Samar Khan

SAMAR KHAN, the director of Shaurya, on why and how he copied A Few Good Men...

The biggies of Bollywood, from Shah Rukh Khan to Rani Mukerji, are your friends. Why didn’t you cast them?

Unfortunately, there is nothing called clout in Bollywood. They will do a film with you once they believe in you as a director. After my first film Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye, I had no face to go to them. What would I have gone with? I made a film that was rejected not only by the audiences but also by the critics. Now, with Shaurya, I at least have a standing. The industry, the audience, the critics they have acknowledged that I can make a film. I can now go to an actor and ask him would you like to do a film with me. Earlier, I found it humiliating. Humiliating to beg them. It would have been a favour. Chalo, Samar is after us for six months, let’s give him two days...

Why did you use the basic premise of A Few Good Men? Don’t you think if you had gone for an original structure, Shaurya would have been even bigger?

Tell me another court-martial film you have seen... (Pause) There hasn’t been any made. So if you have to make a film on the army and the court-martial you have to pick up a skeleton that is already existing. A Few Good Men is the only skeleton that exists. Unfortunately in our country, we are yet to understand, acknowledge or admire adaptations. We don’t. Apart from the court-room finale show me any part of Shaurya which remotely reminds you of A Few Good Men. It pains me when critics rip the film apart because they have got the original film in their head. Look at what we have attempted to say with the film. Some critic has called it trivialisation. I don’t think the Hindu-Muslim issue is a trivialisation today. I don’t think the prejudice we live with is trivial. Why would a Samar Khan have to prove his patriotism over and over again? Why is a Samar Khan asked every 15th August: “Are you patriotic?” Why?

Would you rather have had the Shah Rukh Khan narration during the opening credits?

Not really, because it takes away from the film. If I had started with the film, it would have looked like sermonising. The aftertaste was a better positioning. But I have realised that people don’t wait for the credits to get over. Not just the audiences, the ushers switch on the lights. The culture is not there in India.

You have managed to extract some great performances though...

That’s what everybody is saying. But it’s more about an actor raising the bar of another actor. Like Rahul Dravid raising his game while batting with Sachin Tendulkar. I feel Rahul Bose raised the bar when he saw Kay Kay perform.