‘We delivered a product that was worth screaming about…’

Shah Rukh Khan and OSO director Farah Khan on OSO, Saawariya, National awards and their detractors

straight talk: Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. pic/ BIPIN KOKATE

You cannot ignore OSO. Even two weeks after the release, it’s everywhere. Shah Rukh Khan pulled out all the stops to promote this film. And it’s paid off. It’s about to become one of the biggest hits of all time. Although both SRK and Farah are not ready to say that yet. He wants to wait for the official figures. However, there’s a lot that this duo is ready to talk about. Read on…

How do you react to box-office figures and the collections of OSO?
SRK: I don’t talk figures because the way it’s projected these days is very different. As a producer, I prefer to wait for a week to understand how well we have done. My film is my business and nobody else’s, which is why I prefer not to state how much we’ve made and give out figures.

It’s slated to become the biggest hit of all time…
SRK: In the last five years, the business model has become very different. Comparing my film to a old film, is like comparing the latest car to an Ambassador. But I have just been told that in the modern business scenario at the end of first week, OSO is the highest grossing film ever.
Farah:  I don’t think we need to say that ourselves because everyone from people in the industry to trade, the audience, critics… everyone is saying it. I’ve got thousands of messages from people praising the film.

So will you be taking out full-page ads in newspapers and print all those messages?
Farah: No. I’ll have to take out four pages of ads to print all the messages.

Before the release of OSO, SRK said he wanted it to be better than Chak De! did you feel the pressure?
Farah: I was actually scared because Chak De! did really very well and everyone was talking about Shah Rukh and the film. But with OSO, I was thinking he’s so different from Chak De! totally fun and mad. But I am really happy that people have enjoyed him so much and no one else but Shah Rukh could have played the role. I still haven’t seen Chak De!, Shimit has sent me the DVD and I’ll watch it soon.

How do you react when your detractors say you have bought critics over, and that they don’t need 40-year- old actors to show six-packs?
Farah: Well it’s stupid to talk about the six-packs because it’s been so long that he’s been around without them. I think he’s looking fabulous with the six-packs and every man and woman has been talking about it ever since.
SRK: During the time of release, everyone is highly sensitive. It’s not that we are insecure, but we are sensitive. We all do and say things… I find it very strange when people talk about it. I haven’t been flaunting my abs before the film, neither am I showing them off post the release. It’s a character. It’s a look, so why ignore that fact that in a commercial film there can be characterisation? Also I don’t think Farah would have liked the hero of today, whether it stands for me or Hrithik or Salman or any other actor to be shown with anything other than  a fab pyshique. I can’t have a paunch and be seen with my shirt off.
Farah: There are people who say that we’ve spent money on clothes of some 40 stars. I want  to tell them that the censors do not allow people to come on screen without any clothes or just with a towel on. They have to be clothed.

You recently said that you were the underdogs when pitched opposite Saawariya, why did you say that?
SRK: I said because they were backed by a big production house, and they had a director who’s made five films, Farah has just made one. You have Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji and I am as good or as bad. And when they take a stand that we will come out on the same day knowing that Shah Rukh’s marketability will be higher, they must really be confident about their product.
Farah: Yes, that’s the first thing that Shah Rukh told me was that since they are releasing on same day it must be a very good film.
SRK: Yes and I then said, what do we do? So like any human being who’s given to weakness, I decided I will scream louder about my film. I have no qualms saying that Farah and I have screamed a lot about our film, we have screamed ourselves hoarse and are very proud that the screaming hasn’t gone to waste. We finally delivered a product that was worth  screaming about.

SRK, you work with other filmmakers but your friends Farah and Karan don’t. Would you feel possessive if they did?
SRK: I’d work harder to make sure they didn’t have the need to work with someone else. It’s easy to say it emotionally, but realistically, it’s different. If they were working on a script for a younger actor then I’ll work hard to convince them to do a film to suit my age.
Farah: I would be very upset if he didn’t feel possessive about me.

