‘BOX OFFICE WISDOM DOESN’T WORK’

Critics have said that Aamir is one of the best debuts in recent times. What do you think is the best compliment it has got?
It’s overwhelming to be accepted by the audience and critics alike. Interestingly, Aamir’s reviews have praised each technical aspect of the film such as music, cinematography and editing. Since debutants were involved in each aspect—it was also a first for producers UTV Spotboy—I think the best compliment was, ‘It’s unbelievable that this film has been made by so many first-timers.’ 

Aamir’s release coincided with that of Sarkar Raj. Did that unsettle you?
I never looked at Sarkar Raj as competition as I was confident about the story we were telling. I was nervous though as this was my debut film. No filmmaker can guess when it’s ‘safe’ to release a movie. A recent film with four of the biggest stars made by the biggest banner bombed. Conventional box office wisdom doesn’t hold true anymore.  

Would you once and for all clarify if Aamir is an adaptation of the Filipino thriller Cavite?
Aamir is an original film and I am yet to see Cavite. I started writing my script in early 2005 and completed it in 2006, while Cavite’s DVD was released in India in 2007. If it were a copy, the script would have been done in one night, not one year. Still, when we learnt about the similarity of our ideas, the producers informed the makers of Cavite that our film was written well before theirs was released. They replied: ‘We believe no ideas can be copied. Cavite, too, was alleged to have been inspired by Phone Booth and Cellular. Go ahead and best of luck.’ Moved by their gesture, we thanked director duo Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon in Aamir’s prelude. I am no longer bothered about issuing clarifications because no matter what I say, people will believe what they want to.  

What was the idea behind making a heady cocktail of religion, terrorism, suicide bombing and kidnapping as a debut film?
I never wanted to make a statement. I just wanted to tell a fictional story based on the times we live in. I did read a lot though to separate hearsay from facts. The Black Friday experience came in handy to understand how simple people are tricked into doing things without knowing about the larger conspiracy and how foot-soldiers suffer even as the mastermind thrives. The protagonist could have been of any religion. I just wanted to tell the story of a common man in a situation beyond his control. But what he does is important. Whether he gives in or fights against all that he believes in was the story I wanted to tell. 

How plausible is the film’s premise of picking an unaffected, educated civilian for an act of terror?
I remember reading a news story about a seven-year-old boy in Afghanistan who was wrapped with a suicide belt and told to go to foreign troupes and push a button. The boy suspected something was wrong and went to the cops instead who realised what was being made of him. How credible does that story sound? Or how plausible is the story of a father raping his daughter for so many years in a cell? Nothing is impossible in this world.  

How did you manage to shoot on some of the busiest streets of Mumbai?
Those locations define the attributes of Mumbai, which is a character in the film. Ninety per cent of the people you saw in these scenes were real people who weren’t aware of a shoot going on even as they were being captured because if they did, they would have looked into the camera. Cinematographer Alphonse and I managed to do that by hiring a goods van with a closed shutter and cutting three squares on its rear and sides. Thus, we could park it anywhere and communicated with the actors on the phone. Once a shot was ready, the lens would just pop out and can a shot. That way, everybody was captured going about doing their work and nobody—including Rajeev —was aware of being shot at a particular moment.  

What led you to cast a debutante in the lead role for a film whose every frame revolves around the protagonist?
I had heard of Rajeev Khandelwal as an actor, but wasn’t aware of his star status on TV. Thankfully, I had never seen him on Kahiin To Hoga. When we started interacting after he showed interested in my script, I found him to be similar to the protagonist, Dr Aamir Ali. He too is a middle-class boy who has worked his way up. So, he just had to play himself. That was critical in deciding to cast him. And once we did the workshop, he proved to be a very good actor too. Nearly half the film was done without me giving any conventional instructions to him. We rehearsed in the workshop and just shot on location.  

How much influence does Anurag Kashyap have on your direction?
Anurag’s greatest contribution was believing in my script and convincing all to let me make the film the way I wanted. Though he was Aamir’s creative producer, his faith in me was so strong that he didn’t visit the sets on 24 of the 25 days we shot. From him, I learned to focus not on the kind of films to make but how to make them. And that more than money, what counts is the courage to make a film. Had I not worked with him, I would not have been able to shoot Aamir at a budget of Rs 2 crore.  

What’s on the anvil?
I don’t want to be limited to a genre. I only want to tell good stories. I know my third film will be an action adventure. My second film, which I am again doing with UTV Spotboy, still needs to be figured out.