"Films like Hum Tum happen to you once in a lifetime." - Kunal Kohli 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, January 16, 2007 - 09:13 IST
Presenting the second part of the Kunal Kohli interview.
Were you disappointed with the outcome of Mujhse Dosti Karoge?
Initially I was disappointed but then I did not take it to heart. I mean I took it to heart. Of course I was very upset. I was very
depressed but on hindsight I think that is very good that my first film did not work. Fortunately Yash Raj did not lose any money,
because it was a bit hit in the UK. The film I think is still Hrithik's biggest hit overseas in terms of box office figures. Not more than
K3G off course because that was not a solo film of his. So given the fact that my producer did not lose money, I feel that it was a
good thing that happened to me because I learnt a lot about life, seeing failure first time around. When you see success early on in
life, there is a lot you miss out in your life, in your career. When you see failure, it just makes you a different person.
And I think that now after the critic's club and the video director, now there is another club which I belong to. It is the first time flop
filmmakers' club which is quite a good club today. There is Ashutosh Gowarikar, there is Sanjay Leela Bhansali, there is me. We all
belong to that club. It is quite an interesting club and Rakeysh Mehra is also a part of our first time flop filmmakers and then later
he went onto make a landmark film. So you know what is that all about, so you value your success, you treasure your success, you
take care of it, and you do not treat it like your birthright. You don't treat it like it belongs to you- it does not. It is a spotlight that is
going, today on you, tomorrow on him. We know that it is on you now, it will shift somewhere, it will come back if you deserve it
and if it goes away you are not going to be that depressed. You are going to learn to live without it because you have lived without
it. So I think that failure teaches you much more than success.
Do you agree when I say that Hum Tum was a path breaking film?
Of course I would agree with you. Yes, it was a path breaking film. It is definitely not as path breaking as Dil Chahta Hai
was but I would say that it is a minicult film. Dil Chahta Hai was a cult film. It will always be a cult film.
| Hum Tum is definitely not as path breaking as
Dil Chahta Hai was but I would say that it is a minicult film. |
Over a period of time I am told by a lot of people and intelligent people whose opinions I respect that Hum Tum will grow
over a period of time. It will be quoted. It will be used as a reference point over a period of time; it has started a new genre of
films. Like Salaam Namaste, Pyaar ke Side Effects to certain extent. It has started a whole new genre of films which has
still to grow and still to develop. So I think it was definitely a path breaking film and I think that films like that happen to you once in
a lifetime if you are lucky.
You have brought the metrosexual man in the spotlight. Saif Ali Khan was not the first choice. You asked Aamir, Hrithik,
Vivek Oberoi, and finally Saif. Were you disappointed when all these three stars refused to do your movie?
Strangely no. Aamir did not even hear it because he was going through his personal crisis at that time, Hrithik till today has the
script of Hum Tum lying with him. He loved it so much but he did not give it back and he was scared to do it because he
was going through a bad patch at that time. I was also partly responsible for his bad patch. Vivek said yes, then he said no, then he
said yes, then he said no, then he said yes again and then we said no. So it was very complicated with Vivek. We did not
understand what he was doing or where he was coming from or what he was saying and finally we went to Saif. It took me one
week to go to Saif. Adi suggested Saif's name and I was like, "Adi, my career is anyway finished, you want to bury me."
| When we approached Viveik Oberoi for Hum
Tum, he said yes, then he said no, then he said yes, then he said no, then he said yes again and then we said no.
|
I thought I will take other three-four heroes and make a multi starrer or something. I said, "every scene looks like tailor-made for
Saif. Why are you scared? Just because Saif is not a star. I said you had the biggest star of the country who did not make a hit film.
ab chalo iske saath banate hai, dekhte hai kya hota hai." And also what Adi told me was a very valuable thing and very
correct thing. He said, "if you make a hit film with Saif, it is going to be your film, it is going to be 100% your film. No one will ever
be able to take that away from you because you would have done what nobody was able to do in this industry before because Saif
unfortunately did not have a solo hit film and I am not taking credit for that. I will not take credit for that because I believe that no
director can take solo credit for his film, it is not possible at all.
You can even win a cricket match on your own but you cannot make a film on your own. Any director, who says that this film is
entirely his baby, he is talking rubbish. There are so many people who work in your film. I am not even talking about big films. I am
not even talking about producers, actors, music, lyrics. They are there. There is no question but there so many little things that
happens. Little things like when I see my light men, discussing among themselves that "yaar Kunaljiki ye picture hit honi chahiye"
that makes you feel that the whole unit is working for you. That is what makes a film a hit. So you cannot take credit for that, so I
will not take credit for making Saif a star, or making path breaking films. It is teamwork. I inspired my team but they got inspired
also to work for me. So I think that is the most important part that you do not get swayed by your success.
