What memories does Holi bring back?
Holi was my favourite festival. I would look forward to it for months. On the day I would be up at 4 am and with a household help who was young enough to be my pal, I’d start filling balloons with water.
By the time the sun rose, we would have six to seven buckets full of water balloons. As soon as the first rays of the sun streaked the night sky we would run up to the terrace. From up there, anyone of the street was an easy target.
We had balloon competitions with the kids of the two bungalows opposite ours. One was a Sikh family. The other belongs to producer-director Prakash Mehra. Prakash uncle’s sons, Sumit and Amit, were my buddies.
Once I threw a balloon with such force that it covered the distance between the two bungalows, reached Prakash uncle’s terrace and landed bang on his elder son’s shirt. Everyone cheered. (Laughs) It was my proudest moment!
Was your sister Sunaina a part of the Holi gang?Of course. My sister was completely fearless and radical in her enjoyment of Holi. She would go out armed with ‘pichkaris’ (water pistols) and bad colours. I was afraid of her because she would streak me with oil paint that would take hours to wash off.
We would sit down to a small ‘puja’ (ceremony) at the ‘mandir’ (temple) at home with our parents, then, hit the streets with eight-10 friends. We would go to Holi functions in the neighbourhood.
I remember the bashes at Mr Bachchan’s (Amitabh Bachchan) bumgalow and at Yash (Chopra) uncle’s. You would meet everyone from the film industry and the ‘mohalla’ (locality) there. We would all let our hair down.
Abhishek and Shweta (Bachchan), Adi (Aditya) and Uday (Chopra), practically every Holi we met and celebrated together. It was a time for buddies.
What does ‘gulal’ (powdered colour) mean to you?
‘Gulal’ is at the core of every Holi revelry. Sometimes it can be irritating when it goes into your eyes or blows into your nostrils. But we still wear a big smile as friends streak our faces with it. That’s because ‘gulal’ is a way of giving and receiving love. What makes Holi such a beautiful experience is that this is one day when love conquers all.
Do you see a parallel with your next release, Kites?Sure, I do. In Kites, I start out playing a character whose life is completely colourless. He sees it in monochromes, black and white. And then, this girl explodes into his life and, suddenly, it comes alive with the colours of the rainbow. He lets himself go and love conquers him.
Do you have any lovely memories of playing Holi with your wife, Sussane?All my friends would meet at Juhu’s Kalamal Estate. Sussane would come there too with her gang. I used to be with the boys. I must have been about 15 then and a shy guy. I still am one.
I didn’t have the guts to walk up to her and say “Hi”. But I always noticed her. (Laughs) My friends would catch me staring at her and tease me. Once we started seeing each other, we’d go out together during Holi.
Are you looking forward to playing Holi with your kids?
I am. The younger one, Hridhaan, is still a baby. He will be at the puja, we will put a ‘tikka’ (mark) on his forehead. My elder son, Hrehaan, is old enough to enjoy Holi. I’m looking forward to streaking him with colour.
Have you ever drunk bhang?Yes, once, when we were celebrating Holi at our farmhouse. The entire family was there, including my grandfather, J Om Prakash. That’s when I tried bhang.
Did it give you a high?At that time I did not know what ‘high’ was. All I remember was that it made me feel really weird. I detested it and I’ve never tried it again.
Getting back to Kites, what according to you is its biggest USP given that you try never to repeat yourself in a film?
It’s a film I thoroughly enjoyed doing. Anurag (director Anurag Basu) has treated each frame with so much love. People can look forward to a beautiful love story that is unlike any stereotyped ‘prem kahani’ (love story) you’ve seen before. I don’t know if this good or bad, but the audience will get to watch something completely new this time.
What makes Kites so different apart from the fact that it features Mexican actress Barbara Mori in the lead opposite you?
What made Kites different for me, as an actor, was that Anurag let the film take shape without exercising too much control. No one came to the sets with any pre-conceived notion.
All of us, Barbara (Mori), Kangana (Ranaut) and me, were allowed plenty of creative liberty under Anurag’s guidance. Many of the scenes were improvised on the spot as opposed to following a pre-planned blueprint. For me it was going from one extreme to the other, having worked in Jodhaa-Akbar earlier where everything was minutely graphed out.
Kites in comparison was an open field where I could run, jump, open my hands wide and act freely. It was a beautiful experience since I had never been directed like this before. And it helped me evolve as an actor.
There has been talk of creative interference on the sets and even during the editing stages when certain ‘too intimate’ scenes were cut out. All these rumours should have made me hopping mad. Sections of the media have been misrepresenting the film.
The film’s director, Anurag Basu, has himself admitted in a recent interview that there were heated disagreements with your father and the film’s producer, Rakesh Roshan. I have evolved as an actor and understand that our conscious decision to not talk about Kites during its making made some people impatient enough to start their own investigations.
It was sad but it didn’t provoke us into retaliating. Now that the film is complete, we are coming out with all the answers to the questions raised.
So what’s your answer to the earlier question?
I have lost count of all the arguments my dad and I have had while working on Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, Koi... Mil Gayaand Krrish. The point is that when you are working together as a team there will be some differences. When two-three heads meet they are going to bring two-three different points of views to the table.
The way out is to shrug off egos, fight for the better suggestion and the better choice, and work towards making a beautiful film. I’m proud of the way Kites has shaped up.
Holi was my favourite festival. I would look forward to it for months. On the day I would be up at 4 am and with a household help who was young enough to be my pal, I’d start filling balloons with water.
By the time the sun rose, we would have six to seven buckets full of water balloons. As soon as the first rays of the sun streaked the night sky we would run up to the terrace. From up there, anyone of the street was an easy target.
