“My Life Has Come To A Full Circle With Rohit Shetty’s Offer To Direct A Film For Him Now” Farah Khan

Jyothi Venkatesh

What was your reaction when Rohit Shetty approached you with the offer to direct a film for him?

Sometimes the Universe just conspires to give you what you didn’t even imagine. Along with Rohit, who I genuinely love as a brother, and whose work ethic I respect and share, I can only promise a ‘Mother of all Entertainers’! I simply can only say that I cannot wait at all to say “Roll Camera” for this one. All I can say is that my life has come to a full  circle with this offer from Rohit Shetty since the time I had joined Mansoor Khan as his assistant in direction in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

Is your film with Rohit Shetty as the producer going to star Shah Rukh Khan in the main lead?

After Main Hoon Na (2004), Om Shanti Om (2007) and Happy New Year (2014), I would be only too glad to have Shah Rukh as my leading man in my next film but the script is yet to be completed and it is too early to say who will play the lead in it. Wait and watch!

Are these reports mere speculations?

Yes. These are nothing but speculations. But I have taken to them in a very positive way. There is an upside to the rumors, too, as people seem to be waiting for my next film. I never get irritated or angry about the questions. Because I am glad that at least, people are interested. When I meet parents in my children’s school, they say there aren’t good films for kids to watch. I wonder about the lack of such films too. What do my kids watch? One should be able to take the whole family along to watch a film, like Happy New Year. Either I make a movie like that or try something new. There is always a dilemma. So, I am going to attempt something new  and for quite some time, I have been toying with the idea of a subject of two girls for my next project.

Was it always your dream to be a director?

I confess that I had joined the industry as Mansoor Khan’s assistant in direction on the sets of his film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander only to learn the ropes of the trade as a director, almost a decade ago. However every evening, I used to ask all the dancers to practice the steps that I had devised, to know in what way the dances were different from the ones choreographed by Saroj Khan. One evening, director Mansoor noticed the session.

What made you decide to turn a director after having been a choreographer?

What is the big deal? Before I became a choreographer, there were many choreographers in the West like Bob Fosse, Rob Marshall, Gene Kelly and Robert Weiss who had made West Side Story, besides Guru Dutt, Kamal Master, Ahmed Khan, Chinni Prakash and Prabhu Devaa

There is a lot of criticism that you look westward for your success stories. Is it true?

I do not think I have ever put myself in the same bracket as any of the choreographers turned directors here. In choreography too, I was always doing my own thing. I do not think my perception of a choreographer was the same as theirs. I am not considered to be in the same league as any of them. I hope I am not sounding pompous!

Is it true that by default you bagged your first assignment?

I shot to fame as a choreographer with the slow motion number Pehla Nasha thanks to Saroj Khan by default. It so happened that Saroj had left Mansoor’s unit high and dry one day and flown down South to do choreography for a South Indian film, leaving Mansoor Khan with no other alternative but to ask me to step in and rescue him by taking up the choreography for his film. A choreographer was born that day.

Is it true that your mother had acted as Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan’s heroine?

Yes. Not many are aware of the fact that my mother had actually acted as the heroine opposite Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan four decades ago. In fact I, Sajid and Salman Khan had almost grown up together during our childhood and our families have known each other for donkey’s years.

Why do you say that it would be tough for you to direct a film for any other producer after working with King Khan?

I feel that Shah Rukh is the best. After working with an actor like Shah Rukh Khan, it is very difficult for me to work with any other actor. Just imagine I had to take a three second shot and I had told Shah Rukh Khan that I’d require 98 cameras for it. Shah Rukh spent 20 lakhs and got those 90 cameras flown in from London. Though I had told him not to splurge unnecessarily as we could easily do away with it, Shah Rukh told me that he did not believe in compromising on quality.

Is it true that the title of Main Hoon Na initially was The Outsider?

Yes. It is interesting to note that the working title of Main Hoon Na before it went on the floors was actually The Outsider, for almost two years. I had written the script in English and everywhere there were incidents where Shah Rukh would say Just Trust me. When Abbas Tyrewala started translating the dialogues, there was this line Main Hoon Na coming up in the place of Just trust me. When I told Sajid that the title of my film would be Main Hoon Na he told me that it sounded like it was a Sudhir Mishra film. Karan even twisted his face openly and said that Main Hoon Na was a horrible title while Shah Rukh told me bahut kharab title hai. However I insisted on the title since I wasn’t into K titles like Karan and Ekta Kapoor. My gamble paid off and everyone agreed that Main Hoon Na was the apt title after I went ahead and recorded the title song with Anu Malik as the composer.

What do you like the best about being a director?

I enjoy being a director the most because as a director, I get to decide each and everything connected with the film, including recording only the songs which I want. I feel that direction is the most fulfilling job. The worst job is writing for the simple reason that it does not come easy to me.

Is it true that you had signed on Hrithik Roshan to play the lead in Main Hoon Na?

Yes. It is true that I had signed on Hrithsik for Main Hoon Na but I have absolutely no ill feelings as far as Hrithik Roshan is concerned in spite of the fact that he had developed cold feet “for reasons best known to him after even doing a token shot for Main Hoon Na”. I confess that I felt very let down and disappointed by Hrithik’s decision not to work in my film though I had signed him on even before Kaho Na Pyar hai was released.

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