girls who want to go out and shop. She is fantastic and gives me wardrobe and styling advice. I can’t see any other actress doing that. Asin, Sonam and I go out all the time. It’s fantastic when you can open up to someone about things like films, working with certain actors and just have your own little gossip group going.

Those gossip conversations would drive tabloids crazy if they were to leak out.

Oh yeah. You don’t want to know (laughs). That’s between our little trio. But we have so much fun together. It is true that you never really come across people, especially actresses, with whom you can actually just talk and have fun with.

You refused a few big films like Raaz 3 and Krrish 3 and then there were reports that you said you regret those decisions. How are you choosing your films?

Not in the way I was choosing them before (laughs). You know, it’s really sad though because I had not refused those films as much as there were date issues involved. When it came to Krrish 3, I was in full preparation and I was practicing stunts at Juhu Beach (Mumbai) every day at six in the morning. That went on for about a month. It just happened to clash with a schedule of Housefull 2. Both films were shot abroad with international technicians. I had to obviously honour my prior commitment which was Housefull 2. With Raaz 3, the script was changed around. When I heard it again, I was just not comfortable with it and I opted out of the film. Those stories were slightly fabricated that I had turned them down for specific reasons. There were valid reasons. Right now, I am a little bit more open and less choosy.

You are not on Twitter even though you were using it a few years ago.

Yes, I am not on Twitter anymore. When I was doing Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai, they (marketing team) set up a Twitter account for me which was @jackie_alien.

Your last post was in 2010…

(Laughs) I don’t even remember what my last post was or when it was. But at that time Twitter was new and it was the biggest thing happening. I was told that I will really need it to promote the movie. I went with the flow of it but only for the actual movie. I did not enjoy it too much. I thought that if it is something that will help promote the movie, then I will do it. When I finished with that movie, I didn’t think it served me any purpose, honestly. I did not see the need for it. It wasn’t like I really felt the need of putting my personal life on display, the way other celebrities feel comfortable with. But to each their own, I suppose.

Some celebrities also use Twitter to promote social causes. Would you consider that since you are here for cause, Pratham.

I would but I feel that there are different ways of reaching out to people. I am actually going to be at an event. I am speaking to journalists about it. It’s not all about Twitter as not everyone is on there. The people who are on Twitter are the same people who will go and read articles and go through websites online to read the news. I really never was too fond of it.

Photos by Hayat Khan

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We decided to have a quick chat to the London born model and actor, who is best known for his roles in 36 China Town and Namastey London, to find out what he has been up to since his last Bollywood film release, Run Bhola Run.

We are here at The Asian Awards; do you think it is important to hold such awards ceremonies here in the UK?

I think it is fantastic because when I used to be in the UK there was nothing like this around, I think it is great you can showcase and honour peoples talent. I think Asian’s are doing so well in different varieties of stuff, whether it is entertainment, sport, business and it is great to honour those people. It is such a huge and prestigious event. It is a great thing; it is my first time experience here so it should be good.

We haven’t seen you on the big screen for a year, can you tell us about any upcoming film projects you are working on?

I am doing a film called I, it is a Tamil film, starring me and Amy Jackson. We are currently doing that. We have been shooting that for one year hence why I have been unable to do any other films. I finish that film in September if it goes to schedule. Then I can start doing other films – I am contracted to only do that film.

Can you tell us more about the film?

It has got A. R. Rahman doing the music and Shankar is directing it. He did Robot with Aishwarya Rai and Rajinikanth. Vikram is also in there. We are shooting in China, Chennai. The special effects are by Peter Jackson’s company in New
Zealand, so it is a huge project. I can’t tell you anything else about the film. I can’t tell you my name, my character, what the story is about, what the film is about. Unfortunately I can’t, I would love to tell you!

What else have you been up to in the UK, apart from of course attending The Asian Awards?

I have just signed to an agency, Models 1. I just did a campaign today with a girl called Leah Weller. We shot for a British menswear design campaign today, which is really good.

Which designer?

His name is Peter Jeun Ho Tsang. It will be out soon, they are releasing the images in the Daily Mail next week so it will be out.

Finally, do you have a message for your fans?

