Back to School

One person,also a former theatre actor,who probably missed watching Graffiti was Shah Rukh Khan. “But three years ago,I met him backstage during a stage show and we got talking. I mentioned Grafitti,and how I had been planning to turn it into a film. He asked me to send him the script,” says Abbas. SRK was reportedly hooked by the story. “His office called to say that he wanted to produce the film,” says Abbas,42.

The result is Always Kabhi Kabhi,a cinematic adaptation of Grafitti,which will release on June 17,under Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment banner.

“I always wanted to lend a larger canvas to this theatre production. But the circumstances were never auspicious for me. In 2005,I approached a friend and the current scriptwriter of the film,Ranjit Raina,to spin out a draft for Always Kabhi Kabhi,” says Abbas. The film evolves as a campus tale in which school four friends,in their final semester,find themselves caught between choices of career,romance and other growing-up pains.

Abbas is aware that he is entering a domain cluttered with directors younger than him with ideas that are radical and experimental. “The script for the film had to be the written afresh since the characters in my play were based in 1999 and the film is set in 2009. The script had to be made more spunky,and include the current lingo of youngsters,” says Abbas,who roped in young dialogue writer Ishita Moitra,who has assisted in Kambakht Ishq and other Yash Raj projects.

Besides the crew,the cast also comprises fresh faces like Harsh Naagar,Ali Fazal,Zoa Morani and Giselle Monteiro. Abbas held acting workshops with the cast to evolve a new grammar for the film. Fazal,who had a small role in Three Idiots,lost 14 kg for Always Kabhi Kabhi and maintained the look for a year. A big confidence boost,of course,is that the film has SRK’s support. “More than a producer,he is a guiding light,” says Abbas.