Karan Malhotra on directing Ranbir Kapoor for Shamshera: ‘As soon as the camera starts rolling he is magic’

Karan Malhotra , an ardent fan of the larger-than-life cinema of the 70s and 80s such as Steven Spielberg ’s Indiana Jones franchise, is presenting Ranbir Kapoor in a new avatar in his upcoming “world creation” Shamshera , an experience that turned out to be daunting and liberating for him in equal measure. A fictional story based in 1871, the film is a dacoit drama set in pre-Independence India with a few historical movements from then. Malhotra’s directorial debut, headlined by Hrithik Roshan was 2012-release Agneepath which was the remake of Mukul Anand’s 1990 action drama, and his second film Brothers , which featured Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra , was the Hindi adaptation of the 2011 American sports drama film Warrior. However, there was no reference point for Shamshera, it was just an idea from film’s producer Aditya Chopra . “We had to build the world from scratch,” he says. Co-starring Sanjay Dutt , Vaani Kapoor , Saurabh Shukla , Ronit Roy and Ashutosh Rana , Shamshera is slated to hit theatres on July 22 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.

What inspired you to make Shamshera, what was the vision behind making the film?

When I met Aditya (Chopra, Producer) for the first time he offered me a few story ideas and I picked up the story of Shamshera because I thought as a viewer I would enjoy watching a film of this kind. It was very challenging but I was looking forward to this experience because I like larger-than-life cinema, I enjoy world creation films, it is more liberating to create a world. Soon, my wife Ekta and I started developing the script and screenplay and eventually Piyush Mishra wrote the dialogues. That was an inspiration enough because I believe for any creative person if there is an idea you can latch on to and that idea keeps you excited for more than a few days …in this case for four-and-a-half years it is an idea worth nurturing and worth giving it your all.

Shamshera is very unlike a Ranbir Kapoor film since the actor so far has been seen mostly in what he calls a new-age cinema, whereas, this one comes across as a mass entertainer. So how was it directing him and why did you opt for him for the role of a fierce warrior?

I think I enjoy those challenges, and for me, it is almost a pattern. For example, in Agneepath you would not think of Hrithik Roshan in that role, you wouldn’t think of Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala, or think of Sanjay (Dutt) to be a villain at that time. Ranbir brings in the freshness to Shamshera. Directing him was a very new experience. He is an actor who internalises a lot, you see that in all of his performances. He is a subtle actor, he is not loud, he is not out there, but my cinema is exactly that. He has really worked hard in imbibing my sensibilities into his performance and given it his best. Also, he convinced me that he can play two characters which was a great initiative from his side. Shamshera has benefitted from his input at that time. And with Ranbir in the cast, Shamshera gets more contemporary because he is a new generation, a new-age actor, so when he enters into my world, he gives it a new twist; he makes it more contemporary despite the film being set in a different era.

When the film’s trailer came out, a lot of people drew comparisons with the 2018 release period drama Thugs of Hindostan. Your thoughts on this?

Shamshera is not similar to any other film whether in spirit or the story, it is an animal of its own. There isn’t any accurate reference point to what Shamshera has eventually become in its complete form. Yes, it is a period film, there is a tribe, there is violence but it will still feel like today’s film. The way we have managed to craft it, it is like when you watch an American film, say a Braveheart or Last of the Mohicans, you still enjoy these films in spite of these being period or historical films. You still enjoy the crafting and mounting of it. Shamshera falls in that category of the experience that we are offering to the audiences.

When you set out to make a film like this was it always a vision to have a grand film or it became big eventually?

When we started the film, one day my producer came for a meeting and I was showing him how the set was being constructed and he said ‘Karan Malhotra, kabhi toh chhota soch liya kar?’ (laughs). That was his first reaction. Having said that every story has a certain demand, for instance, Agneepath was also a big film at that time. Brothers was not as big as Agneepath, it was controlled because it was more of an intimate story. Shamshera as I keep saying is meant to be experienced in its fullest glory at a scale of 10. Nothing has to be small in this one; if you have come to theatres you have come to watch the spectacle. My confidence is the film’s emotion, the story is in place, the core is pure. When you feel confident about these things it becomes easier to create a world around you because the world is a setting, the world is the invitation card. When the core is stronger you can celebrate the world even more. We went on making it bigger and bigger but the idea was never to make a small film even visually. The idea was always to have a magnum opus and have a large scale experience.

