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‘AFTER URI, I HAVEN’T PLAYED SAFE’
He has clearly been on a dream run since 2018, thanks to back-to-back hits such as Raazi, Lust Stories, Sanju and Manmarziyaan, followed by last year’s blockbuster, Uri: The Surgical Strike. Now, 2020 also promises to be equally exciting for Vicky Kaushal, as he readies for the release of his first horror film, produced by Karan Johar and Sardar Udham Singh that’s been directed by Shoojit Sircar. But the actor says he doesn’t “believe in planning”.
“Mera dimaag waise chalta hi nahi hai,” he says, adding: “I live a lot in the present and don’t have a planning-driven mind (laughs). Instead of thinking about what I will do in the next three or five years, I am always thinking, ‘whatever I am doing, I should just do it to the best of my capability’. My functioning or programming is such that I don’t ever think like, ‘oh, ab kya hoga dekhtein hain, ya ab mujhe kya mil jaayega’. My mind, on its own, doesn’t work that way.”
Vicky strongly believes that
Juhi Chakraborty
Right from her debut film Filhaal... (2002), director Meghna Gulzar, has been collaborating with her lyricist father, Gulzar. And going by their success rate, the talented father-daughter duo make a formidable team. Gulzar says he enjoys working with his daughter but admits that she is indeed a very demanding director.
“For that matter any director, who is focused on what they are doing, would be. They have to be demanding, but Meghna was demanding even when she was young. Her demands were tough even as a child, and that trait continued when she directed her first film. Filhaal was very difficult to do and even Chhapaak was if “planning doesn’t happen organically, then he doesn’t want to put any effort into it”. He adds, “I know that there has to be a basic level of planning, which you can go ahead with. But it’s not a part of my personality at all. I just don’t think that way, ke ‘now that I am this old, so I should be doing this or that’. Till now, the kind of life I have led shows that God has been kind and I have got more than what I had dreamt of. So, my focus is just on the present. Aage jo hoga uske liye aap plan waise bhi nahi kar sakte.”
Vis-à-vis his 2020 releases, what Vicky is most kicked about is the variety on offer. “My next, for starters, is an out-and-out horror film that hasn’t been explored for some time now. Ho sakta hai it may work or it may not get accepted at all,” he says, adding, “But one thing is for sure — after Uri, I haven’t played safe at all. When I read not easy,” shares Gulzar.
Before their association as a director and lyricist, Meghna had also assisted her father on films such as Maachis (1996) and Hu Tu Tu (1999). Talking about Meghna’s journey so far, Gulzar says he is mighty the script of my next film, something in it struck me, and I said yes to it immediately. And then Sardar Udham Singh will see me in a completely different world. That film is with a director [Shoojit Sircar] who I always used to dream of working with. Unse bahut kucch seekhne ko mila, so that process has given me a different kind of happiness.”
This year will also see the actor work on several biggies — Karan Johar’s ambitious period drama, Takht followed by the Sam Manekshaw biopic (directed by Meghna Gulzar), and Uri director Aditya Dhar’s next, Ashwatthama. Ask him if he looks forward to back-to-back biggies, and he says, “I don’t impressed with the way her career has shaped up.
“I look at her as an industry person would, and not as a father. As one of the technicians working on her film, what I admire most about her is her focus. She has motive to make a film and always has a statement to make through her film. She is convinced about her voice, and is socially conscious while also know how things are going to pan out. But I feel I am still very new to understand ki kaisa hoga sab kuch. And I also believe a lot in destiny and karma. So, my entire focus is on ke abhi main kya kar raha hoon. Baaki dekhtein hai aage kya hoga. I, on my part, just want to keep working with the right intent and all the positivity.” striving to make relevant films,” he says. From Talvar 2015), which as based on the 008 double urder of teenager arushi Talwar and mraj Banjade, to Raazi ), based on a true account of an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent who gets married into a family of military officials in Pakistan to relay information to India, and now with her latest, Chhapaak, a film inspired by the life of acid attack survivor, Laxmi Agarwal, Meghna’s films are always hard-hitting. Gulzar feels that it requires deep conviction and motivation to make the kind of films that she does.
“Meghna picks difficult subjects. She makes it difficult not only for me as a lyricist but also for herself. I don’t know why she likes going through all the hardships. But in the end, she has always come out victorious,” he says.
On whether he will ever make another film, Gulzar whose last directorial was Hu Tu Tu, says, “Why should I? This generation of filmmakers is much ahead of me. Now, I just want to sit back and enjoy their work. I depend more on the younger generation for films. They are doing it so much better. Not just Meghna, but even names such as Vishal Bhardwaj and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra are doing good work.”
Meghna picks difficult subjects. She makes it difficult not only for me as a lyricist but also for herself. I don’t know why she likes going through all the hardships.
GULZAR WRITER-LYRICISTDIRECTOR
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