What kind of reaction are you getting for the Yuvvraaj promos?

In India, our promos are better than our films. I don’t pay much attention to promos because it is more important to make the audience sit for two-and-a-half hours.

As a title, Yuvvraaj has an old-world feel but the promos make it evident that it’s a modern film...

Yuvvraaj means prince. A rich brat of a son can also be dubbed as a Yuvvraaj. Aise hi kuch bigde huey beton ki kahaani hai Yuvvraaj. It is a story of three brothers (played by Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Zayed Khan). Every member of the family is a musician — one is a singer, another is a classical singer and the third is a disco singer. All of them have their own lives. You must have seen Ram Lakhan in 1989; Yuvvraaj is 2008’s Ram Lakhan.

What’s the conflict in the film?

Today, relationships have changed drastically. Money and not relationships have become paramount. Money is important but some people are avaricious. This film tackles the money vs relationship conflict. Why has money become so important? When we were kids we would never think about money, we didn’t even know how much dad had. It is only when we grew up that money became a bone of contention.

Have you tried to do anything different in Yuvvraaj?

When you start a project, you always think that it has to be different. But M.F. Hussain’s painting will bear his stamp and a Subhash Ghai film will also have his signature. So what option is one left with? A variation in subject. I made Khalnayak after Saudagar. Pardes, Taal and Yaadein followed. In the wake of a period film Kisna came, then an issue-based film, Black & White. For Yuvvraaj, I needed a big canvas... and consequently big stars. I sat down with my art director Omung Kumar and my cinematographer Kabir Lal and the result is a once-in-a-lifetime look...

Was it difficult to assemble a cast comprising Anil, Salman and Katrina?

Salman met me two years back and we agreed to work together. I put together a star package of Salman, Anil and Zayed. With a package as big as this, you cannot make a film like Black &White. When you have a huge star cast, your convincing power increases.

As many of your films (Pardes, Taal, Yaadein), large portions of Yuvvraaj too have been set abroad.

The film is based in two towns, Prague and Vienna. We chose foreign cities because today it has become a norm that it is better to have an international scenario in your film. Prague is a place known for its musicians and Vienna has a rich haul of artistes.

What do you concentrate the most on when you direct a film?

The most important thing for me is my characters because in films we talk about people. Can the audience relate to these characters? What will we gain from these characters? If you have noticed, in all my films, even the smallest character has importance, I cannot write a sketchy, ill-defined character.

You are reuniting with A.R. Rahman after Taal and Kisna. How would you define the music of Yuvvraaj?

Music is a part of our life. And in all Subhash Ghai films, the challenge is to create drama and music. It is easy to give music for a love story but when you have a dramatic film like Meri Jung it is a challenge to create music for it. Creating music for Hero and Taal, pure musicals, was not tough, but Karz, a reincarnation story, needed a lot of working on. Yuvvraaj has six songs and each song exemplifies the notion that ‘music binds love’. Music adds the soul to the characters’ lives.