4 min readUpdated: May 9, 2014 10:36 AM IST
Kangna Ranaut in a still from Revolver Rani; director Sai Kabir.
Revolver Rani has done business of around Rs 10 crores in the first week. Did the collections meet your expectations?
The collections were overwhelming. Considering the film is a daring attempt, with no reference in Bollywood, and being an experimental movie, made in a modest budget of Rs 8.5 crores, Revolver Rani has done well. My producers were satisfied with the critical acclaim but when it did well at the box office also, it was very encouraging. If a film does well on weekdays, it means that the audience has liked it.
Tigmanshu Dhulia (one of the producers) mentioned that at one point you all were actually thinking of turning Irrfan into a female and casting him as the protagonist as no actress would be ready to play the part of Alka Singh who is this psychotic, murderous, sexually ravenous dacoit-turned-politician. What has been the response to Kangna Ranaut’s portrayal of the part?
Yes, it’s true at one point we did toy with the idea because the part of this ugly, tyrannical politician was unconventional. As for Kangna, the audience is loving her as Alka Singh and she is getting rave reviews. Everyone is impressed how convincingly she has portrayed this feudal Indian ‘man’. Considering the film is not very pleasant, and her part is exactly the opposite of Queen, it is quite an achievement.
What do you keep in mind when you set a film in the heartland and highlight little known facts about these places. In Revolver Rani everyone, including young children were brandishing guns.
As a filmmaker I never entertained the thought that the audience will not understand or is not familiar with something, because a film is also made to make you aware of what is happening. I feel Revolver Rani is a well-crafted, responsible film. Its rash, violent backdrop is a culture, which still exists and could be any place along the criminal belt in India, in places such as UP, Haryana or even the South. No point in making something that people already know.
There’s a lot of deceit in the film. What did you want the audience to walk away with?
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I wanted the audience to get my point that the film is an authentic and bloody romcom about modern Indian society where not too many good things are happening. It’s the comedy of our land. It’s a story about how no one is good, and how everyone, including the protagonist celebrates life in a gutter. And then there is a divine intervention in the form of Kangana’s pregnancy and she wants to come out of the gutter.
That’s when the madness starts. As an idea the film is supposed to make people uneasy.
Was there any particular reason for Kangna’s obsession with Venice and Paris? And is there a sequel in the offing as the climax shows a badly injured, almost-dead-Kangna opening one eye.
The film is a journey from insanity to sanity, from a gutter to a dream land. And Venice is a city which means hope. In fact, I am quite close to Alka Singh. I am from Gwalior and when I went to Paris some years ago, I became obsessed with the city and even wanted to settle there. I guess my own obsession is the reason I decided to use it in the film. As for making a climax, the way the film ends is how I wanted to finish it — as it leaves you with hope. But there was no thought of making a sequel.
Kangna Ranaut in a still from Revolver Rani; director Sai Kabir.