I love you, I am coming back soon on screen, support me (laughs)

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Ranbir Kapoor is working on his dream, a piece of forever. He is hard at work trying to create not just movies, but cinema. We find him waiting patiently for his shot while Ayan Mukerji sets up what would be the penultimate scene of YJHD. We sit down to talk about Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and its moments. There is a certain sense of ease as he bares his thoughts for his fans, not structuring his answers to a question, but just narrating. Meandering through the memories of YJHD, piecing together moments he shared with the cast and crew, we try to bring you answers to the questions that you asked of him. We say “try” because sometimes there’s not one particular answer to a question or rather any answer. Sometimes you just have to let the moments be. A big thank you to every single fan of RK out there for being a part of these moments that we share here. So without further ado, here’s presenting RK and his new muse YJHD!

How is your jaawani treating you? Has it actually been deewani lately (for something, someone)?

My jawaani has somewhat gone into the making of my movies. It sounds like a very serious, boring answer but that is the truth. Everything related to my life in the last five years has come out of the movies and it’s been great. I am really grateful for everything that has happened so far, but there is a lot of hunger, a lot of search and its good. Life is good, parents are proud, I am happy, and my mind is occupied with positive thoughts. I believe I have crossed jawaani, I am 30 years old now. So I hope that the second half of my jawaani, or the first half of my budhaapa is still as good.

At the trailer launch, Ayan mentioned that you agreed to do this movie even before the script was finished. Was it because of your friendship, faith in him as a director, or was the incomplete script good enough for you to want to do it?

Ayan is one of the closest human beings in my life but apart from that, I have blind faith in him as a filmmaker, as a writer and he has so much love for me that I believe that he can’t …. that he himself works 10 times harder for me than I work for myself. When you have someone like that, the least I can do is what I did for jawaani. I will continue doing that all my life, my entire career. I hope he always wants to work with me and takes me in his next film as well, as he is one filmmaker who I will put all my money on and I truly believe that he will be one of the finest filmmakers the film industry has seen.

Would you have done the same had you not known or worked with Ayan before?

No, I don’t think so. I did it because I have worked with him, because of the kind of relationship I’ve had apart from our personal equation; the kind of filmmaker-actor relationship that we both share mattered more. I had a beautiful working relationship with him and Wake Up Sid is one of my favorite films. It’s the only film where I believe that I did decently, it’s a complete performance of mine and it’s purely because of Ayan’s love for me and Ayan’s love for the movies.

Has Ayan improved as a director with time or become worse in your opinion other than torturing you on shoots?

He has become worse because he’s become a slave driver. He has become extremely torturous but he does it for the movie. Like he made us climb mountains at 5 in the morning, we trekked for 2 hours up, I have jumped in the ocean when I have a water phobia. I’ve done major things for him which I won’t readily do, but because he has so much enthusiasm and he has such a great story to tell, he’s so joyful that you want to do it for him. So everything is forgiven because when I see the film, when I see the end result, I think its all worth it.

Do you remember the first scenes you shot for in Wake Up Sid and YJHD? Did the same amount of anxiety kick in as WUPS or were you more sure and composed for YJHD?

I think I have been the same for every film of mine. There’s still that sense of wonderment, is it going to go okay, is it not going to go okay. I come home everyday from shoot and I wonder. There’s never a day when I come home and go “oh aaj maine kya kaam kiya, aaj achcha scene hua hai.” It’s always a sense of not knowing and I think that’s what really works. I guess a disadvantage with YJHD is that Ayan knows me so well personally that I think I have stopped surprising him as an actor because he knows all my reactions, he knows my beats in life and on film. I think that surprising a director is very important. So I am constantly searching for things inside me on how to surprise him. I can’t ham it up as he is a person who believes in a moment to moment organic acting; so how do you do it? So that has been a constant struggle and I don’t think I have lived upto the expectation of what he wanted me to do in jawaani but having said that, I think it’s a joint effort and we both built on each other’s thoughts as far as this character Bunny was concerned.

Both Deepika and you have had your share of romcoms, some of the shots in the theatrical felt a bit reminiscent of your previous movies as well. One complaint from the promo that seems to be reverberating all around is the “been there, seen that” feel. Do you think it’s fair to compare or are we reading too much into it?

I think a disadvantage that Deepika and my pairing bring is that we were in a relationship which was so out there that it was like five movies together. So I guess people have seen us together so many times, we have spoken about each other, we have done a film together, so it seems like (to others) that we have done ten films before and it can get tiring. But I promise you that the characters and the story are so engaging, new and original that you wouldn’t feel that once you see the movie.

What is the USP of YJHD above other romcoms?

