#one Hindi word that was tough for you to use in your dialogues as your native language is Urdu. Saba: Well

[salmankhanholics]

★ EXCLUSIVE details on SALMAN KHAN’s BHARAT: Ali Abbas Zafar talks about recreating the seven eras !

Upala KBR | Apr 29, 2019

Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bharat, starring Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff and a host of other stars, promises to be a visual extravaganza, essaying the journey of a man, Bharat (Salman) from 1947 to 2010. Produced by Atul Agnihotri, Nikhil Namit and Bhushan Kumar, the production design is by Rajnish Hedao, music given by Julius Packiam, cinematography by Marcin Laskawiec and costume and styling by Alvira Agnihotri and Ashley Rebello. The film’s highlight is the various eras with the story of Bharat’s journey running through them all. Bharat is an official adaptation of the South Korean movie Ode to My Father (Bharat).

While the trailer of Bharat is already a huge hit, and promises to be a grand movie, the behind-the-scenes work on the movie is equally tremendous. The writing and pre-production of this larger-than-life reel story took one and a half years. The director tells us how he and his team, recreated the seven different eras from 1947-2010, the use of various languages and different colour palettes used in each of the eras and how the cast and crew worked on them. Ali Abbas Zafar takes us through his journey of creating a visual delight, weaved with immense research and an emotional story line.

While seven decades have been shown in Bharat, the director says the most challenging era he had to recreate was the Partition. “We first shot at a small station near the border and then travelled into the interiors of Punjab to cast people who could look from that era and to shoot some of the scenes from the Partition. It was a very elaborate set. The artistes from Punjab had to be fully groomed so they started at 4 am and by 10 am they were ready with makeup, hair and costume and ready to shoot. That was why we shot in Punjab as they needed to look from that geographical setup. It was very difficult but it’s the soul of the film as it begins from there and I am very happy with the way it has shaped out.”

The research was another tough part. Ali says, “The most important thing when you direct a movie that is spanning almost 70 years is the research that you do in the film. And Bharat is not a period drama but is based on contemporary history as it starts from 1947. The movie stems from the research material that was done over a year, from 1947-2010 and how the country evolved in those 70 years. Each department – from art, costume, music, production (including assistant directors), dialogue writing, specifically researched and contributed to what we were trying to recreate and set the look of the film. The research work came from all the documentation that was being done from libraries and museums to figure out how the Partition looked like. Obviously, because a lot of things which do not exist today we had to recreate it on set – the migration, Partition, the refugee camps, to how Delhi would look in 1947 and 2010.”

Interestingly, linguistically also, the eras will be different. “When you watch the movie, you will realise how the language also evolves over a period of time. The 1940s will have a mix of Hindi and Urdu words of that time, then in the 60s it has the hang of Hindustani language, whereas in 2000 you will see a lot of mix of English and usage of contemporary words which never existed in those times.”

And Ali took help from his father KH Zaidi on that. “My dad was around at the same time, so I bounced off a lot of ideas from him. In my house we are very clear that we focus on the language that is spoken so the idea was to use the words that are still contemporary but were there back in time and yet, everyone understands them. A lot of research also came through from the films of 1960s and 70s like Andaaz, Sangam, Deewar, a lot of cinema of that time to see what language they were using then – pick up that tonality yet make it easy to understand for contemporary audiences.”

While shifting from one era to another was a challenge, Ali admits, but made easier by the fact that everything was planned from earlier. “Today what is more important than your schedule is your pre-production. You create dockets of every era so you are very clear that when you are shooting you are only shooting that era, and carrying the storyboard of what is required of 1947, on the sets. Actually, when you shoot a film set in one time period, you only have one script and you are making one film but in Bharat, because you are traveling seven decades it was like making seven different films and every era was different – a certain palette, a certain shooting style, a certain costume style, a certain language, so we created those kinds of dockets so there was no confusion.”

He adds that is how all the actors were given the script. “We would tell them that this scene is set in 1970s or this scene in 1980s… so specifically and the kind of language and body language belonged to that era only. Every era was broken down into time frames, we then we specifically worked on those time frames and stuck to that till it was completed, and then shift into the next era. It was a very conscious decision that we would never jump while shooting. I spoke to my AD team and told them let’s not confuse ourselves, our actors or technical team.”

