Nishikant Kamat. Picture by Amit Datta

He’s made Hindi films (Mumbai Meri Jaan), Marathi films (Dombivali Fast) and even a Tamil film (Evano Oruvan). He has also turned out as an actor (404 Error Not Found). And now Nishikant Kamat is helming a commercial action movie, that too a remake (of the Tamil Khakha Khakha).

Nishikant was in town on Monday with lead pair John Abraham and Genelia D’Souza. The Calcutta visit was presented by GenX Style Inners, a brand of Lux Industries. t2 asked Nishi — as he is known in the industry — about Force, which releases this Friday.

Nothing that you have made could have prepared us for your association with a mainstream masala movie like Force. Why did you choose to do it?

After making Mumbai Meri Jaan, I just switched off my phone, disconnected from the Net and left for 15 days. I was tired because Mumbai... was emotionally a very difficult film to make. When I came back, there were 10 producers sitting on my head! Mumbai... had done well for itself. But I didn’t want to do anything right then. I decided to take a vacation. For one-and-a-half years I disappeared. I wanted to know what I wanted to do.

Somewhere I felt that reality, social issues... all these came very easily to me. I didn’t have to think a lot. I had never done a mainstream commercial film but I knew the craft.... Knowing the craft and proving it were different things. So I thought why not try? I wanted to do a song-and-dance film. I wanted to do a film with hero-heroine-villain and five songs. As a kid I grew up on Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna. This world cinema toh abhi aaya hai, yaar. I can’t keep thinking like a European filmmaker, an auteur. All my films were real, social... I wanted to get out of it. Come on, what are we going to carry?

John Abraham (right) and Vidyut Jamwal in Force

How did Force happen?

I was in the process of writing something commercial when John called me and said that there is this interesting south Indian film (Khakha Khakha) that he wanted to do and whether I would direct it. He had put the clause to the makers that he would do it only if Nishikant Kamat directed it. My thing was, what if I liked the film and found John to be a misfit? I had decided I wouldn’t do it without John. I saw the film and it was quite interesting. And John had very smartly chosen this film because he was fitting the bill completely.

But I told John that I need five months because I want to write it myself. I can’t do the frame-to-frame thing... manufacturing defect. And I also told him that you need to have size. Just hit the gym and get me 15 more kilos on your body. That’s what he did; after three months I saw him, he was like a different guy. And I rewrote the film altogether. Characters from the original were gone, new ones were added... it almost became a new film. Except that the basic story remained the same.

While adapting a south Indian film to a Bollywood context, what was it that you kept in mind?

The two are very different cultures. Down south you will find that everybody wakes up 5.30-6 in the morning. Everybody is god-fearing. People worship throughout the country but it’s major in the south. If you walk in the morning through a Chennai street, you will smell agarbatti coming from the homes. Because they are all so god-fearing, they believe they are honest. That’s the culture. They will never react. If you shout at them, they will quietly say: “Ok sir, I will do it sir.” I have done a Tamil film, so I know. So, when you push them, they will softly reply: “Sir, please don’t say.” You push them again and they will reply: “Sir, please don’t say.” Third time you push them, they will bash you up. That’s the south Indian hero. That’s the hero in every film down south. Whereas the north Indian hero is aggressive from the word go. “Haath nahin lagana boss!” would be his first line. That is the cultural difference. So there are things they do and show in the south that won’t work in the rest of the country. That bridge you have to keep in mind.

That would make Force different from a Bodyguard and a Singham which seem like frame-to-frame remakes of south Indian films...

See, Force is an action film like those two. It is also a remake... I can’t deny that. But yes, I can vouch for one thing. The action you see, you haven’t seen action like this before and that action is very realistic. There are no flying cars, there is no one punch and five people flying in the air. It is real, it is in your face. And that’s why the size. I told John that if you don’t have the size, I won’t be able to convince everyone that you are doing it yourself. Even the bike-lifting scene, he did it himself. He was 100kg and the bike was 110kg and he was picking it up. I asked him to put a harness around the waist... the precaution was necessary. On screen, though, he will always look like he is capable.

Will you stick to masala or go back to real cinema?

I don’t know. Maybe I will take a break again and decide. The reason I could make Force was because I took that break in the middle and I could come out of the real-film mental space. Now if I have to make something soon it has to be in the same action space because I am mentally still there. But I want to do new things. Like I want to do a serial killer film. Before that I have to understand whether such a film would match the sensibilities of the Indian audiences. Whether they would watch a film without a song. Because serial killer and songs do not make sense to me. I will have to reinvent myself again till I know what I want to make next.

Any apprehensions of coming with so many other releases on Friday the 30th?

I am surprised that nobody else has any apprehensions of coming with us. It means that we are being looked at as underdogs and I am absolutely fine with it. I don’t want to prove anything before Friday. Let the Friday come.

But will John be able to bring in the Friday audience like a Salman Khan or an Ajay Devgn?

I wouldn’t know. But whatever audiences come to the theatre are only going to talk good about the film. That much I can assure you. I am only worried about the opening. I am not worried whether people will like the film or not.

What’s happening to your acting career?

(Laughs out loud) That’s taken a complete backseat right now. Till Friday that is. I have been offered two-three films. I told two of them to wait... the third one I said ‘no’. I will only act if I feel like doing it. I don’t look at anything in this profession as my career. Not even filmmaking. I have to enjoy it. If I am not able to enjoy it, I will not do it. Banane ke liye main dus film bana sakta hoon. But it’s not worth it. You have to be honest about the film. And then you have to be proud of it. Chali nahin chali you have to be proud of the film. Agar 15 din ke baad sharam hone lage — “kyun banaya yeh film maine?” — it’s not worth it.