Bollywood actor Imran Khan, who is going to back on the celluloid silver screen after almost 2 years, recently interacted with the media to promote his film ‘Katti Batti’ which also stars Kangana Ranaut. He spoke about an array of things. Here’s a small snippet from the conversation.
To set the ball rolling in your court, tell us what are expectations from ‘Katti Batti’ that is releasing this week?
You never know what to expect because that’s the reality of our business. For me, I have no sort of expectations. But it’s one of the rare films where I know that I’m really satisfied doing it.
Why do you consider ‘Katti Batti’ to be one of those rare films of your career?
You see there are so many variables & so many degrees of separation from the script to the day that the film releases that very often things get out of your hand & out of control and you end up with a film which you look at and be like ‘this is not what I signed for or this isn’t what I was planning for.’ But I strongly believe that ‘Katti Batti’ happens to be one of those rare films which has turned out to be exactly what I’d hoped for.
So are you contented with the way ‘Katti Batti’ has finally shaped up?
Of course I am totally contented. In fact I can look at the film from beginning to end and there is not a single frame that seems to me to be out of place. There was not a moment that I could say, ‘I wish I could fix this or I wish I could change that’. So that way your personal satisfaction is very rare.
Did you get this satisfactory feeling even with your previous films too?
You bet I’ve had this satisfactory feeling a couple of times before too, I felt that way about my other films too like ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’, ‘Delhi Belly & also ‘Ek Main Aur Ek Tu’. So getting that feeling is quite lovely.
How about revealing your feelings of sharing the celluloid screen space with Kangana Ranaut?
It would sound very cliched if say that it was real great fun to share the celluloid screen space with her. In fact I would say that she is full of volcanic histrionics that’s ever ready to erupt the moment she faces the arc lights. So for me it was a great challenge to match her talent frame by frame.
And what would you say about your captain of the ship Nikhil Advani?
Oh! Come on! Nikhil is an accomplished director in his own right. He does not need words of praises from his actors per se. He has already proved his directorial worth time & again. Lastly I would say that more than the captain of the ship, Nikhil is a great buddy both on & off the sets.
As a parting shot please clarify whether it is true that your Uncle Aamir Khan had literally asked the director Nikhil Advani to tone down few of the dialogues of the film ‘Katti Batti’?
In this regard I would like to state that Aamir had a very interesting point and this is something that developed without even us realising it. Nikhil & my tendency is a little more urban, so in our making the film natural & organic, a lot of English lines had come in. On the other hand Aamir had said something interesting that our story, our emotional thread is very broad -based, it’s not an urban sentiment only, the heart is broad – based. So if people understand all the dialogues, they’ll all like it. He said that you are excluding an audience just because you’re saying things in a language they don’t understand. He then left it to our choice. Since Aamir had a point there, they tweaked a few dialogues into Hindi while dubbing. As we’d already shot it, so while dubbing we’ve tweaked some of the lines into Hindi. Specifically the plot points, any point that comprehension would be an issue where you’re revealing something relevant to the story & plot. All of those scenes we’ve particularly made sure that they’re in Hindi so that we don’t disconnect. It had not occurred to Nikhil or me and it’s these little things which make a difference between all of us watching it & liking it and even my driver, who represents a section of common layman cine goers, actually liked watching it and getting all of it. And I hope that the audiences too like it. That’s it!