Each era in Bharat will be shown having different looks particular of that time. “Every era has a certain look which is closer to the tone of that time frame, like the Partition is very close to a B/W frame and beiges and whites as it is real documented footage from the Partition. We have stuck to the reality as closest as we could. The 60s and 70s turns into an Eastman colour zone and when you come into 80s and 90s you will see much brighter colours. There is no element of fantasy in Bharat. It’s larger-than-life yet grounded, real and yet contemporary and mainstream for today’s audience. And because it’s real it requires even more spend to make it look so – like you have to get those newspapers made, photographic references, vintage cars and costumes etc. Detailing was very important and minutely followed. Because it’s a movie obviously we take a little creative leave to create your own style but majorly when you see what they are wearing is very specific to the time frame.”

Ali explains why it took one-and-a-half years to complete writing the movie and complete pre-production. “We made a decision of making Bharat after Sultan, so I was writing Tiger and simultaneously everything into my research work for Bharat. The writing and research for Bharat took one-and-half years before we went on to make the movie. There was no break for me between Tiger Zinda Hai and Bharat as we were bound by Salman’s dates. My research work happened while writing the script, for example all the professions that Salman was in had to be of that time… So those little touches came into the script. After my script was complete, each department spent their own time doing their research and come alone and meet me. Finally, we had collective meetings where we all sat all together so we could be on the same page.”

Bollywood Hungama

[thinkaboutnetwork-blog]

Exclusive: Saba Qamar Who Made Her Debut In ‘Hindi Medium’ Is Not Just A Pretty Face

Exclusive: Saba Qamar Who Made Her Debut In ‘Hindi Medium’ Is Not Just A Pretty Face

In the last few months, two Pakistani actresses made their Bollywood debut. The first one was Mahira Khan, who starred opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Raees. The other is Saba Qamar, who starred opposite Irrfan Khan in Hindi Medium, a film that is the toast of most circles today.

The best thing about Qamar’s assured debut is that she makes her presence felt in a film that stars gifted performers like…

[thoughtsofsumanth]

Always have the situation under YOUR control

I have watched Evaru Telugu movie recently. Although the plot is close to that of Badla(hindi) movie, one particular dialogue caught my attention. The protagonist in the movie mentions multiple times that "he always have the situation under his control". After thinking about that for sometime I understood that we face lot of problems just because situation is in the control of others. Atleast many of problems which I faced/facing are because of others having a upper hand. In other way, either because of my innocence or ignorance I let them have upper hand in those situations. You know what happens when situation is in the control of those people who are in construction business. They play all kind of games with you. They never stick to their word, they never deliver on time and not even pick up your calls at times.

Just to give an example, here is a situation which troubled me a lot recently. It all started with a well dressed, mid 30s sales person approaching us multiple times to give him a contract to do interior works like false ceiling, painting for our new home. We a group 5 people in our lane after multiple discussions among ourselves and with him, we decided to go ahead with that guy. We bargained and got a good deal. Till this point we had the control of the situation. But pretty soon we lost the control by agreeing to pay 40% of the contract amount as advance. He convinced us by saying that he has to buy the material and he need the money. From this point he always made sure that we had paid more than the amount of work he did.

Initially it was fine, he brought the material and started the work for few of us. As he got lot of money upfront may be he was not able to keep them idle So he gave them to some politician and later not able to recover it. Without knowing this mess up he did, me and my neighbour has planned house warming for our houses assuming that he will be able to complete the work by then. It was a lot of struggle to get the bare minimum work completed by these folks by the time of house warming. Its a very tough lesson I learnt. Hope I remember this lesson for long time and never make this mistake again.

[ganeshcommunicates]

Equitable Feminism - An Important Subject for Leadership Communication

As some of you know, Leadership Communications is a subject close to my heart. While both Leadership and Communications are oceans in themselves, their overlap is no less so. In fact credible/ effective communications is increasingly seen as a vital Leadership trait. One of the important subjects that Leadership Communications needs to address is its positive portrayal of Women.