I think the heart of jawaani. It’s a very warm film. It’s about love, about friendship, about family, about happiness. It asks the question what is happiness? Are you happy being ambitious, travelling the world doing what you love, or are you really happy when you have someone to share that happiness with. Happiness is real only when it’s shared with someone and I think that’s what the movie talks about.

Since you are almost done filming the movie now, what is that one thing that will always stick in your minds about YJHD? What will you remember it as? (Besides the crazy rush to the finish going on at the moment)

The time that Deepika, me, Kalki, Aditya, and Ayan spent with each other. We all became so close. Of course the film as well, we all were really attached to it. We all were working hard, we all did our parts as well as we could but I think the things we did off set, like living together in Manali and Udaipur for 40 days each, we got really close and found a deep fondness for each other. Ayan and I had dozens of fights during the film. It was the first time Ayan actually raised his voice on me, which was kind of surprising and hurtful, but it was all great. I think the film also taught me about relationships which reflected on my life as well. Ayan knows me so well that he has kind of written this character with me in mind. The character is a bit detached and it’s about him finding people in his life, so subconsciously somewhere that sat well with me and I have taken that from the movie, that the relationships and the people really matter. You can’t take people who really care for you for granted.

The film talks about celebrating love and relationships. What is love according to you? How is it different from friendship?

I don’t know what love and friendship is. There are so many takes, so many theories, but I guess compassion, caring for someone, and really being good to the person. You know you could be just doing nothing and ….It’s too evolved a word for me, love and friendship. It’s in the moment, it’s about ..geeez I don’t know the right answer to this.

The movie also appears very sassy, zesty and absolutely crazy while celebrating love given the vibe of the promos released. What was the craziest shoot or schedule for you?

I think Manali and the trekking there. I don’t have great stamina, but trekking early in the morning with snow right upto our waist was hard. Paris was hard with jumping in the ocean. Udaipur was very easy because most of the second half happens in the hotel where the wedding is taking place. The songs were fun to do. The holi song was amazing; it felt like it was really holi. We all were drenched with color and water through the day, and we never complained. There was a lot of fun and what you see on screen is just a bunch of kids having fun in Manali. Kashmir was amazing. It was of course patchwork done for Manali. We wanted to do some snow portions. I had shot there before for Rockstar and was going there again, so I was the one leading the group and telling them eat this, go here, go there, so I was the torch bearer there. It was amazing to be with Deepika, Kalki, and Aditya everywhere. They are my friends now. I am so close to them and I am so happy that this film happened because I have really made relationships for life.

Ayan claimed that YJHD is better than WUPS. In what respect?

It’s a wholesome film. There is more in jawaani than there was in WUPS. It’s a little obnoxious to say that it’s a better film because you never know till it releases and reaches out to the audience. But I think it’s a deeper film, it’s more entertaining, it’s larger in canvas, in glamour, in feeling, in songs, in the kind of work that has been put in. Everything was more in this film.

For WUPS you were the one to suggest the title. Did you contribute creatively to YJHD as well apart from lending your awesome acting credits?

This was Ayan’s baby. Wake Up Sid was my title but this was totally Ayan’s. I guess he called the film YJHD because he just wanted to capture a time in these four friend’s lives. That zest, that energy of the youth when you are careless and irresponsible, when you have dreams, your first heartbreak, second heartbreak, falling in love, falling out of love, falling in love again, anxiety, jealousy….He wanted to explore that side, and then when you grow up and it’s time to realize your priorities on what happens and what doesn’t. So he felt that YJHD was apt for the madness of the film that it was.

Also, I don’t have to contribute with Ayan because he is a dictator where I am concerned and everything is so easily figured out in his head and it all makes so much sense. He has such a wonderful mind. He’s one filmmaker with whom I can’t contribute because I know whatever he is saying has more thought, more truth, and more sense than I could ever bring.

Were there moments while shooting where you felt the scene was particularly retarded but you still had to do it because that’s what the director demanded? Did you voice your opinions or did you blindly trust your director through everything?

It’s an actors prerogative to do whatever is in the script because he has read the script and he knows what he is doing. So he has to do it with conviction, he is the one who people are going to see the movie through, so that’s his job. I hadn’t read jawaani before I signed it, but thankfully Ayan is such a wonderful writer and such a wonderful filmmaker that everything makes sense to me. Also, we are like-minded. We have similar opinions about movies, about life, about people, about relationships, so I don’t think there was any point of conflict. I think he is a very easy guy to argue with and also a very easy guy to agree with. He puts in so much of thought himself and he feels so much himself that the feeling is so right that you don’t have to argue with it.

