Filmmaker Shakun Batra’s Kapoor & Sons completed 10 years yesterday March 18. Starring Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Fawad Khan and Rishi Kapoor, the movie is still remembered for being a heartfelt and modern family drama. On the film’s landmark anniversary, Batra got talking about it in an interview with us.
Ten years down the line. How do you look back on the experience? How tough was it for a novice like you to direct such a formidable starcast?
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stressed. I was constantly under stress and under pressure and was feeling, ‘What if I screwed up? What if it doesn’t come together?’ There was a lot of self-doubt that I had to go through. But when I look back in retrospect, I think that film really helped me grow. It helped me understand myself, my process, so I think all the journey all, that stress was for my growth and I and I look back at it with so much gratitude and love.
Rishi Kapoor very clearly told me he didn’t like working with you as the two of you argued constantly. Was that traumatic?
Yes, Rishi sir and I took a very long time before we found our comfort level… You know, he came from a different school of cinema. I wanted to do very improvised feeling and it took us a while to understand each other.
But eventually he was happy with the outcome?
I remember when he finally saw the edit, he showered me with so much love and praise and he was so open about his praise and he even apologised with all his grace and, you know, big heartedness.
What did he tell you?
He told me, ‘I’m glad that you followed your process, that you struck through it.’ I think sometimes, you have to go through these hardships to kind of really truly come up with great results and I think nobody could have done justice to that part more than him. He made it so loving and so adorable. I don’t think of any other actor who could have done that better than him.
Fawad Khan's gay character was very hazy. Would you have fleshed out his homosexuality more if you made the film now?
Fahad’s character was written to be very very much like a whisper. In fact, even when during his first conversation between him and me, we didn’t want homosexuality to be his identity. It was just a part of who he was. We didn’t want to make a bumpersticker wisdom film about homosexuality or acceptance of homosexuality. We wanted it to be just a part of this family. The film wasn’t about him.
Then according to you, what was it about?
The film was about how everyone in this family had something that they had hidden and in their way, they were all kind of living these lies. So, the producer Karan Johar and I we both from very early on we were like this (the homosexuality) is just a whisper and that’s that. That is something we are so proud of because it made the film so much more nuanced.
Rishi Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Siddharth Malhotra, Rajat Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Fawad…were these your first choices?
Well these actors may not have been the first choice but when I look back at the film, I think God was looking over me and made me wait to make sure I got the actors that were best for the part. So I’m so so blessed that I finally got these actors to come into my life and do this film because nobody would’ve been better.
If you had to make Kapoor & Sons again, what would you change?
It’s not a film that I revisit in my head often. It is one of those films that really, truly connected with the people and I got so much love for it that I’m just so grateful and thankful that it did that. So, I’ve never really revisited it thinking what would I do differently. The only thing I would do differently if I could go back is, I would work on the film with less stress and I would work a lot more openheartedly and a relaxed mind because that would have made my experience of making the film a little more joyful.
More Pages: Kapoor & Sons Box Office Collection , Kapoor & Sons Movie Review
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