This is needed not just because it is the right thing to do. It is needed because positive reinforcement makes it easier for 'men-on-the-fence' to accept (1) the idea of a woman colleague/ boss and (2) that She could be equal/ superior to him. Of course there may still be some men who are on the other side of the fence. These initiatives may help them at least get on the fence, to begin with.

Why just men, Leadership Communication on this subject will help women too. Women plagued by self-doubt, unfair criticism, or even ridicule (some of us can stoop really low) may get a new lease of energy and enthusiasm. They may feel more open to throw their hats in the ring and explore opportunities which they otherwise may not have even considered. Thus, Communities/ Corporations/ Countries (whichever be the ecosystem) also benefit. If more women participate at various levels, these ecosystems can choose from a bigger talent pool for any role. If the said lady had not even ventured to stake her claim, the eco-system would have settled for the less than best option (male or female).

Many of us are open-minded. They can also vouch in public that that it is ability and not gender that determines what anyone can become. So we may even wonder at the necessity of the above couple of paragraphs. The reason is this. There were a couple of instances in the last few weeks that made one think whether we all are as really liberated as we may claim to be. The instances refer to both men and women and their perception/ projection/ acceptance/ reluctance to accept work as work, without giving into gender stereo-typing.

Before one gets into sharing the instances that triggered this article, it is good to understand how one defines feminism and equitable feminism. Feminism advocates equality of rights, pay, opportunity, etc. One also wishes to add the word 'equitable' and not just 'equal'. Equitable becomes necessary once we understand some differences between the genders and the accompanying strengths and limitations. To cite an example, if we need to care for the infant or the elderly (where physical strength is not relevant), it would be absolutely fair to ask for a lady nurse. Similarly, if there is some work involving 'scaffolding' a sky-scraper, it should not be amiss to insist on male assistance. Neither of these works involves some natural impossibility (like a man conceiving a child), but in these cases, it seems equitable to give preference to one gender over the other. Hence strictly speaking, not fairness is not about equality alone. Having said this, the lines are definitely blurring. Women going into space, Captaining warships etc.

Instance 1: A few days before the Indian government first announced the 21 day lock-down, I shared a post about my family's decision to ask the house maid to take paid leave at least for a few days. This was because, she could be compromising the health of her ailing husband by travelling to and fro (in light of the corona virus). One spoke about the fact that for the next few days at least, each day would be a Sunday. Each day a Sunday because, from 1st January 2020, we had decided to give the maid a weekly off, each Sunday. Yours truly would dutifully wield the broom and the mop. I received a few likes (not much). But I did not get any comment from anyone on following suit etc.

Two observations on the above. 1) Sweeping and mopping may be too infra dig to be admitting to, even if a man is actually doing it. 2) Women - even if they themselves be accomplished and successful women, who can hold their own easily in debates/ discussions in a room full of men, find it difficult to give even a day or two off to their maids. Regular weekly off to their maids is far, far away. This is because, they will need support from other members (read male members too) to action this.

Instance 2: A friend (lady) asked the men in the WhatsApp group for a thumbs up for all the women who are managing so much at home (in addition to probably, managing their office work from home). The response was discouraging. One normally receives twice or thrice more likes for a forward. This group could easily be representative of the top 1% - 2% of India's population in terms of various socio-economic indicators.

Is this an indication of the reluctance to even acknowledge contribution of women at home or is it an indication of the guilt that men are feeling about not lending enough support? One is not sure. But the feeling of the top 1% - 2% can easily percolate down to the 20% below them...and may just be a symptom of what the top 0.1% - 0.2 % actually think and do. It has taken a diktat from the SEBI for the top 1000 listed companies to progress on the representation of Independent Women Directors on their boards. The deadline given in 2018 was March end 2020 for each of the top 1000 listed companies to have at least One Independent Woman Director. As at Dec 31, 2019, more than 10% have yet to comply.

Instance 3: I talked to the lady in the above instance a few days later. She was a bit upset about the response in our group. She also shared her experience in another similar group. The group had a resident 'Peacock'. It seems he was known for his male chauvinism. She was particularly unhappy with him, because he also looked for opportunities to put others down in public. I believe she openly gave him her piece of mind. Within 24 hours, he had posted a snap of a bowl of samosas, he had himself made, fried crisply to a golden brown. I guess she also asked him whether he did all the clean up of the kitchen post the toil with oil.