Was there a particular scene or incident while shooting YJHD that made you feel really happy being an actor/being part of the movie? Some memorable shot?

It’s unfair. I can’t really take out one thing. We shot over a period of one year, close to 120 days and there’s so much of stuff that has happened – good days, bad days. I think the best thing I remember is the Holi song. We all were there together, we all were having fun, we all were playing, we were a bunch of foolish kids in that song.

Any moment when you regretted being part of the movie?

One fight I had with Ayan in Manali because he wanted a sunset shot and Kalki was leaving Manali and I went to say bye to her. And it was so critical that it was just in a span of three minutes that we could get the shot, and I was meant to change my costume and come back on set and he saw me gassing with Kalki and he started screaming at me and I screamed back at him because I can take him for granted, and then he screamed louder and that just threw me off. And then we sulked for a day until we both couldn’t take it and we finally made up.

We both have our egos so we both sulked and didn’t talk to each other. Then next day at shoot we were supposed to reach up at 5 AM in the morning and I was the first one to arrive out of guilt and he was already there out of guilt also. We saw each other, and once we make eye contact it is transparent between us that it just kind of melts and we talk it out.

Also, jumping into the ocean from a yatch. I hate the water, I can’t swim. So I made sure that Ayan was already in the water before I jumped. In the scene, I jump from the yatch, the yatch has to go away and the camera is on the yatch. As the yatch went away, I made Ayan swim and rescue me and keep me afloat and I was on top of him. So that was like sweet revenge. I also pushed him in Manali in the lake. There is a scene where Deepika and I are on a boat and we packed up 1 hour before we were supposed to and both of us convinced him to jump into the lake with his clothes on even when the lake was really dirty…but he still did it.

2013 will see you do a lot more massy projects than you have been doing lately. Was this a conscious decision on your part or did it just happen?

Like I said, I am not really choosy. The scripts and the directors choose me. The kind of directors that have come to me, I would be stupid to not do their films. But having said that, to me, Barfi, Rockstar, Wake Up Sid, Rocket Singh…when I read these scripts, I saw a commercial aspect to them. I saw them as engaging films. So it is not a conscious effort on my part to follow up a Barfi with a masala film. I thought Barfi was a masala film and it made so much money at the Box Office. So there is no plan. Whatever comes to me at that moment, instinctively I decide if I like it and I sign on. So I have jawaani this year and Besharam. I guess Besharam is even more of a masala film if you can call it that. It’s an action comedy, it has romance, it has everything in it. But I don’t know. I still wonder what is commercial, what is masala, what works, what doesn’t. I haven’t figured that out yet. So I am still analyzing, I want to do as much as I can, different genres, different characters. So I guess I haven’t figured it out yet.

You have signed on to be a producer for Bombay Velvet. So will BV be the official movie that brings RK films out of the hibernation phase, a revival perhaps?

No, it’s not that I have become the producer. It’s that now the kind of contracts I am signing in movies are different from what I used to do before. The BV producers Vikas, Phantom and all of those guys have been kind enough to make a statement like this. But it doesn’t come under RK films; it’s just that they have given me a percentage of the movie which entitles me to put RK banner there.

I don’t believe in that word revival. I have to start a movie but I have been just too preoccupied with the kind of filmmakers I want to work with and they already have production houses of their own, or already signed with producers. I also have ambitions to direct, I keep saying that and never do anything about it. But so far nothing has come out of it and I don’t want to make any immature statements. I have stories, scenes, characters in my mind but I don’t have the time, knowledge, the bandwidth, or the talent to write. It’s not easy and I realize that even more by working in good movies and working with good filmmakers, that making a movie is way harder than acting. Acting is really silly and stupid.

Talking about hibernation, you had to sit at home for a month or more while shooting for YJHD. Did that irk you? Did it finally make you question your one film at a time policy?

Depends. When something like that happens, it can sometimes be annoying because so much of your youth is being wasted while you could be working on the sets, having few more releases. But I guess then you get to live your life better. You get to travel, spend more time with your parents, friends, watch movies, play soccer. So you get a little bit of life back, otherwise you are always on a set, you are stuck in a rut. You become a machine, so it’s a good thing, and I guess the only bad side is that you only have just one film at a time. But I don’t see any negatives or positives of doing one film or 4-5 films at a time. It all depends on the destiny of the movie once it’s made.

