Giving it a thought

It was only after he made the thriller D-Day (2012) that cynics and some critics began to acknowledge Nikhil Advani as the director of his first and biggest hit Kal Ho Naa Ho. After his 2003 film starring Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta, Nikhil broke away from his mentor Karan Johar and set off on his own.

Films like the ambitious multi-starrer Salaam-E-Ishq, Chandni Chowk to China and Patiala House followed, but none matched up to his debut effort. But things began to change with his animated film Delhi Safari, followed by D-Day, and this month Advani finds himself in the less than enviable position of having made two films that released on consecutive Fridays (Hero and Katti Batti).

Imran Khan enters this film on the back of three poor-performers at the box-office. Did you empathise with this?

Yes. I had been through that and knew what it meant to reach the bottom of the barrel, but I don’t understand why Imran got the short end of the stick. After all, there is nothing wrong in choosing a Milan Luthria (Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai Dobaraa) or a Vishal Bhardwaj (Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola) or even a Dharma film (Gori Tere Pyar Mein) — these were wise, professional decisions. Should he have read the script and worked harder on the pieces — yes. When UTV sent me the script of Katti Batti, the first thing I said after reading it is “fantastic” and I want Imran for the part of Maddy. He was the best person for the script.

Why would you take on a remake of Subhash Ghai’s ‘Hero’ with two newcomers?

Salman Khan came to me with the film, and the film came with the cast (Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty). I took on Hero because basically, for me, it is repaying a large emotional debt to Salman. When I left Dharma Productions and Karan, he stood by me. Also, with Hero, I have given back to the industry through Sooraj and Athiya. Hero has a lot of Salman in it, which I have just executed. In my opinion, in five to six years, Salman should be directing. Delhi Safari and D-Day were honest pieces without any manipulation on my end. Hero is a contradiction. I decided I need to flow Salman rather than fight him. Katti Batti, on the other hand, is everything I stand by and believe in. There’s a lot of me and my energy in the film. In fact, there are a lot of all of our personal experiences. An urban, middle class couple will look at the film and say this has happened to me.

These days, is the film business about so much more than just making a good film?

It’s only about so much else! It’s about the release date, promotions, appearances on Jhalak Dikhla Ja and Dance+, it’s about the first promo, first look etc. It’s 80 per cent about that. For example, Hero sold itself, largely thanks to Salman, while Katti Batti had to be sold. Aamir Khan told me that these shows do not translate to footfalls, but raise awareness that the picture is coming on this date.

What were Aamir’s inputs to ‘Katti Batti’?

Aamir heard the narration and then called me back and said you can save your film. He then gave me 15 points, many of which I was going to execute anyway. However, even after that he said, it’s not working. I was depressed. Then he said you just need to do this one thing. And that one change made the film what it is. He cried when he saw it and told me: see, I saved your film!

What do you think are your strengths as a filmmaker?

Music is definitely one of my strengths, especially when I collaborate with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy because our influences and references are the same — blues, jazz, rock, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker, hip hop etc. Second is my ability to extract a performance. I did it with Akshay Kumar in Patiala House, Arjun Rampal in D-Day, Govinda in Salaam-E-Ishq and with Imran in Katti Batti.

Do you feel the pressure to deliver hits and profitable films?

Look, the public doesn’t know directors. They will see the film in which Kangana sang that “Sarfira” song, or where Salman sang those two songs.

The public only knows five directors: Yash Chopra, Karan Johar, Raj Kumar Hirani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Rohit Shetty.