Matter of CHOICE

Interestingly,the second round of promotion saw Aamir leading the promotions,and he smilingly said that no one could stop him from promoting the film. “That was Kiran’s way of introducing herself and the film to the media. But I was never meant to be kept away from the promotions of the film. And even if Kiran tried to,she could not have kept me away because she has made a beautiful film,and I am very proud of it,” said the actor, adding that he was marketing the film  on that day in the capacity of a producer and to introduce one of the four characters in the film,Munna the dhobi,played by Pratik Babbar.

There is no doubt that Khan has become the master of the publicity game. He tonsured heads to promote Ghajini,spent a fortnight in various guises in several cities to promote 3 Idiots and kept aside six months to push Peepli [Live.  So what special game-plan did he have for Dhobi Ghat? “Dhobi Ghat is a very different film that has Mumbai as one of the lead characters,and a kind of film that has never been made before. Of course,there will be some innovative marketing,but we will get a better idea how to promote it nearer the release.”

But however much he may have to rely on marketing to create a buzz for his film,the ace actor,who plays a crucial role in the film,conceded that marketing is an extension of a film,and the promotions will be an honest presentation of the film. “Kiran and I have already been upfront in saying that Dhobi Ghat is an art film that will appeal to a niche section. She has also mentioned said that it’s got a good percent of English in it. This was necessary to show the four characters who live in Mumbai the way they are,” he said about the five crore flick.

But he also added that a chance remark by a lady saying that she wanted to watch the film,but did not know English,awakened the producer in him. “That set me thinking,as like any producer, I want the maximum number of people to see my movie. So I decided to have two versions,the original,which has almost 10 scenes in English,and a dubbed version where the English scenes will be dubbed in Hindi,” he said.

Besides the marketing,in what other aspects did he help wife Kiran? Did he give tips to Kiran on direction and editing as well? “She would have killed me if I didn’t. I think as a husband it was my duty to help her whenever she needed me. But even otherwise,I have always been a team player of any film that I take up. I am there even to clean the floor if required!” he remarked in all seriousness. And like his previous films would he lobby for Dhobi Ghat to be chosen for the Oscars too? “I would like to make it clear that no amount of lobbying or being at the venue can take a film to the Oscars. It is something I learnt during Lagaan,when I did not know better. All a filmmaker has to do is to hire a publicist who will show the film to the Foreign Language Committee,who are specially there to see the 50-odd films from different countries in this category. And only if they think it is worthy will they select it. There is no other way,” he revealed.

But back home,the filmmaker had to contend with a troublemaker who played spoilsport by objecting to the word dhobi in the title sometime back. What was his take on such stumbling blocks? “Films are a soft target for people who want to make trouble,or get some publicity. They know that the producer gets panicky and will do anything at the time of release. But I am glad that in this case the judge was strict and fined the person Rs 25,000,which I hope will discourage other people about raising objections around the release of a film,” he said brightly.

As for introducing Pratik,he called the youngster a dream actor for any producer and revealed how he religiously went to the dhobi ghats in Mumbai for almost three months to prepare himself for his character. “In fact,Munna is an astounding character and initially I thought I should play it when I read the script. But he was 20 years of age and Kiran would have none of it. I actually did 3 Idiots to prove that I could play a youngster,but still Kiran refused to have me for that role,” he joked,saying that he then settled to play Arun the painter in the film.