How daunting was the task of creating the world of Shamshera?

You have to be in control of the situation as a director when you are making a film of this scale. You have 500 odd crew members working with you every day. You have to get all of them together on that one page of the written matter that you have written as a writer. It is a task. Me and my wife believe that from the time we finish the script and give the print command from there the script starts changing. When you are making a film of this scale and you have already seen the world in your mind, collecting everyone and making them stop to see your vision is the job of the director. To do that you have to be in command of the crew, you have to be friends with them, you have to control them and make sure they deliver. Every single day of Shamshera was a very expensive shoot, we didn’t have the luxury of sitting and relaxing – ‘Chalo aaj sochte hain next shot kya lagayenge’. After every shot chabuk chal rahe the, there was a lot of chillam chilli, everybody was running…there were times when we didn’t have lunch break for weeks together because we had to achieve what was required to present Shamshera in the most magnificent way. If you are making a world creation film on such a large scale then you can’t escape from this process.

You have worked with both, Rishi Kapoor and now Ranbir, how is their process similar or different?

I have been very fortunate to have worked with Chintu uncle (Rishi Kapoor) also and now working with Ranbir was like an icing on the cake because the experience was very unique. Work ethics of both father and son are exactly the same though both have very different personalities. Surrendering to the vision of the film is a beautiful similarity in both the actors, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Just that working with Chintu uncle I was very scared because when he asked me his role in Agneepath and I said kasai (butcher) the one who sells drugs, women, he said I have gone mad. I would convince him to play the part in the morning and in the night he would back off and this went on for three to four months. He was the most difficult actor to cast for the film; he was a tough nut to crack. But it was fun working with him because every day that he came on set he would try to shake my conviction. He would doubt and question everything, he would be constantly pulling you up for your job to be better and your conviction to be stronger and that was amazing.

As far as Ranbir is concerned, I have taken all my revenge with Shamshera (he jokes). I have ‘tortured’ him so much (laughs). Ranbir is a very different creative from what his father was. His father was livewire while Ranbir, as soon as his shot is cut he goes to his chair and starts playing the word game. I would check on him six times in a day if everything was fine and he was like ‘What happened?’ In that dacoit get up he would be in his own world. But through the process of the film, I realised that he lives in his world so that he stays in his character. I am a loud person, if I like something I will scream and say ‘I like it’ but Ranbir will say very softly, ‘Okay’. As soon as the camera starts rolling, Ranbir is magic, then you will see only Shamshera, Balli and you will never see Ranbir.

Do you think Shamshera will change the face of commercial cinema and heroism specifically?

I don’t know. But my intention is not to change anything in Indian cinema or the face of the hero. My intention is to offer a film that celebrates cinema that we have enjoyed from our childhood till now. My intention is not to be a crusader of Indian cinema or try and make a statement with the film. My pure intention is for the audience to come, enjoy, celebrate and walk out victorious.

You have taken the best out of Sanjay Dutt in Agneepath, he owned that role of Kancha Cheena but don’t you think casting him again as villain in Shamshera is getting repetitive? What went into visualising this character?

The only similarity between the two characters is that they are negative. There is no look or character trait similarity. He is very different from what Kancha was in Agneepath. He is a much more flamboyant and funny character in Shamshera, he is caricaturish, twisted and unpredictable in many ways. There are many more layers to Shudh Singh’s character. Kancha was solid, dreaded, deep and dark, whereas, Shudh Singh is an entertainer. He is so unpredictable that he might kill someone while laughing. Sanjay comes with an aura on screen like nobody else. He is unmatched. When you get to do a negative character with him, I just lap it up. He also enjoys playing it. Why you enjoy Kancha and now why you will enjoy Shudh Singh even more is because you will see Sanjay sir enjoying the performance, that energy is really contagious for the audience to watch.

There is a lot of news around Ranbir’s personal life …from his marriage to impending fatherhood; what kind of impact do you think it will have on your film?

Everything is looking positive. Brahmastra is coming out, our film is coming out, he is going to be a father soon, it is all good news, it is all good luck for us, and so we are just celebrating it.

Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.

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