The interview which appears below, was originally published on the Lagaan blog by Aamir Khan in July 2007. ©The rights to this material are reserved to the owner. If you have any concerns or comments, please send an email to info@rahmaniac.com.
Guess where I am as I write this? I’m sitting in A.R.’s studio in Chennai! We are here to work on the songs of the Hindi remake of Ghajini. Rahman is sitting to my right, leaning against his piano, Prasoon Joshi, who is writing the lyrics, is to my left, and in front of me is Murugadoss, the director.
Quite appropriate that I should be doing my post on Ghajini today. Usually, I wouldn’t be here, but Murugadoss wants me around as he relies on me to guide him about the Urdu lyrics. So I’m here more as a translator.
When I was offered Ghajini, I didn’t take it very seriously, as I’m not usually keen on remakes. But when I saw the film, I really loved it. I did not like the last 30 minutes of the film, but despite that, the film had worked for me. I was not sure that I should do it as I had a problem with the end of the film; also, I was not sure that it was my kind of film.
The person who persuaded me to go for it was Surya, the hero in the original. I had called him to congratulate him on his performance. While discussing the film, I expressed my doubts. I felt that maybe I was not the right actor for the film. He just brushed aside my doubts and insisted that I was the right person for the Hindi remake.
But what sealed it for me was my meeting with the director. He is a really spirited young director, and I was very impressed meeting him. He has a really nice vibe around him and a very sharp instinct towards his work. Importantly, when I expressed my reservations regarding the end of the film, he did not hesitate in seconding that he too was not very happy with that portion, and that in the remake that’s the portion that he felt we needed to rework.
Having made sure that we were on the same page and feeling a great amount of comfort in Murugadoss, I went ahead with my decision. In this meeting, I got to know how the story came about. Murugadoss had heard about a film called Momento, and the concept had really fascinated him. Without having seen the film, he went ahead and wrote his own version of the script and screenplay.
Having finished his script, he then saw Momento, found it very different from what he had written, and went ahead and made Ghajini. I had not seen Momento myself until then and was very curious to see it. On seeing it, I thanked my stars that he had not seen Momento before having written his script. I preferred Ghajini any day. Momento I just couldn’t understand.
For those of you who have asked me why I don’t have any problems doing a remake of a Hollywood film…, it’s NOT a remake. Watch both films and see for yourself. In my opinion, this is a genuine case of ‘inspired from’, and nothing beyond that. Murugadoss has written a completely different and original screenplay, and he should get the due credit for his work.
It’s being produced by Allu Arvind, Directed by Murugadoss, Music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Prasoon Joshi, cinematography by Ravi K Chandran, and sound by Rasool. The two female roles are being played by Asin and Jiah Khan. I thought Asin was stunning in the original, so she was the natural choice for that role. For the other role, a number of actresses were auditioned; the director found Jiah the best suited, and so she has been finalized.
I have not seen Jiah’s earlier film, but I did see her test, and I agreed with the assessment of the director. We have begun shooting for the film and should complete the shoot by the end of the year. So I would guess it should be a May or June 2008 release. On the script level, while we have stuck to the Tamil original for the most part, we have made changes to the villain track and have changed the last 30 odd minutes of the film, including the climax.
I was telling Rahman about this blog and told him about the various posts you guys had made criticizing his work… Relax, just kidding, told him you’ll love him, got a big grin out of him, and he sent his regards. Couple of questions I have for those of you who have seen the Tamil version. What should we call the film in Hindi? Any ideas? And who is the right cast for the role of the villain? Those of you who haven’t seen the original, please wait and see the Hindi version.
Met someone I am a huge fan of on my flight here… Rajnigaru! He is so cool, I just love him. He is the guy who really rocks.
Bye for now.
Love,
Aamir Khan
