You’ve returned from the London Dreams schedule a week earlier than scheduled. Anything wrong?
We had allotted more dates just in case they were needed. Otherwise, we wrapped up the shoot of
London Dreams in time. Director Vipul Shah is very well organised.
Packing up earlier also allowed me to spend Diwali at home.
Did you expect the upbeat initial collections for Golmaal Returns?One does hope one’s movie does well. Considering
Golmaal did very well, we felt that the collections of
Golmaal Returns would at least match those of the first film.
How come you agreed to do that drag scene?It works since the character continues to speak like a man.. and he even gets caught. It’s not about how convincing he is.. the scene is about stupidity. The audience wants to be entertained. Going by the feedback, the film is getting a positive response.
How different is this London Dreams from the one that Rajkumar Santoshi was supposed to make?
Vipul has made the changes he wanted to. He has only retained the basic idea of two friends intact. The characters haven’t undergone much of a change.
Does it make sense to go ahead with the film said to be based on Amadeus when Suneel Darshan’s version.. Shakalaka Boom Boom.. has already bombed?Our film is about two friends and their aspirations, which wasn’t the idea in Suneel’s movie in which the two protagonists were rivals.
What was Rajkumar Santoshi’s reaction when you agreed to do London Dreams with Vipul Shah? He has no issues and we continue to share the same rapport as before. He has narrated a subject to me. When he’s ready, we’ll go with it.
Toonpur ka Super Hero seems to be taking long to complete.The film is basically about animated characters. Kajol and I are the only two ‘real’ persons in it. We want to make a film that’s technically at par with international standards. And that does take time, it has elaborate special effects and action sequences.
In hindsight, are you happy with U Me aur Hum? It did seem as if you were playing to the gallery in the first half.When I was shooting in London, several people told me that I had done a good job as a director. When I look back, somewhere I tried to play a bit safe in the first half. Hopefully I won’t make that mistake again.
It seems that you’re making an action thriller next year. Will Kajol be in it?I’m still working on the script.. so it’s too early to catergorise it. But yes, there will be action in it. The humour will be dark. As for Kajol, we can take a call on that only after the script is complete.