Siddharth Anand talks with Subhash K Jha and looks back at the making of his action drama, War. A first-of-its-kind spy thriller, that hit the big screen in 2019, War starred Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff along with Vaani Kapoor and Ashutosh Rana.
Would you say War was a turning point in your career?
I would say I’m very, very happy with War and when I look back at it, I feel proud. War has been probably the most important point in my career. I’m not talking about the success of War. I’m talking about the making of War. I’m talking about the creation of War has been the turning point. It has actually, all my films that I made till that date, I think have been, have lent to me making War the film it is.
Please explain?
Right from the conception of the idea of it and then how to screenwrite it and then how to shoot it and also how to shoot and use each character in the film. I think all my films have led me to it. All my films have had some sort of a learning for me that led to making War what it is.
War was a turning point for the action genre?
From the point of time making it into a relentless action film, I wrote War as a songless film. There were no songs in War and the songs came in much later. After the script was ready, (producer) Aditya Chopra and me, we fit Ghungroo as a situation in it at the point that it came in. In fact, it’s been a turning point as a filmmaker for me. All these things that I’m saying are not about the success of War. I’m talking about the making of War. What transpired into writing War for me was the turning point. The fact that the kind of films I wanted to make going post-2016-2017 when I started writing War has been the turning point for me.
War was huge success?
Of course, the success of War has really validated that and I’ve never looked back. I’ve kept that learning in mind in making all my films post that and even now I keep that learning in mind. War for me has been an institution of learning that if you apply this, then it’s good as a filmmaker that it allowed me to get the success with all the learnings from my past experience.
I think War became one of the most definitive action films of our times?
Even if you go back and look at it now, it’s got its unique language for a Hindi film. It was relentless, it was brave, it had amazing twists, it was fast-paced, it had great songs. So it had a great amalgamation and a new language for Hindi film, I believe. And I think it was an experience that our audiences probably had for the first time in an action film. That’s what made War so iconic and definitive and it was something that it was refreshing, I would say, for an action film for that time. I think it had some things that just blend in well. I wouldn’t say that it’s perfect as a film. But I think it was a good blend and I don’t think I would mess with it to change anything today.
If you had to remake War again, would you change anything?
No, I don’t think so. I would keep it as is. I’m very happy.