Response still awaited at the time of going to press, 48 hours later. These days with the Sanjeev Kapoors and Gordon Ramsays very much in the living room through television, cooking has moved from a taboo category to an aspirational one for the Indian male. Not so much, washing dishes or sweeping/ mopping. I believe it is all a mindset. My maternal uncle, who retired as the CIO of an Indian MNC, was typically a no nonsense tough guy. But forty years ago, I have seen him sweeping floors, cutting vegetables etc. We need to realize as in a Hindi movie's dialogue. "Koi Kaam Chota ya bada nahin hotha hai! Kaam, kaam hotha hai" (No work is big or small. Work is just work). Most Indian men need to get liberated from their notions of work.

Instance 4: I saw this video (as posted below) shared by a friend (again a lady) in a WA group. Supposed to be a Quarantine Fashion Show referring to these lock down times. In itself nothing wrong. Basically a video of various middle class/ upper middle class ladies doing a lot of domestic work including, sweeping, mopping, and even car washing in various dress types..Indian/ Western etc. One only wished the fashion show depicted these ladies lounging in comfort watching their menfolk do all the work these ladies were doing. That would have been a blockbuster! But then, our men have to get more liberated. For that they just need to be intoxicated with Life, not with status, power, riches or alcohol or their chauvinistic for that matter.

In ending, one wishes to highlight the experts' view that the new models of working may extend for a long time. Companies may see that the WFH (work from home) option as a useful one in more ways than one. Today one saw a World Economic Forum video, which talks about just 5% of the jobs being of the WFH variety before (the Corona pandemic) in an evolved economy like the US. But the numbers have grown remarkably in the US and across the world.

If WFH is going to be a new normal for many lines/ kinds of work, then the concept of what is work also gets blurred. Unless the baby is fed or stops crying (whatever the cause), one cannot focus on 'work' . Also our personal values and ideas (which we may have hitherto left at home) are also being brought to Work daily. Work is Home and Home is Work. One of the uses of Leadership Communications is its potential to break mindsets, create new paradigm shift in thinking and thereby growth. Helping men and women get more comfortable with work (not stereotype it from a gender perspective) is going to be a critical effort. Thanks to World Wars I and II and a more nuclear family society, a larger portion of western men are already sharing 'home-work' with their partners. Eastern and surely Indian men have some liberation yet to achieve. We have a lot of work, big and small, left to do!

#leadership #communications #leadershipcommunications #communications #genderequality #genderequity #diversitymatters #diversityintheworkplace #womensempowerment #motivationalpost #inspirationalspeaker #motivationalspeaker #leadershipcommunication #stereotyping #work #genderdiversity #wfh #workfromhone #lockdown #coronapandemic

[bigyack-com]

Bigg Boss 13 day 85 written update episode 85 December 30: Sidharth fights with Rashami, Shehnaaz, Arti and Asim - tv

