Even superstars believe that content is the king: Farhad
No one can take away from the fact that stars in our country enjoy a massive fan following and they render a lot of value to a film,” says Farhad Samji, who’s gearing up for two of the biggest releases of 2021. The writer-director, who’ll be directing Akshay Kumar in Bachchan Pandey and Salman Khan in Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali, believes that Alist actors like them would want to be part of larger-thanlife films that are based on strong scripts. “I’m paid for writing scripts and I feel that there’s nothing more important than a script. As a writer, I believe that having a star to play a character is a perk,” he says.
Farhad adds that even if a superstar is a part of a film, it’s ultimately the script that bears the power to pull an audience to the theatres. “When a star says his lines with conviction, the audience buys it. Even superstars such as Salman sir and Akshay sir would believe that content is the real king. However, a film will work well only if the script is strong and resonates with the audience,” explains the Housefull 4 (2019) director.
Farhad’s impressed by his contemporary, Imtiaz Ali, who he says has proved his mettle by sticking to his forte. “I really admire Imtiaz’s style of writing. His writing is very strong and it forms the base of his films. David Dhawan had once told me that one needs to keep one’s strength at the front foot. Imtiaz hasn’t experimented but he has excelled at a particular genre and has played to his strength. I also loved how the writers of Badhaai Ho (2018) added a tinge of reality to an otherwise very commercial film,” he shares.