Honeymoon travails

It8217;s an interesting idea but the episodic structure and ensemble cast are not novel concepts. Though we have at least two similar films coming up, Just Married and Metro, the fact remains that such films, from Musafir to Salaam-e-Ishq, rarely meet up to the audience8217;s expectations of more stars, entertainment and value for money.

I wouldn8217;t agree. Dil Chahta Hai worked8230;So did Page 3 even without stars.

And you see the trend catching on?

I don8217;t see it as a trend. It8217;s just a coincidence that we8217;ve had some similarly structured films coming together. I guess people are talking because after 70-odd love stories they are different. For me there was no choice because the story demanded this kind of structure. This was how Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.had to be. Six different love stories juxtaposed against each other.

We8217;ve heard about how you first took your story to Nikhil Advani and he ended up not producing your film but directing something similar. Have you seen Salaam-e-Ishq?

Cagily I have seen it, yes.

And8230;

It8217;s nothing like Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. apart from the fact that it too was about six people discussing similar issues like love, relationship and marriage. But the similarity ends at the conceptual level. My film is also an hour-and-a-half shorter.

The biggest grouse against Salaam-e-Ishq was that it was too long. You agree?

I think the tracks needed a little more editing. Now can we talk about something else?

Ok, which track gave you maximum stress?

All of them had their own issues but the Boman-Shabana track required a lot of working because there were certain things my actors found lacking in the script.

Was the Parsi-Muslim angle deliberate?

I only wanted to create a range of contemporary Indian characters and explore what happens with them. The Boman-Shabana track was primarily a reaction to the popular notion that love, marriage and honeymoons can only happen with young people. Why should age be a bar?

It8217;s cute the way Shabana tries to get Boman to pronounce Ghalib right. We8217;ve heard that there was a lot of improvisations on the sets. Was this one of them?

No, Ghalib was always a part of the script though Zoya Akhtar the executive producer on the film did make some suggestions when we were working on the scene. As a rule I tried to follow my instincts and used the script for the most part as a guideline leaving plenty of room for improvisations.

Were you able to convince Shabana to join your cast because of her relationship with Farhan and Zoya?

It took a year-and-a-half to convince Shabana so I8217;d like to believe it was my perseverence and hard work that finally got her nod. It took two rewrites but it had to be Boman and Shabana so I hung on like an octopus. My favourite moment in the film is a scene in the boat that involves these two.

Casting 12 actors couldn8217;t have been easy. We were constantly hearing about drop-outs and new recruits?

Casting took Zoya and me around two years. It8217;s gruelling coordinating the schedules of a dozen extremely busy actors. We were constantly juggling with date problems. Then you had to get the pairing right. For Abhay we screen-tested several young girls but no one seemed right. Then I saw Minissha in Yahaan.I liked her freshness and put Abhay and her in front of the camera. We were not only looking at actors who suited the part but also wanted to cast against type. That was how we came to think of Dia Mirza who8217;s very cool for the role of traditional Gujarati girl with a phobia about sex. Kay Kay Menon too is known as an intense actor but we signed him up for a light role. He was a revelation!

His dancing certainly was. Even his friends had no clue Kay Kay could put Govinda to shame with his hippy-hippy shake-shakes.

I wrote the script in Goa and while researching I went on a Sunset Cruise. It8217;s packed with middle-class families who by the end of the joyride are boogeing crazily to the music. When I wrote the cruise into my script I was completely sure I wanted the same vibe and told my choreographer, Farah Khan as much. She suggested that rather than give the actors steps, we just play the song and let them go wild. Farah was amazed with what everyone came up with. With a laugh Kay Kay was the most nervous. He kept telling me he couldn8217;t dance.

Kay Kay plays Raima Sen8217;s straight-laced Bengali husband. But apparently Raima wasn8217;t your first choice?

We initially signed Konkona Sen Sharma but the dates clashed with those she alloted for Omkara. Raima was one of the last to be cast. She8217;s excellent but now I can8217;t imagine anyone but Raima doing the role.

Today makers are slowly waking up to Ranvir8217;s Shorey talent but when you signed him up to play Dia8217;s frustrated husband he was no more than a veejay.

I saw him for the first time in a play called Blue Jug or may be it was Blue Mug. He8217;s extraordinarily talented and it8217;s an honour to have him.