TV actor Sidharth Shukla, who has clearly had the maximum fights inside Bigg Boss 13, locked horns with not just his favourite rivals - Asim Riaz and Rashami Desai, he even fought with Shehnaaz Gill, who shares a rather sweet relationship with him, and old friend Arti Singh.Here are all the top highlights from tonight’s episode: The episode opened with Devoleena Bhattacharjee coming on the sets to bid goodbye to everyone. She said her view changed after she stepped out of the house. She also said she earlier felt Sidharth Shukla is impolite but now has realised he may have temper issues but he is not heartless. All he needs is a good friend, she added. She also said Rashami is unable to vent out her feelings at the right place and it is hampering her behaviour. She also said Rashami is losing her track. Devoleena received a warm welcome inside the house. Also read: Kangana Ranaut impressed Deepika Padukone with her act in Panga trailer: ‘Seems that this film will also be very good’Devoleena then hosted her talk show, OMG with Devoleena. She called upon Rashami as the first guest and asked her if she had faked not knowing about Arhaan’s child. Rashami replied that Arhaan convinced her that he will prove his side once out of the house. Devoleena told her she should have waited for completing the show before proposing him. Devoleena also called up Shehnaaz and Paras-Mahira in two separate chats. Sidharth was also called upon. Salman Khan then celebrated his birthday with Sunil Grover who came to the Bigg Boss stage as Salman’s wife. Then Salman met housemates and assigned a task to them to make resolutions for others. Shehnaaz was asked and she said she will not “make a boyfriend” and will concentrate on her work. Salman said he was on a drive with Govinda and someone abused them. Govinda then asked Salman to follow them and then stopped them to say, “Teri ma, meri maa. (Your mom is my mom).” Asim said Sidharth should control his anger, take care of his health and remember “inki maa meri maa aur inki behen meri maa. (Your mom is my mom and your sister is my sister). ” Rashami said Mahira should use her words wisely. Arhaan said Sidharth should speak more politely with women. Vishal wanted Rashami to talk clearly, with as much clarity as her thoughts and Salman made fun of the fact that he called Rashami’s thoughts clear. Madhurima said Arti should refrain from using friends and rather carry out her friendships well. Shehnaaz said Rashami should speak up about her relationship. Shefali Bagga wanted Rashami to be strong inside the house. Arti said Madhurima should concentrate on her relationship, instead of eyeing others’ behaviour. Shefali Jariwala said Madhurima should start waking up early. Paras said Asim should motivate fans to keep their houses clean and Salman chided him saying that the resolution applied to him as well. When Paras tried to reason that he completes his duties, Salman quipped, “Mai hota to apne bed, bartan sab karta (If I were inside the house, I would have made up my bed, cleaned my own plates and glasses and even cleaned up for others, if he had some free time.Mahira said Asim should also take care that he does not respond to Sidharth’s anger in equal measure and controls his anger. Sidharth said Shehnaaz should “switch on” her mind. Salman then assigned yet another task that he claimed he ideated as a six-year-old kid. Each contestant would have to paint a co-housemate’s face whom they want to target to win the Bigg Boss trophy.Mahira picked Paras while Paras painted Sidharth’s face. Shefali Jariwala painted Asim’s face. Arti picked Rashami and Shefali Bagga painted Paras’s face. Shehnaaz picked Paras and said it would be equal if Sidharth wins the trophy or she wins it. Madhurima painted Shehnaaz’s face and Vishal also picked Shehnaaz. Arhaan painted Asim’s face while Rashami also painted Asim’s face and Asim picked Rashami. Sidharth picked himself and claimed, “Mai trophy jitu ya nahi ye meri wajah se hi hoga (Whether I win or lose the show, it will be because of me alone).” Salman said that was the joke and Sidharth must give him the real answer. Then he picked Paras.

Sunny Leone also entered Bigg Boss 13 sets with a beautiful cake to celebrate Salman’s cake. She said the cake was for new years’, Salman’s newborn niece, his birthday and the success of Dabangg 3. She also tried Salman’s dialogue from Dabangg 3 and had everyone laughing. “Apne baccho se seekh rahi ho, (Are you learning all these antics from your children?)” Salman asked and she replied in the affirmative. Salman then offered her macaroons and asked her to mouth words with a macaroon in her mouth. She has tough Hindi words like Ullanghan (disobeying) and Romanchak (adventurous) that bowled her over and made her lose the game. Sunny also enacted the famous dialogues of Sunny Deol – Dhai kilo ka haath and Tareekh pe Tareekh. Sunny also made Salman groove to her hit number, Baby Doll.The caller of the week asked Sidharth why was he fighting with Rashami if he had already apologized to her. Sidharth said it was her confusion, adding that he simply ended the confusion and never apologised. He also said “humare beech me koi jhagda ya gaali galoj nahi hua hai. (We never had a fight or even a heated debate). He also claimed that Rashami was the one who instigated him and he never initiated fights inside the house. Rashami again chipped in saying Sidharth often made creative changes to the script of the show they worked upon together, to which Sidharth said “Apko batau kab kab bani hai aur kya bana hai, bhool gai hain? (Should I tell you what all happened and when it happened? Have you forgotten it all?).”

