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| Akshay Kumar with Sharmila Tagore in 8x10 |
8X10 — Tasveer has been stuck for quite some time. Has it been frustrating for a director used to making and releasing films quick?
Oh, it’s been an extremely frustrating process. Because I shoot my film at a stretch, at a clip, and I am through with it. And that is the only way I know how to make films. So to have something like this take so long was very, very frustrating. But the issue was simply that when our Canada schedule went for a toss, which was in September-October 2007, we knew we were in trouble. We knew Akki was booked chock-a-block. We knew the earliest we could get the film back on track was in six-seven months followed by another three-four months of post-production. So when the Canada schedule had gone awry I knew it from then. For a person like me to keep the whole thing in my head for so long was a real bloody challenge. But here we are, it’s done now and releasing next week.
What did you do in the interim period? Write another script or rework 8X10?
I went back and shot another film. I don’t like to sit and waste time. In fact, I wrote one more script and shot another film. But we were also shooting 8X10 intermittently. After the Canada schedule, in January, February and March 2008 we shot pieces in Mumbai. Then we went back to do one monster schedule in South Africa. That pretty much finished the film and the little that was left we did in Mumbai. So there has been continuous work on Tasveer but it has been fractured. So since I am not used to that I made most of the time. In September-October last year, I went and shot Yeh Honsla.
8X10 looks very unlike any of your past films. The basic idea of a man revisiting a photo, was that a brainwave or was it inspired from some story you had heard?
8X10 was the original title of the film and now we have come around and kept the same title. We have also put Tasveer as the tagline because at one point of time we had changed the title to Tasveer. So 8X10 obviously refers to the size of the photograph and it’s something that came literally like all other script ideas do — in one sudden burst. Only this time I was actually looking at a photograph and thinking what if I could know and see what that person was doing precisely at that moment when it was taken. That’s where this brainwave came from. So the movie centres around this 8X10 photograph which holds the key to the mystery.
You have made all kinds of films, from Dor to Iqbal to even a prison thriller like Teen Deewarein. What was your experience of handling a supernatural thriller like 8X10?
I prefer to call 8X10 a psychological thriller because the power is more psychic as opposed to it being supernatural. There are many psychic phenomena which we know exist but we are not aware of, such as telepathy. Clairvoyants are believed to have the power to see the future. This is the reverse, someone who has the ability to peek into the past. For me it was exciting because I looked at Teen Deewarein as a drama thriller. The first half played out as a drama and the second half was a thriller. Here, it was an out-and-out action thriller. Just the way the premise of the film is set up and the way the film takes off. It’s a genre I technically hadn’t dabbled in and that is always the most exciting thing for me.
Any inspirations or references because in the trailer the way Akshay says “I have a secret” is very much like the way Haley Joel Osment says “I can see dead people” in The Sixth Sense?
(Laughs out loud) No, while that was a brilliant film, no. There is no reference as such. But then again that is something you have to watch the movie and tell me. Once the movie is out, I am sure a lot of comparisons will be drawn but I can’t really pick one particular source and say, yeah yeah that’s where I got inspired. As I said, it’s a whodunit and it’s an action thriller. A murder happens and now it’s Akki’s job to find the killer before the killer finds him.
Neither are you known to work with stars nor is Akshay a favourite with serious film-makers. So why pick someone like Akshay Kumar?
Several reasons, most of them obvious. First of all I needed a huge budget for this film. Akshay is an A-list star, someone who can justify such a budget. Two, I needed someone who could do action really well and Akshay is known for his terrific action. Three, believe it or not, Akki’s reputation as a complete no-nonsense actor. Comes to the set, does his work, goes home, period. You give him a call time and he is there, on time. From that time, he works his requisite hours and goes home. No natak, no tantrums, nothing. Once I wrote the script, I realised it’s a role he’s not done before. There was obviously a hook, an excitement for him as well.
Akshay has been wanting to work with a thinking director like you but here you were making a big-budget action film. So was there anything really for him?
I think actors at different points in their careers want to be challenged by doing something different. If they keep doing the same thing over and over again, they also hit some kind of boredom. One thing he was assured of was that I wouldn’t ask him to do the same things and will bring a fresh perspective. Hopefully that will show on screen.
So how do you react to all the talk that Akshay wasn’t happy with you and wasn’t happy with the way the film has turned out?
We have absolutely had no problems. He has actually been ecstatic with the product, he was very happy. This is all I can say because this is all that has been told to me. That much I know for a fact. I also realise the fact that the moment you get into a big budget space, controversies happen and it’s something that I am absolutely not used to. Being quiet is a crime. But all the allegations have been completely baseless and are entirely works of fiction, so that honestly doesn’t bother me. I was just concerned with the product and I made it the way I wanted to. Whatever you see on celluloid, I am going to take responsibility for it. That’s it.
Would you go back and make more big-budget films with more A-list stars?
Absolutely! Absolutely! I have written certain scripts for which I absolutely need big stars or A-list stars. My goal will be to mix these up. For every 8X10, I want to slip in a Yeh Honsla. This is what keeps me excited and fresh as well.
Your friend Ayesha Takia, who’s also in 8X10, just got married and may not act again. Your reaction?
Well, I am glad she is in Tasveer, but in this line, never say never. When something happens, you will see. And she’s just not a friend, she’s also a stunning actress.
Won’t 8X10 hit the roadblock in the form of the multiplex-producer tussle?
I hope not because we are slipping in the film on April 3, just a day before the strike starts.