Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani writer Ishita Moitra breaks down characters of Jaya Bachchan, Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt, calls film a ‘love letter’ to Hindi cinema

The film released last Friday and opened to unanimously positive word-of-mouth and critical acclaim, with many appreciating its tough balancing act of ticking every box of being a Karan Johar entertainer and yet being refreshingly new with gender politics that mainstream Bollywood films rarely get right.

In an interview with indianexpress.com, Ishita opens up about the writing process of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, how Ranveer and Alia made the characters their own, the way Jaya Bachchan played evil with “fun”, and how the film never judges characters of Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi for their equation born out of infidelity.

Edited excerpts:

How exactly did the film fall in place?

I was working on two projects, Call Me Bae coming out on Prime Video and a film which I have co-written, which is directed by Anand Tiwari, it’s a comedy. Karan had read my scripts and writing. But I wasn’t expecting this at all. When Somen (Mishra, Executive Producer) called me and said Karan wanted me for his film, I was pinching myself. This was during COVID, it was a bleak time, so what Karan wanted to do here–with the families– I found it interesting and fun.

We were consuming a lot of OTT content; they were mostly dark. So, I felt this was like Ted Lasso or Schitt’s Creek, it was something that brought a lot of solace and joy to me even while writing. We had a lot of fun writing it. There were a lot of old Hindi film references, Karan made me rewatch a lot of old funny Hindi films–like Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Khubsoorat starring Rekha–to see what has already been done in this space and how we can subvert it and take it further. We used to also bond over music, so that fun translated in the script.

What do you think of Karan Johar’s world, and which is your favourite film of his?

When I was a child, I was a fangirl of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham! I love the character of Poo, her lines, I just loved the grandeur and scale of those films. But this was when I was very impressionable, I didn’t understand any politics, gender politics. Then there was Kal Ho Na Ho, it is directed by Nikhil Advani, but it has that trademark of Karan Johar cinema produced by Dharma. My Name is Khan and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna are films that I really enjoyed as well. My Name is Khan–from the epiglottis –for its theme, is my favourite. But if I go by the fangirl in me, then it is Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. I still cry when I watch the film, I don’t know why, despite watching it some 70,000 times!

What was the toughest thing to crack in Rocky Aur Rani?

In terms of themes, we were doing humour but also the subversion of family drama. We were trying to view it with a certain kind of politics, but at the same time didn’t want it to overtake the film and the fun of watching such a movie. People are not in for a didactic experience, they are in it to be entertained. Within that construct, there are certain things we wanted to say through these characters. I was conscious of this balance. I would write, then Karan would give me feedback, then I would write again. There was complete hand holding and Karan was very much part of the process.

For me, the cancel culture bit was… It is very easy to mock people with a different ideology, it is something we do off-handedly now. We just keep cancelling each other all the time. This is something even we used to speak about and wanted to see if this is something Rocky would feel as well. That monologue had to be deep, yet very Rocky-like, to say everything we wanted to say in that was one of the most interesting bits to write. Even the scenes of Rani with his family, that has old-world dialoguebaazi. Lines like, ‘Main chahti hu aap mazbuti ki misaal bane, majboori ki nahi’. 

But Karan wanted me to go there, he wanted that weight in the lines, and now when I see the film, I know why. Because in that set up and with those characters (Randhawas), these lines if spoken in a conversational way wouldn’t have hit. There had to be a certain meter. So, where we had to go traditional, we did, where we had to go modern, fun and conversational, we went that route. I was following Karan’s lead, he would tell me how he would see a scene, then we would discuss and write. It was a very fun, democratic process.

Can you talk to us about writing Jaya Bachchan’s character. She seems to be truly having a blast as Dhanalakshmi.

Jaya ji is awesome… she plays evil with fun. Like, when Rani says something and leaves the room, Jaya Bachchan makes a face, she is just so good. She bit into the part with relish. The performance is entirely her and Karan. But even in terms of writing, she was the one character we knew we won’t make her break out of her character and redeem her and bring her to dance with the rest of the family (laughs)!

Yes, and that was a brilliant move…

You have seen her live that life and it would have been weird if she just changed overnight. May be ten years down the line she would come around or may be when Rocky and Rani have a baby, but not immediately. Her character has too much ego, so for her to even accept that she was wrong is good enough.

Was the character written so deliciously fun or that happened on set? There are lines like ‘Ghajni aur Sajni’ that she mouths and they are hilarious.

Yes, everything was written. We wrote it like that, with a lot of humour. Right from the beginning, that was the tone we had. We wanted to make it evil but humourous. We wanted to make all the characters fun, in whatever way we could. We started work on it during COVID, so the idea was to pack in as much entertainment and fun– whatever we were missing or craving. So the proper Karan Johar stuff was there, from chiffon sarees, ode to Hindi film music, the big laughter, drama.

What’s your favourite scene in the film?

I have a few, the cancel culture scenes pops in my mind immediately. Then the dramatic fight after Dhindora Baja Re, or when Kshitee Jog’s character (Punam Randhawa, Rocky’s mother) breaks into Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tammana Hai. In terms of the lighter scenes, in the first half Rocky and Rani are just bantering, I wanted to see love like this on screen. Alia and Ranveer have such an amazing chemistry, I love how they performed. It is such a friendly, real banter. I love how they have done it. when Rani says, ‘Tu kya hai?, and he says, ‘Tu hi bata de’.

How was it like to write these two characters and how did they evolve through the process?

I speak both, Bengali and Punjabi. I am a Bengali and by virtue of being an army kid–my father was posted in Amritsar– I picked up Punjabi at that time. That really resolved a lot of my issues. Before the film began, we had a lot of discussions. Like, Alia wanted more Bengali so I added more of it. With Ranveer, he always improvises and puts in his 100 percent, so it was an organic evolution of the material. We were at it for a while, until the last bit was shot. They also had dialect coaches on sets, so that the language is authentic throughout. Both of them are also extremely committed, sincere actors, who want more and want to be pushed.

The film is also such a glorious tribute to quintessential Hindi films.

We used to feel that even while writing, we spoke about a lot of actors, directors, films and all those references. This is actually a love letter to Hindi films. There is no other way to call it.

The Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi track is beautiful, because they could have easily been (spoiler alert) college lovers, but they are in fact two married people, who met each other and fall so deeply in love in just seven days, that it has lasted all their lives. It treats their equation–born out of infidelity– with so much dignity and love, which is rare in mainstream films.

This is all Karan, honestly, If you see, whenever there is a theme like this in any of films, he handles it with a lot of tenderness and with no judgments. I think this was one of the first things he thought of when he was ideating on the film. For him, it began with the thought, ‘What if there two characters, Jamini and Kanwal, who can’t be together and later their grandchildren meet somewhere.’ There is no film if you remove them, they are the sweetest part of the film. I was really waiting for people to watch that montage, where they are singing medley of old songs. It is just so beautiful!

To see Dharam ji do, Aaj Mausam Bade Beimaan Hai was such a moment! I remember with Shabana ji, she is so cool, she had asked me so many questions like, ‘In 1978 when Jamini went to Shimla, who accompanied her? Because back then girls wouldn’t travel alone!’ (laughs). There is just so much in-depth research that goes into making a Shabana Azmi character!