Salman then announced Madhurima Tuli, Shefali Bagga and Arhaan had the lowest votes. Salman could not control his laughter and rolled on the floor as he announced that the eviction would happen at midnight and Bigg Boss would announce the name. Soon as Salman left, Sidharth fought with Shehnaaz and asked her not to hold his hand. He then called Arti and asked “kaun se cans khulenge? (What cans did you say would open?)” He also shouted at Rashami that she keeps talking about stuff from their life outside the house. Arti insisted Rashami should keep quiet. Arhaan walked upto Sidharth and the two ended up fighting yet again. Sidharth yelled at Arti who was trying to pacify him. Asim also intervened and asked Sidharth to keep quiet. Arti also went upto Rashami and then asked her to stop talking about the fight, old things and each other. Arti also asked her not to talk about her house or Sidharth. Sidharth then said, “Thakeli, peeche aati hai khud, Goa tak aphunch gait hi. Bakwaas karti hai (She follows me, came all the way to Goa!).” Arti requested him to stop talking about it all while Rashami began crying. “Do line set me yaad nahi rehti thi, aur set ki baat batau? (She could not remember her lines on the sets of our show and she wants to talk about what happened on the sets? Should I spill all the beans?,” Sidharth yelled infront of Arti, addressing Rashami. Arti tried to stop Asim who also asked Sidharth and Rashami to stop fighting but she lost her calm. “Ladkiyo ki izzat ki baat karte hain, aisi ladkiyo ki izzat? (They talk about respecting women, respect for such women?)” Shehnaaz also yelled at Sidharth, asking him to calm down and not be instigated by Rashami. Sidharth also abused Rashami with words like “gandh se bhari hu aurat”. Asim then went upto Rashami and Arhaan and asked them to calm down. Shehnaaz went upto to Asim to ask him to stay away from the fight, just like she was doing.. Vishal also went upto Arhaan and told him that he should either just hit Sidharth and get out of the house or ignore till the time that he can. Vishal tried his best to calm down both Rashami and Arhaan, asking him to stay with Rashami as she needed him.Shehnaaz also said Sidharth should not use bad language but he yelled at her as well. “Wo poke karti hai tu ho jata hai,” Then, Bigg Boss asked everyone to come out in the garden area and then they welcomed Sunny Leone and Sunil Grover. Bhangra Paa Le stars Sunny Kaushal and Rukhshar came to promote their film that will hit theatres on January 3. Salman announced he had the rights to the title Bhangra Paa Le and he gave it to Ramesh Taurani when he asked because he loves the producer. He wished everyone a happy new year as he bid goodbye. Follow @htshowbiz for more Read the full article

[salmankhanholics]

★ SALMAN KHAN GIVES THE GIFT OF HOPE WITH HIS BIG EID RELEASE TUBELIGHT !

June 21, 2017

By Asjad Nazir

THE king of the Bollywood box office, Salman Khan has been ruling over Eid for a number of years with a series of box office blockbusters that have delighted fans around the world. He continues the annual tradition of gifting fans a high profile film for Eid with his latest release Tubelight, which presents him in a never before seen way.

The popular actor plays a simple man in the powerful Kabir Khan-directed drama about hope, which is set in the 1962 Sino-Indian war and also stars popular Chinese actress Zhu Zhu. Not surprisingly the Bollywood adaptation of Hollywood film Little Boy is expected to clock up big numbers and add to the incredible run the superstar has been on. Eastern Eye caught up with Salman to talk about his amazing success, Tubelight, his leading lady, taking risks, heroism, late actress Reema Lagoo and more.

You have achieved an incredible amount in cinema, what keeps the passion so strong?

Every time a fan doesn’t like me or somebody says “his previous film was much better”, that gives me the motivation to fight back and when people are praising my work by saying things like “that was a really nice film”, “you looked really good”, “you acted really well” that, again gives me the same amount of motivation to do much better. I use both, the negatives and the positives to give myself the boost and the drive.

In terms of consistency across the last seven years, you are the king of the Bollywood box office. Does that put pressure on you?

Every film does put pressure on you because it’s not only about you its all these hundreds, thousands and millions of fans who go to watch a movie, fans that save their money and expect that particular film to be better than the previous one. They expect to be entertained, have a great time and come out really happy wanting to see the film again. But financially, there are many people who put lots of money into the film so it’s our responsibility that they should not lose any money; if these people are making me money, our motive, principle and goal would be to try and make them as much money as possible.

