| << Newer | Older >> |
on 2008/1/12 2:13:45
After months of effort, the cast of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Dilli 6 is finally in place and the director is happy that it's Abhishek who's doing the film as he was his first choice for the male lead.
"My first and instinctive choice for the part was Abhishek Bachchan. And I met him right after RDB. Then the dates didn't work out," Mehra told IANS.
The film, which will feature Sonam Kapoor along with some seasoned actors like Waheeda Rehman, Om Puri and Pavan Malhotra, is Mehra's autobiographical.
Excerpts:
Why the long gap between RDB and Dilli 6?
This is my natural pace of working. RDB came three years after my first film Aks. I'm coming after two-and-a-half years with Dilli 6. After Aks, I was unlearning my mistakes. My biggest shortcoming in Aks was the screenplay. It has taken me six years to understand the concept of the screenplay. Now I know the most imperative part of my creative system is to know what needs to be gotten out on screen. The urge to make a film should be like an obsession. Dilli 6 is the one I'm dying to make now.
The casting of the male lead in Dilli 6 was a problem.
The casting has been a journey. My first and instinctive choice for the part was Abhishek Bachchan. And I met him right after RDB. Then the dates didn't work out. We decided to come together for a later film. But fortunately it finally worked out. But it wasn't as though I was just waiting. I kept working on the script. We tried to get other actors. But the role belonged to Abhishek.
You were actually supposed to launch him.
Yeah, in a project called Samjhauta Express. We at that time were two young guys stepping into filmmaking together. Today, at 42, I'm not so young. Abhishek is still young. He's a natural. I'd have got as much out of him as an actor in his debut as I will now in Dilli 6. Even 10 years from now he'll have something exciting to offer. We're both instinctive in our approach to cinema. To me Abhishek is very special.
And what made you pick Sonam Kapoor?
Once I saw the promos of Saawariya, I saw my heroine jump out of the screen. That was enough for me to call her and her father Anil Kapoor. Then I saw Saawariya and I was completely convinced of my decision.
Dilli 6 recreates vignettes from your own youth in Delhi's Chandni Chowk. How personal would it be?
I've managed to distance myself from the screenplay. Having said that, let me also say that every film I make will have a slice of my life. Dilli 6 more so than others.
Aks was the least personal. It was my first film, and not necessarily by choice. I was finding my way into the cinema business with Aks. The film that I wanted to make first is yet to be made. The screenplay constantly keeps mutating.
To me the screenplay keeps changing until the day I go on the floor. According to me, the shooting belongs to the players. The coach has done his job by creating an environment where the players do their best. On the floors my job is that of a referee. I just have to keep the players within boundaries.
The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
| Poster | Thread |
|---|