We had balloon competitions with the kids of the two bungalows opposite ours. One was a Sikh family. The other belongs to producer-director Prakash Mehra. Prakash uncle’s sons, Sumit and Amit, were my buddies.
Once I threw a balloon with such force that it covered the distance between the two bungalows, reached Prakash uncle’s terrace and landed bang on his elder son’s shirt. Everyone cheered. (Laughs) It was my proudest moment!
Was your sister Sunaina a part of the Holi gang?Of course. My sister was completely fearless and radical in her enjoyment of Holi. She would go out armed with ‘pichkaris’ (water pistols) and bad colours. I was afraid of her because she would streak me with oil paint that would take hours to wash off.
We would sit down to a small ‘puja’ (ceremony) at the ‘mandir’ (temple) at home with our parents, then, hit the streets with eight-10 friends. We would go to Holi functions in the neighbourhood.
I remember the bashes at Mr Bachchan’s (Amitabh Bachchan) bumgalow and at Yash (Chopra) uncle’s. You would meet everyone from the film industry and the ‘mohalla’ (locality) there. We would all let our hair down.
Abhishek and Shweta (Bachchan), Adi (Aditya) and Uday (Chopra), practically every Holi we met and celebrated together. It was a time for buddies.
What does ‘gulal’ (powdered colour) mean to you?
‘Gulal’ is at the core of every Holi revelry. Sometimes it can be irritating when it goes into your eyes or blows into your nostrils. But we still wear a big smile as friends streak our faces with it. That’s because ‘gulal’ is a way of giving and receiving love. What makes Holi such a beautiful experience is that this is one day when love conquers all.
Do you see a parallel with your next release, Kites?Sure, I do. In Kites, I start out playing a character whose life is completely colourless. He sees it in monochromes, black and white. And then, this girl explodes into his life and, suddenly, it comes alive with the colours of the rainbow. He lets himself go and love conquers him.
Do you have any lovely memories of playing Holi with your wife, Sussane?All my friends would meet at Juhu’s Kalamal Estate. Sussane would come there too with her gang. I used to be with the boys. I must have been about 15 then and a shy guy. I still am one.
I didn’t have the guts to walk up to her and say “Hi”. But I always noticed her. (Laughs) My friends would catch me staring at her and tease me. Once we started seeing each other, we’d go out together during Holi.
Are you looking forward to playing Holi with your kids?
I am. The younger one, Hridhaan, is still a baby. He will be at the puja, we will put a ‘tikka’ (mark) on his forehead. My elder son, Hrehaan, is old enough to enjoy Holi. I’m looking forward to streaking him with colour.
Have you ever drunk bhang?Yes, once, when we were celebrating Holi at our farmhouse. The entire family was there, including my grandfather, J Om Prakash. That’s when I tried bhang.
Did it give you a high?At that time I did not know what ‘high’ was. All I remember was that it made me feel really weird. I detested it and I’ve never tried it again.
Getting back to Kites, what according to you is its biggest USP given that you try never to repeat yourself in a film?
It’s a film I thoroughly enjoyed doing. Anurag (director Anurag Basu) has treated each frame with so much love. People can look forward to a beautiful love story that is unlike any stereotyped ‘prem kahani’ (love story) you’ve seen before. I don’t know if this good or bad, but the audience will get to watch something completely new this time.
What makes Kites so different apart from the fact that it features Mexican actress Barbara Mori in the lead opposite you?
What made Kites different for me, as an actor, was that Anurag let the film take shape without exercising too much control. No one came to the sets with any pre-conceived notion.
All of us, Barbara (Mori), Kangana (Ranaut) and me, were allowed plenty of creative liberty under Anurag’s guidance. Many of the scenes were improvised on the spot as opposed to following a pre-planned blueprint. For me it was going from one extreme to the other, having worked in Jodhaa-Akbar earlier where everything was minutely graphed out.
Kites in comparison was an open field where I could run, jump, open my hands wide and act freely. It was a beautiful experience since I had never been directed like this before. And it helped me evolve as an actor.
There has been talk of creative interference on the sets and even during the editing stages when certain ‘too intimate’ scenes were cut out. All these rumours should have made me hopping mad. Sections of the media have been misrepresenting the film.
The film’s director, Anurag Basu, has himself admitted in a recent interview that there were heated disagreements with your father and the film’s producer, Rakesh Roshan. I have evolved as an actor and understand that our conscious decision to not talk about Kites during its making made some people impatient enough to start their own investigations.
It was sad but it didn’t provoke us into retaliating. Now that the film is complete, we are coming out with all the answers to the questions raised.
So what’s your answer to the earlier question?
I have lost count of all the arguments my dad and I have had while working on Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, Koi... Mil Gayaand Krrish. The point is that when you are working together as a team there will be some differences. When two-three heads meet they are going to bring two-three different points of views to the table.
The way out is to shrug off egos, fight for the better suggestion and the better choice, and work towards making a beautiful film. I’m proud of the way Kites has shaped up.
Read the rest here.
3 comments:
"People can look forward to a beautiful love story that is unlike any stereotyped ‘prem kahani’ (love story) you’ve seen before. I don’t know if this good or bad, but the audience will get to watch something completely new this time."
hahahaha..
I did not even read this...
Just testing....
Testing, 1, 2, 3 :D
Illusionist
Dost,Publicity aur Hype maarne ke liye aisa bolna padta hai.Even Aamir claimed that Ghajini would push the boundaries of Hindi cinema!Nothing wrong in it.
Kehne mein kya harz hai!
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