What’s going to be your next in terms of work, Farah?
Farah: I think I will start on my script. But not right away. It will come to me. I don’t think I can make a serious film unless I change my character, outlook in life and change my sense of humour and become dark and brooding.

Have you watched Saawariya?
SRK: No, I haven’t seen it. But I will watch it. However, I don’t even watch my own films. But I remember I took my son to see Badshah in a theatre. He was very small, but the first film I wanted him to watch was Badshah. When I sit and watch my own films, I look around and am bothered my audience reactions. With someone else’s film, I unfortunately start watching it as a filmmaker.
Farah: I can’t go out and see a film in a theatre in my state.

What did your kids think of OSO?
Farah: Aryan was the first one who told us the film would be a hit.
SRK: He didn’t like the first half, but he liked the second half more.

Did he like Main Hoon Naa and OSO more?
SRK: He loved Main Hoon Naa more. He watched it during the making of Swades. He loved the action in the film. However Aryan has taken to the Quick Gun Murugan lines, ‘rascalla, atti katti patti’. He also likes the line Bindu ji says, ‘Yeh mere peeche-peeche kyon aa raha hai’ and now his most favourite line is ‘Shanti ke chamche’. I think he says the last line because he’s seen me in too many cricket matches with Deepika.

How do you look at 2007?
SRK: I think it’s been brilliant. To start off with KBC, then to do a Chak De! which takes the monkey off my back that says, ‘oh, Shah Rukh always acts the same.’ I don’t think I have acted like I have in other films in OSO. I am feeling like a new actor after OSO and Chak De! I think I am becoming more confident of my acting with OSO. Also the biggest compliment for me would be that I no one has told me that I look older than Deepika. That means the romance worked.

What’s your take on comments like it’s time for 40-year old actors to retire and make way for young blood?
Farah: I would tell them to go watch OSO.
SRK: They’ve been saying that of since I was 30. With age, I’ve got good experience. But I think its unfair not for me, but other people. When you are young, you have the scope to make mistakes and learn, but when you are my age, you have lost the ability to surprise people. But I have the bonus of experience and can do lot more as an actor and convey a lot more. That doesn’t mean my time is over. My time is over when I say it’s over! I will decide that because as an actor, I am very conscious of what I can do and what I cannot. I don’t take this personally, I thought these comments were made for other actors.

Why do you think you need to constantly prove to the audience and critics that you are a good actor?
SRK: I think the logic is the same as what people expect from Sachin Tendulkar. I am comparing myself to a legend but when Sachin makes 99, we are not happy. We crib, but one should realise he at least reaches the nineties. I told Sachin the other day that it’s people like you who give me the encouragement to set my standards higher.

If you had to choose between a National Award for Chak De! or OSO?
SRK: I think I will get both. I should get my National Award for Chak De! and commercially, I would want both OSO and Chak De! to emerge winners. The other day, Adi (Aditya Chopra) told me (and he knows his business), ‘As a producer, you have the biggest hit of modern times, as an actor you have OSO and Chak De! and on television, you have  KBC, you have a house which you can see from the moon , so its been a great year for you and you can’t outdo it now’.
Farah: The way the National Awards are going, SRK might win it for OSO. It’s no longer all about serious films.

You’ve been accused of promoting OSO on every possible platform? Srk: Recently, a great business person told me that today’s modern life is all about misquotes and events. If it’s not an event, no one cares. And we wanted OSO to be a huge event. People say that I went to a cricket ground and spoke about the film, but I went because my son liked the sport. I remember one incident. The Dalai Lama had watched Asoka, the first film he saw after 36 years. I remember him saying on television that it’s the most beautiful film he’s seen and also because he saw one after 36 years. We could’ve used it as a campaign, but didn’t as we just wanted him to see it.

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3. A massive 50 crore profit for Srk’s OSO
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5. Latest Box Office Update for Chak De! India