You turned 30 recently, what are the 5 things you have learned about life so far.

1. Don’t take people for granted.
2. Stardom is really fickle and temporary, it’s only hard work and the kind of work you do that really speaks.
3. I am still figuring out the meaning of the word Casanova which has been attached to me for so long.
4. Smoking isn’t good for me and I am trying so hard to give it up. I should probably take up knitting because I mostly smoke on sets waiting for my shot.
5. Work with filmmakers who have something to say. Don’t just work with projects. Choose your makers, choose your stories, your characters, but make sure that the filmmaker has something to say because what really matters is the director and what he is going to do with the film

Some rapid fire questions which didn’t have any rapid answers at all!

One thing you love about this interview but hate about the other interviews (i.e. say nice things about us)

It comes from people who have given me a lot of love and I am a little bit less conscious because I know that there is lesser judgment. What I hate about the other interviews is that they don’t care. They just say it because it’s their job to ask and it doesn’t matter what you have to say. I guess this one matters to an extent.

The first image that comes in your mind when you hear the word “love”

Movies, soccer, parents, and a few women (Remind him that the last word adds to his Casanova image and he covers it up by adding – “over a period of time”)

Bunny talks about traveling to different cities in the previews, which part of the world do you want to visit if you could leave right now?

I would just like to go and live in NY and that’s really my plan. After few years, live for 3-4 months in NY. I love the energy, the vibe of the place. I also want to try to do something there apart from the movies. So yeah, NY is one place where I would love to go all the time. And I like Barcelona because my favorite football club is there.

What about somewhere unknown?

To be honest, I don’t have much of a desire to travel that much. I am not much of a traveller. Yes the character Bunny is, but I am a home body and I like staying at home in my room. If I want to go somewhere, I like to go to places that I am familiar with because there’s so much more to explore in a place. The world is too large, it’s like opening a pandora’s box. If that bug catches you of travelling, then there is no limit, you can spend your entire life travelling to different places, seeing new cultures, but I’d rather just stick to one place and kind of know more about that place and that culture and see life about a certain place. That’s the kind of person I am.

Favorite TV series currently

Homeland is the last tv series I watched and I really enjoyed it. Episodes was fun. I didn’t like Newsroom or Game of Thrones Season 2. I think my all time favorite would be Lost. Friends of course, but I really enjoyed the first few seasons of Lost.

Your to-do list for this year?

Make my house, go to NY again, have a wholesome relationship with someone, play more football, spend more time with my parents & my friends, make a body, quit smoking.

Marriage this year?

There was a time in my life where there was a certain notion about marriage which came with a certain age and you started a family at a certain age, but the more I am seeing life, the older I am getting, I feel that it should just kind of naturally happen. You should not put age to it, you should not say okay now I am alone and lonely, or I need children. I think everything should organically come into your life. So when it happens, it happens. I am not really putting any deadlines to it.

A piece of advice you would give Ayan (as an actor to a director and not a friend)

Chill the *beep* out. He’s one of those students who even if is so prepared for his exam, is always stressing and makes the other person believe that he has not done anything. He’s the guy who would come out of an exam and say shit, I *beeped* up and then comes out with 100 marks. So I think he needs to chill. But having said that he is a great guy, he is such a wonderful man that I accept him exactly how he is because he accepts me with all my flaws and disadvantages as an actor and as a person, and he unconditionally loves me and I can only reciprocate that.

The second most important character in YJHD after you – assuming you are central to the movie!

Naina. You see the entire story through Deepika’s perspective. It’s not that I am the most important character of jawaani. It’s a love story primarily and Aditya and Kalki also have primary characters. So it’s not WUPS, it’s not just about Sid. It’s a film about friends, about relationships, and everyone has a strong part to play.

Favorite song from YJHD

My favorite is a song which just got recorded, it’s a background song which is a love change over song of the boy. It’s just beautiful. I think it’s called Fakira temporarily.

Ayan Mukerji in one word

Heartfelt

Ranbir Kapoor in one word

Detached

YJHD in one word

Celebration

Your sales pitch for YJHD

I don’t think jawaani needs a sales pitch. It’s made with such good intentions, such honesty that the promos and the songs and the chemistry between all the characters, the world of the movie will entice the audience to come and watch the film. I think they can decide then but I don’t think it needs a false sales pitch or items to bring people in.

And that ladies and gentleman is Ranbir Kapoor for you.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani hits theaters on May 31st!

A big thank you to A and all the fans at RanbirKapoor.net!