Siddharth Raaj Anand, your assistant director in Hum Tum and then he made Salaam Namaste. There were talks that
this movie has a Kunal Kohli stamp. Were you high on that point?
No, not at all. He should have a Siddharth Raaj Anand's stamp. He should not have a Kunal Kohli stamp in his films. He should find
his own identity. He should find his own mark and I am sure he will. I know lot of people think that there were very influences of
Hum Tum on Salaam Namaste. That is natural to happen, when you work closely with somebody. He worked on the
screenplay of Hum Tum also with me. He has got credit as co-screenplay writer for Hum Tum. So he was
influenced in a big way but he is his own person. He has his own beliefs in cinema. He does not like the kind of cinema I like. We
like different kinds of cinema. He did not get the story of Fanaa when he heard it. I met him with the story of Fanaa
and he was like, "why do you want to make this film? Boring picture hai yaar?" So he has a different personality. I have a
different personality and I hope people do not compare him with me anymore and they look at him as an individual filmmaker in his
own right.
Did you anticipate Fanaa could be the blockbuster film that it is today?
No. you never anticipate things like this. It is the second biggest Yash Raj hit after Dilwale and Yash Raj has had some of
the biggest hits ever. Veer-Zara, Mohabbatein, Dil To Pagal Hai, and phenomenal hits and sometimes I browse the net and I
go on websites and I see that Fanaa is ranked of all time hits. I gets shocked sometimes, and said, "oh my god, it has done so much
business?" You cannot anticipate business like this. You cannot anticipate success like this, and it will be a very pompous person
who will anticipate success like this.
I was as scared with Fanaa as I was with Hum Tum. Whether this film is going to work or not, I was very scared
with whether Fanaa is going to work or not because after Hum Tum. I did not know what people expected from me. They
must have expected something like that. It was in no way close to Hum Tum. It was very different from what Yash Raj has
always done or what Yash Raj has been doing. Though in fact I believe that in the last two-three years, Yash Raj has been doing
all different films. Hum Tum, Dhoom, Veer-Zaara, completely different films. Bunty aur Bubbly, Salaam Namaste and
Neil ‘n’ Nikki, all six films there and then Fanaa. So these seven films have been completely different from each other.
No two films have been the same.
So I did not know whether people will accept a film like Fanaa. It was very strange. The second half is slightly slow. But
even kids loved the film. That is what surprised me. So I think you cannot anticipate success like this. You have just been thankful
for it, for God and your fans.
You have to answer this in one line; does this recall anything "yaara yaara mai to fisal gaya"? So did you promise
Jatin-Lalit to use this song in Fanaa?
"Chanda chamke chamcham chike chaukanna chor". No, I did not promise them. I actually love this tune and it was a heartbreaking
decision for me to not to shoot the song in Hum Tum. In Hum Tum, we were actually going to have two songs back
to back. The first song was "Yaara yaara", which is where Saif gets drunk and the second song was "saaso ko saaso me
dhalne do jara". Both these songs were supposed to happen together. Yaara yaara happens and Saif gets drunk in Yaara
yaara. Saaso ko saaso me was a complete lovemaking song and somewhere along the way. I said that now I am trying to pull
off too much. Putting two songs back to back has never happened in a Hindi film. I thought they were really two hit songs.
Yaara yaara was a fantastic song, so just at the last minute, I said, "no, I am trying to pull off too much, to ye nikal do, dus
minute gaane ka bahot bada ho jayega, ye ek gaana drop kar lete hai," he gets drunk and the love making happens only and I did not
want to show so much of love making, I felt that will be too much against what Hum Tum is as a film. So I dropped that whole
concept, I changed the whole thing. If you hear the lyrics of saaso ko saaso me dhalne do jara, it is a very passionately
written song, salvate kahi, karvate kahi, fail jaye kajal bhi tera. So it is very passionate, very sensuous and that is what the
song was supposed to be but I changed it to a romantic track and made it more romantic than a passionate song.
I was very depressed that I did not use yaara yaara. Jatin-Lalit were very upset with me but then they saw the film and said
yes, you were right. You could not have two songs over there. When I started Fanaa, I started with the music of
Fanaa and I was looking for a song for that place and I was not getting a tune and I said, "yaar, let us use Yaara yaara,
apna hi gana hai. We own the copyright of the song," Very few people have heard that song and whoever heard it has liked it.
So it is our song. We never shot it, we never picturized it. So we changed the words and we use the song, I do not hide anything
about that, nothing to hide.
|
Tabu in Kunal Kohli's next
