Every time I have written a script keeping an actor in mind, it hasn’t worked: Sriram Raghavan

Seated in his Andheri office, where one wall is covered with old Hindi film posters while his desk has a bobblehead miniature of Hitchcock, sharing space with Christmas decorations and a copy of Raymond Chandler’s Playback (1958), the writer-director unpacks his process, talks about his many loves — old Hindi songs to his favourite film personalities — and why he doesn’t give in to commercial concerns. Excerpts:

This year, you complete 20 years as a filmmaker. Does it feel like a landmark?

I had not given it a thought. I have been here longer but, yes, I directed Ek Hasina Thi, my first film, 20 years ago.

In your interviews, you said that after the success of Andhadhun, you wanted to make an intimate film.

When I read the story (Merry Christmas is based on French writer Frédéric Dard’s book Bird in a Cage), which is set in Paris, in the ’60s, I realised it’s a beautiful read but plot is not vital to it. It is like a love story in the garb of a thriller. But what I loved about it are the characters and the possibilities of what one can do with them. Films like Andhadhun didn’t have a romance that’s strong like this. I knew I couldn’t pace it up. Initially, I thought this would be a 90-minute movie without an interval. When I started fleshing out the script with my co-writers (Pooja Ladha Surti, Arijit Biswas and Anukriti Pandey), I realised there was scope to do more. It’s longer than two hours (144 minutes) now.

Why was it so crucial for you to have a fresh pairing, featuring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, for Merry Christmas?

If you have seen the movie, you know the pairing works beautifully. I did try different kinds of casting options. I don’t flesh out the story in detail till I have my cast in place. While writing, of course, you keep a certain dream cast in mind. For Andhadhun, I thought Tabu would be great but she had not heard the story for a long time. Luckily, she liked it. For Merry Christmas, I wanted actors who are strangers to each other. If I had taken A and B, who had worked with each other before, it wouldn’t have been as effective.

Actors Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi in a still from Merry Christmas.

You stuck to the choice of casting Katrina even though you took a while to zero in on the male lead. Did you wish to break her established image?

More than me, it was Katrina who was keen on breaking that image. It would be too pompous of me to tell an actor that I wish to break your image. She wanted to do something different than what she is mostly known for. When I met her, I liked her hunger to do this kind of character. That’s something one looks for in an actor. She is meticulous and suited the character. We had a lot of fun working together. Vijay came on board almost a year later and that too by chance. I had watched his Tamil films earlier and knew that he is a superb actor. I knew having Katrina and Vijay was going to be a risky combination but that’s also the USP.

When Katrina and Vijay are dancing, you have gone for a long take.

It is largely a single take. The idea was to have an improvised dance sequence. We did have a choreographer, but I wanted it to look spontaneous. Maria is dancing and at some point Albert decides to join her. There was the option to cut but for the sake of spontaneity, I thought let this be a single shot.

For the interrogation scene at the police station, you again opted for a single, long take.

It is a three-and-a-half-minute single shot. If we had gone for cuts, it becomes like any other police scene. I have worked on the television show CID and similar things. So, when I have to do a police scene, I wonder how to get away from the typical shot-taking. We did rehearse the scene, mainly because it involves complicated camera choreography and captures the action in two different rooms. I love the work of French filmmaker Jean Pierre Melville, whose movie Le Doulos (1962) has a lengthy interrogation scene.

You often use old Hindi film songs in your movies. Is it an organic choice?

It does not come while writing the script. Normally, when we are editing it, I wonder if we can use a certain song. When Aakash in Andhadhun is given anaesthesia and his kidney is going to be removed, he sees a tattoo of Shiv ji. I thought it would be great to use the song Jai Bholenath jai ho prabhu from Kunwara Baap (1974) there. But there is a fee involved and it is quite expensive to use old songs.

Why do you shy away from scaling up and taking on big projects?

My next film Ikkis (biopic of Param Vir Chakra recipient Arun Khetarpal) is a big production, in terms of scale and story. It will be Agastya Nanda’s theatrical debut and Dharmendra is there. I wanted to work with Dharamji again after Johnny Gaddaar. Working with big stars, it depends on the subject. If you consider the films I have done, having other stars would not have made a big difference.

I do meet big actors, but they have to be in the same zone. Luckily, when I was doing Badlapur, Varun Dhawan was in that zone. After a few successes, maybe he would have found it too risky. With big stars, my worry is that if their earlier films have done humongous business, they should not look at my film and say that it has to beat their previous film’s collection. By the way, Alfred Hitchcock did not always get the stars he wanted.

How was it working with Dharmendra after Johnny Gaddaar?

We have already shot quite a bit with him and he is fantastic in the film. When I got to know the story, he was my first choice. We usually discuss a lot before shooting. His face is like a landscape and he has a great voice. However, the younger generation of viewers might not have watched his best work such as Bandini (1963), Sholay (1975), Chupke Chupke (1975) and Pratigya (1975). He is great in comedy as well as drama.

With opening weekend numbers becoming such a big deal, are stars taking only calculated risks?

For them, the number validates their star value. I don’t have that pressure. If Andhadhun did X business, I am not starting my next film thinking that now I have to do more than X. One may make a huge extravaganza but the collection might still not be great. If you have a big star, one assumes that you get a good opening. But nowadays, the word spreads within the first couple of days.

There is a great line by Quentin Tarantino regarding numbers that’s etched in my mind. He says that in the grand scheme of things, opening weekend is the least important time in the film’s life. A film takes more than a year to make. So, three days in a weekend are not the most important days for me or Quentin (laughs). Though for many it is.

What, according to you, is the perfect love story?

I love Roman Holiday (1953). They share something unique and intimate for a short time. Yet, they know they can’t be together, the audience knows they can’t be together. I also love The Bridges of Madison County (1995). The love stories that stay with the audience, are perhaps the unrequited ones. I also love Love Actually (2003), When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995).

Are there actors whom you would like to work with?

Every time I have written keeping an actor in mind, I have not been able to come up with a good enough script. So, I now start writing and mid-way think of who we can cast. Many years ago, after watching Raman Raghav, A City, A Killer (1991), a docu-drama by me, Sunny Deol had called to say ‘do a film with me’. He was at the peak of his career then. I kept writing and rejecting the ideas myself. I would like to do a film with him. There are also others on my list.

Is there any old song that you wanted to use in Merry Christmas but couldn’t?

At the beginning of the film, I wanted to use Rut jawan jawan, raat meherbaan from Aakhri Khat (1967). Four years ago, when I was writing the script, I wanted to use this song or show a young Usha Uthap-like actress performing a recorded version at a restaurant where (its original singer) Bhupinder Singh is having a beer. But this was an expensive proposition.

You have dedicated the movie to Shakti Samanta.

From the age of 10, I have been watching his movies. I love that he had a terrific body of work that included crime thrillers and romances. Not many know about him today. The song Yeh sham mastani from his film, Kati Patang (1971), I watched it nine times.