Special Feature: Ranbir Kapoor on The Love, life and moments of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a post from: BollySpice

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“I am very nervous, obviously” Pooja says with a smile.

About Pooja Chopra
I have grown up in Kolkata and done my school from Pune and my mom singlehandedly raised me and my sister. I had never thought about acting. When I was younger I always wanted to be an officer. In college, I wanted to be Miss India. Unfortunately I couldn’t participate in the Miss World competition because of my broken foot. I got disqualified.
After I won Miss India, my mom wanted to see me as an actress, so I wanted to give this a shot. So after my recovery I did a South Film and made up my mind that I really like doing this. After that I took acting classes, dance classes and started doing auditions.

About Commando
Commando happened through auditions, screen tests and meetings. Commando is basically a story about a fight between a girl and the villain. And then the hero jumps in to help and protect her. But the girl I play is not a weak girl, she is not a damsel in distress. He sees her fighting and he decides to help her.

Simrit is very happy, emotional, sensitive, naughty, fun and girly, but at the same time very strong, bold and capable of handling her own business. She doesn’t run away from things, but faces the problems. She takes the villain head on.
She is a girl of today, she is a real girl. I could completely identify with her. And of course, she is very romantic.

Preparing for big debut
Like I said, since I related to her a lot. The makers said a few things, we will tell you on the set, but otherwise you are a lot like the character, so keep it natural. Act like you do normally.

About working with Vidyut Jamwal, Dilip Ghosh and Vipul Shah
Working with Vidyut was great. It was very comfortable working with him. I knew from before, he is a friend. We have walked the ramp together. Nothing much changed. He is a quiet guy and keeps mostly to himself except when he is doing action. Haha!

Working with Dilip Ghosh was really nice. It’s his first film as well. He was extremely encouraging. At times he would tell me this body language is exactly like Simrit’s. So very encouraging.

Vipul Shah was the captain of our ship.. In a way it was everyone’s first film. Vipul was like a mentor, he has the maximum experience. So he was a great support for all of us.

About dangerous stunts and overcoming her fears
Vidyut underwent training for his stunts because he is playing a commando, while I didn’t. I have raw action, because this girl is from the city so she is not a trained fighter. There was no real training; otherwise the moves would be calculated. A lot of times she just takes action. It had to be like I did it the first time.

I am not a very adventurous person. Like I would never bungee jump or skydive. It’s not fun for me, it’s fear. In Commando, I had to jump of a 45-foot bridge into the water. It scared the daylights out of me. And I couldn’t swim. I did get over that fear. When you are up there you don’t need to think, because once you start thinking then you will not move at all. You need to just do it.

You know, there were actually bets on the set that I would not jump. They lost! Haha!

I also had to overcome my fear to use my foot, because of the fracture I had earlier and it never completely healed. Since 80% of the film is shot in the jungle,with me running around with an ankle that is still not completely healed, it was scary. I have fallen so many times. Everytime I got hurt I would not let me back down. I would never do that. I didn’t let me get down again.

I think I have discovered a lot of things which I didn’t know I could do: conquer my fear of heights, not letting my leg hold me back and even acting: I discovered I am a natural spontaneous actor rather than a planned method actor.

The Soundtrack of Commando
All the songs are doing so fab well. There are 4 songs in the film. I love ‘Saawan bairi’. Superb! I love the whole soundtrack. The music is fantastic.

Bollywood
Bollywood has a certain image, but I had no real image of the industry. When I became Miss India I got to know Bollywood better and the film industry has always been very welcoming, warm and extremely nice.

Advice to young girls
I would not be the best person to give advice on acting, because I just started out, but I can give advice on entering Miss India. You need to have a believe and a confidence in yourself. Be fearless in voicing your opinion. You need to be a persona who speaks her mind. You need to be strong, confident and stand up to voice your opinion. Believe in what you feel. And of course there is hard work besides the basic height and measurements.

Future Ambitions
I don’t plan ahead. I have only short term ambitions. For now, I want Commando to do well. I want to be accepted, liked and appreciated by the industry, by the audience by everybody.

Pooja Chopra has signed another film with the same production house, but cannot disclose anything yet. After Commando releases, her next project will be announced. When asked if she also like many newcomers these days, has been signed on for a three film deal, she quips: “That’s confidential, I can’t talk about that”.

Commando is in theaters today!

Pooja Chopra talks Vidyut and Commando! is a post from: BollySpice

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