First it was the music then came the marketing and overnight a movie star was born. After the movie released it was clear that this star would endear. People had liked the cute, thoughtful and endearing awkward hero. Twenty-four year old, Imran Khan knows that he has had a dream debut but the real test in the Hindi film industry starts now.
Here is a verbatim transcript of an exclusive interview with Imran Khan on CNBC TV18. Also see the accompanying video.
Q: Between the two films Kidnap and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, how are you feeling personally before the release of the two films because I am guessing there would be two different Imran’s waiting for the release?
During Kidnap, Aamir Khan was not there anymore; I am out on my own with all my faith in the Director and the Producers. We have made the film, even with the marketing and promotions of the film and we are handling it together. So for the first time, I am getting that feeling of that I do not know how it’s going besides which the character is tough this time.
Q: It’s not your milieu; it’s not someone you are familiar with so in that sense perhaps you had to act more?
A: Yes, I had to act more and at a time get a hold of this character. It’s a tough character; he is a complicated guy who has absolutely nothing common with me.
Q: What is it that you had to do to prepare for Kidnap?
A: Apart from the superficial look elements which involved fairly dramatic haircut. Sanjay Gadhvi was clear; he wanted me to look harder, meaner, and tougher, very different from Jaane Tu. Jai was a more laidback guy so he was generally at ease. This guy is always tensed, he is always on edge.
I brought in a couple of elements; one is constant tension, I tried to avoid blinking, its one of the small thing that actors like to do and the audience will never notice. The toughest part was finding that anger and violence. I do not have a lot of violence or anger pent-up so I have to gather that in.
Q: How do you do that?
A: Music. I listen to a lot of heavy metal, lot of thrash metal. Throughout the time, we were shooting every morning taking about 45 minutes to get to the set. So all the way, I was blasting metal on my iPod.
Q: You got into acting because you actually went to meet Abbas Tyrewala who Directed Jaane Tu, to assist him in the film or to do something else but not to act and he convinced you to be an actor? How is it that you trained to be a filmmaker and then switchover to be an actor?
A: I never thought of being an actor; its not that I didn’t want to or that I do not like it. Acting is great fun; it’s a very satisfying and fulfilling job. The fact is I had never thought that there was a place for someone like me in the industry.
Q: What do you mean by someone like you?
A: During the latter half of the ‘90s and early parts of 2000 the kind of films that were been made were very Bollywood; large opulent sets, foreign locations, everyone had to have immense muscles and everyone had to be an amazing dancer. I didn’t see myself fitting in. I didn’t have the muscles, I am not much of a dancer and I couldn’t do that.
So honestly I thought - I like acting, I have always liked it, I have done a fair amount in life but then I said I cannot be an actor in this industry, they are not going to accept me. I remember Dil Chahta Hai was a kind of a turning point. While watching that I thought I could do that, these guys are like me. And then I met Abbas and I saw the kind of film he was planning to make. What he wanted to do with it. I said I can identify with that, I can identify with these characters, I can identify with this Director.
Q: An actor’s personality and a Director’s personality are supposed to be different. Isn’t it? As an actor typically you are suppose to be self-absorbed, insecure looking for reassurance all the time that you are good, you did okay. As a Director I am imagining that you need to be in control, you need to be demanding perhaps need to be obsessive but basically you need to be in control and as an actor you are not because you are a cog in the wheel. Is it easy for you to connect with these stereotype actors?
A: It was weird for me to step into the actor mould because the star quality didn’t come to me easily. I remember Abbas while shooting would keep telling me “you have to have a slightly starry air about yourself, you have to have that” and it never came. I also had this self-deprecating, I was slight embarrassed and it took me a little while to get comfortable and step forward and say, “I am in charge here.” For me to step forward and grab that space, Abbas and after that Sanjay Gadhvi literally kicked me into it and said get in there take command of the frame.
I think at some point Abbas sat with me and said, “You are not getting that ease and that flamboyance that I want. I want a little more from you.” And he told me something that then I carried with me through the rest of the film. He said, “I am giving you this one piece of advice, play Jai as though he drinks down.” It’s not a great thing to say. He didn’t tell me actually drink but said, “Imagine that you yourself have had a couple of drinks and now play him with that relaxed ease.” That night the first scene that we shot was one where the scene immediately after the ‘pappu’ song where all of us are sitting out on the porch and we are having a conversation about what song would you sing for the person you fall in love and then I go into singing Jaane Tu and while we were shooting I could feel something is different and after the first couple of shots Abbas walked up to me and said, “you have got it now.”
Q: When I saw the film I think the fact that you had this slightly – “I am not so sure you should be looking at me.” That had a sort of rawness which lent itself to a whole lot of freshness and charm? I am here and I am a young guy and I am work in progress. I thought for me that is what worked about you did in the film?
A: It really served the character well because that is what Jai is. Jai is a work in progress. As you watch the film, you literally watch him grow from a boy into a man.
Q: Currently to be Imran Khan must be a great place to be right because you are launched into the Industry and everybody has noticed, you got a good reaction from the public, great backing, upcoming projects, is this good place to be today?
A: Yes it is, but it’s also a scary place to be because I am at a place where I don’t know what’s next. Jaane Tu was well received, Kidnap is looking good, people seem to be looking forward to the film and I have got a good feeling about it, but now suddenly the pressure goes up because once you have done something successful and now its really when you have to go and step out and say okay fine, I am actually going to do something here, I am going to choose films and try and make them successful, and try and be a successful person and its scary to really step out of your own. Now when I meet directors and producers, when I hear the script, I am taking a call on my own.
Q: How are you deciding the films that you choose to work in, because when you read a script, what is it that you are looking for, what is it that leaps out, what is it that was in Kidnap that leaped out and said hey I should be in that film?
A: I am making a very conscious effort right now not to change any thing at all. I want to continue to work exactly the same way that I was working on Janne Tu and on Kidnap long before my film was released I was successful because that is what works and after that, once you had a hit, a lot of people start looking for a hit, now I need to do a film with a big producer a big director, it needs to have lots of money, lots of song and action and when you go out looking for a hit, I don’t think you are going to be successful.
The way to go about it is to work the same way you did before which is really simple, you read a script or you read a narration, personally I prefer reading scripts, narrations are which I fall asleep in, I read it as an audience, you cant break it down in a technical thing until later, the first time you read it, it has to be as if you are reading a book and is it an interesting, good or a bad book and you get bored, its just that, you just sit and read it and say okay I am interested and I would like to see this film or no I am not.
Q: You are not looking at the production company because lets say how Aamir Khan production makes it, so the production company, the cast and crew, the co-star, aren’t those some considerations, you are a young actor on the verge of being a big star, I want to know how you are negotiating your career right at the very beginning.
A: You need to have a good script that’s step one, and with that, you need a good director who will do justice to that script and make it properly and backing him you need a good producer, some one who will not compromise, will back the project all the way and make it the way it is meant to be made.
Q: So the credentials of the producer would come in at number three for you?
A: You can’t rank it as one-two-three, it’s a triangle and you need all these three parts of it.
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