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Kayoze Irani: I liked the idea and challenge of launching Ibrahim Ali Khan in Sarzameen, he suited the character
Kayoze Irani talks about the initial plans of his directorial debut Sarzameen being Ibrahim Ali Khan's acting launch, and the character's speech impediment.
Kayoze Irani is completely satisfied with the response to his feature film directorial debut with Sarzameen. Originally meant to be actor Saif Ali Khan’s son Ibrahim’s acting debut, some delays led to it being his second film, and one which generated him comparatively better reviews than Nadaaniyan.
Kayoze says it was an unconventional debut had it released first, “I thought it would be nice if Ibrahim had a slightly different debut, where he was almost the antagonist. We had a lot of injuries on our film- Prithviraj (Sukumaran) sir broke his knee, I broke my back, so the film got pushed by six-seven months. It was not fair to keep the other film on hold, so that came out. What I loved about Sarzameen is the family drama within the militancy and all the action.”
The character played by Ibrahim has a speech problem in the film. Co-incidentally, in real life as well the 24-year-old has had to overcome the same. Ask Kayoze whether that played a key role in Ibrahim bagging the film, and he replies, “Hand on my heart, the stammer in the character was there before we cast Ibrahim. When I met Ibrahim, I realised that’s a part of it. It just happened. I liked the idea of the challenge of launching Ibrahim. He suited the character a lot more, that’s what we wanted.”
Kayoze felt the pressure of handling a newcomer’s career- along with his own. “I had decided that Ibrahim and my career are going to be connected. His success is my success, and the same for failure. Kajol ma’am and Prithviraj sir had nothing to prove. I and Ibrahim sat down together and had a conversation. The audience reaction has been extremely strong, the numbers have been very good for the platform. I am overwhelmed, and deeply touched,” he says.
