#bharat interview

★ ‘There’s always pressure working with Salman Khan’ !

★ ‘Gossip doesn’t hurt me’ !

The Sultan director talks about his third collaboration with Salman Khan, adapting a South Korean film to an Indian setting, and the changing rules of the box-office.

Shilajit Mitra | 28th May 2019

From assisting on films like Marigold, New York, and Badmaash Company to emerging as the most bankable director from the Yash Raj tent, Ali Abbas Zafar has charted a formidable rise. His debut film, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, was well-received at the box-office, which he followed up with the smash hit, Gunday.

His last two films with Salman Khan, the sports drama, Sultan, and the action-entertainer, Tiger Zinda Hai, figure among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. It is this combination that has kept fans stoked for Bharat, a big-scale adaptation of the South Korean drama, Ode to My Father.

Ahead of the film’s release on June 5, we caught up with the director for a chat.

Excerpts from the conversation:

The original film is backdropped on the Korean and Vietnam wars. How did you manage to adapt it to an Indian context?

The story of Bharat spans over 70 years. The idea was to see the evolution of India through the eyes of the protagonist. To achieve that, we picked some landmark events in the history of modern India. These events (Partition, the Middle Eastern oil boom, the economic liberalisation of India, etc) either run parallel to the journey of the character, or they criss-cross. Another aspect was to find the right transition from one period to another. But at the heart of it, this is a simple story of a promise that a son makes to his father.

There's a certain fan expectation that surrounds a Salman Khan movie. As a storyteller, does that limit you in any way?

To be honest, I don't take that pressure. When you make a film like Bharat, which is about the journey of a nation, you want it to reach a wider audience. Salman has a huge fan base that can create such an impact. However, the film is not just about him. There's Sunil Grover, Disha Patani, and Katrina Kaif. Each actor plays an important part in the six main chapters of the film. For instance, Disha plays a trapeze artist in the 60s who introduces Bharat to the life of the circus. So, for me, it was like making six small films with a variety of characters.

And how accommodating is Salman when it comes to creative choices?

He is quite accommodating. He has a great sense of story. Of course, we have discussions. Sometimes he brings in a fresh perspective, sometimes I tell him we must stick to what’s on paper. That’s the fun of working with someone as experienced and talented as Salman Khan.

Priyanka Chopra was initially slated to play the female lead. She had to step down because of her wedding last year. You had already started shooting when Katrina came on board…

This is my third film with Katrina. I told her I cannot make any changes to the character of Kumud Raina. She accepted that and adapted herself to the role. Her part is as strong and important as Salman’s. Today, women actors are doing just as well as male ones, if not more.

The teaser of Bharat opens with a message on national unity. How relevant is the film to contemporary India?

I believe what we are saying is not preachy or political. The film addresses the basic values instilled in us as Indians. Humanity and equality are the foremost qualities of our nation. There’s a line in the trailer that says, “A country is made by its people, and people are known by their families.” The germ of the film is that our country is one big family. We must keep this family together and not be divided on the lines of caste, colour, and so on.

2018 was a tricky year for big-budget Bollywood films. What are your box-office expectations from Bharat?

I’ve been fortunate that the last few films of mine have done great numbers. I feel that a filmmaker just needs to make what he or she has conceived. The numbers will follow. When I am making a movie, I don’t worry about box-office or throw in gimmicks to make it work. You need to be true to your film and make something inviting enough for the audience to come and experience in theatres. They should get their money’s worth. As for Bharat, when you see it, you will get ten times that worth. That’s the only USP.

★ ‘I Still Get Friday Jitters’ !

★ Ali Abbas Zafar REVEALS How He Made Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif Walk On Water In 'Bharat' !

Gaurang Chauhan | May 7th 2019 In an exclusive interview with ZoomTV.com, director Ali Abbas Zafar (Sultan, Tiger Zinda Hai and the upcoming Bharat) reveals one good and bad thing about working with Salman Khan.

After the blockbuster success of Sultan (2015) and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), Salman Khan is back with director Ali Abbas Zafar for the third time hoping to complete a hattrick of blockbusters with Bharat. The movie is slated for an Eid release and is an ensemble featuring Katrina Kaif, Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Grover, Tabu, Sonali Kulkarni and Shashank Arora, among others.

We recently got in touch with filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar, who is busy promoting the film and asked him because this is his third film with Salman Khan, what is the one good thing and one bad thing about working with the superstar. Ali revealed that the good thing is that Salman amps up any scene with his sheer presence and is a delight to work with and the bad thing about working with him is that he is not punctual and often makes them wait.

Read his full response below:

The good thing about working with him is that whatever you have visualised for a scene when he comes in everything multiplies. For example that scene in Sultan where he takes his shirt off. In my mind, I was like, "How are we gonna pull it through?" What actually happened on the set was multiplied many times. So, that's a great thing."

Further talking about the one bad thing about working with Salman Khan, Ali said,

The bad with him is at times you will have to wait for him because his timings can throw you off (laughs). But, I don't care about that. That comes with the stardom. And that's the only thing. So my whatever little chik chik happens with him it's because of the time. During the shoot, I'll go to him in the evening and he'll confidently say, "Sir, I'll be there before you" (laughs).

He further added,

But he has a wicked sense of humour which I enjoy. I think I also have a similar sense of humour, so we kind of match and play along. So, there are always laughs on sets. He never makes a situation heavy. He'll come on sets, before some of the most emotional scenes he'll be laughing and as soon as the camera is on, he switches drastically. He doesn't trouble anyone in the crew, you know. There are actors who would say, "Sir, when I give this shot, put up black marking here". He is not like that. He is just like water. He just flows through everything. On sets, if we say, "Sir, do you need some private space?" He says, "Sir, it's my job to be here, you do your job." He is funny, I like that.

Produced by Atul Agnihotri, Bharat releases on June 5.

★ 'Bharat' Director Ali Abbas Zafar on presenting Salman in a new light !

He’s unabashedly a fan of commercial cinema, but wants there to be a story of substance that binds a film. That has been director Ali Abbas Zafar’s ambition and attempt since his first film Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. The Quint caught up with Ali before his mammoth release Bharat, as he spoke about bringing out a new side to Salman Khan, not changing the story and Katrina Kaif replacing Priyanka Chopra in the film.

Usually when working with a big star, the pressure to cater to an individual’s image often takes over the storyline. When asked if this was a concern for him Ali said, “So I would say that whether it is Sultan, or Tiger Zinda Hai or Bharat, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan or Gunday they were the truest representation of what I conceived them to be. Obviously when Salman Khan comes in he brings his mega stardom to the film and somewhere or the other when people that your work is maturing, his contribution is immense because he has an experience of 30 years.”

As a director one wonders if the need to balance stardom with a coherent story is something that bothers him. He said,

“There might be people who will watch only a Salman Khan film in a year and I have met such people you know. I was shooting in Punjab and one guy just walked up to me and I asked, “Do you watch movies?”, and he said, “Yeah we watch only one film, when Salman’s film comes on Eid.”

He added, “You have to keep in mind that there is a section of audience that is educated which is increasing drastically because they are getting exposed to a lot of international stuff. How do you balance that spectrum of audience that is something which is a challenge which I always take and do as they call it in popular terms a content driven Salman Khan film.”

Bharat directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and starring Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Disha Patani and others releases on 5 June.