You have had a high hit rate in recent years, what has been your formula for success?

I don’t think there’s any formula for success. I just believe that I’ve been lucky and that the timing has been really good. The selection of the scripts I have chosen to work on, the directors and the teams have been brilliant and they’ve done all the hard work. Hence, the movies have done well.

What did you like about Tubelight’s concept?

I like the simplicity, the emotion between brothers, the screenplay, story, the characters of Laxman and Bharat Singh Bisht. And since I’ve worked with the director earlier in two films I know his capability of how much more he can enhance the written script.

Tell us about the story and your character.

It’s a very genuine character. He’s simple, not physically and emotionally strong, but he believes in himself and keeps his belief really focused that his brother is going to come back to him one day.

You haven’t played a character like this before, how did you approach creating it?

These characters are really difficult to play. So when you’re doing your first and second film, you can very easily play these characters because you’re vulnerable, shy of the camera and very unsure of yourself, so there’s a lot of innocence and a lot of vulnerability in you. You’re a novice at that point of time so these characters perhaps, would be a lot simpler to play than now since one has played action hero roles, comedy roles. One has done films like Wanted and Dabanggwith the larger than life characters, so from there to go down to a really simple, innocent, slow character is the most difficult thing to do. Because today at this given moment, I don’t think like Laxman Singh Bisht at all, my thinking has totally changed. So if something like this had come during Maine Pyar Kiya it would have just been me, but now, this side of me. I had to really dig very deep to bring this person out of me. This person was buried somewhere, deep down and this script has brought him back up.

Fans are used to seeing the heroic tough Salman, did you think it would be a risk?

No. Heroism doesn’t only mean that you’re physically strong and you’re beating up 10 people. Heroism basically means that what you set out to do, you do. And either you could do it emotionally or with strategy or with sheer strength. But here, he’s done it with his heart and I don’t think there’s any emotion that is tougher than the emotion of the heart.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while working on Tubelight?

My first two days were the toughest because when we start a movie, we either begin with a song or some scene in between, so those two days are the most crucial days of your character or where the movie is going to go. If you go wrong in those two days and you don’t understand that you’ve gone wrong then the whole character goes pear shaped. So, there’s a film that I shot where I went wrong in the first three days and then thought “What am I doing?” so we reshot three days of work we had done earlier and I got the character right. For this film, I had read the script and heard it three times over. I know people like my friends who are very simple and nice people. I’ve kept on looking at them and studying them so I knew the first two days were correct. I didn’t know where I was going so I did one take where I enacted the character louder and another take where it was slightly subdued, so when we saw the rushes we realised which of them were the right character to portray.

What is your favourite moment in Tubelight?

There are lots of moments. The screenplay has so many twists and turns, which I can’t share with you right now because if I share them with you now then I’ve opened the screenplay of the movie. But, apart from the script, I think, brothers working together, working with Kabir for the third time and my mother being the producer of this film after Bajrangi Bhaijaan; all of this makes it our duty to give it our best. For Kabir, Sohail (Khan), my mother and me, at this stage do not want our names to go down, so we try our best and work our hardest to see that people like the movie.

What makes your working relationship with Kabir Khan so strong?

After having worked with Kabir in three films we understand each other well. We share a great comfort level. Our understanding of films is very different. His approach is more realistic as he comes from documentary filmmaking. On the other hand, I am into commercial Bollywood. Perhaps that is why when these two meet, a new style is born.

Tell us about your leading lady Zhu Zhu?

It was actually a learning experience. Since she’s Chinese, I wondered whether she spoke in English but because she’s done Marco Polo and lots of stuff in Hollywood, we didn’t have a problem communicating at all because she spoke in a proper American accent. She’s funny, witty, very professional and extremely hard working. She learnt all her Hindi dialogues before she even came down. With Hindi dialogues, she also understood the meaning of every Hindi word because she got them translated into English. So she understands the English lines as well as the Hindi lines. She used to do the English lines in rehearsal and in takes she used to do the Hindi lines. Like this, she understood the meaning of the lines and was not just saying random stuff. If people told her to give a pause here or get a tear in your eye here, she’d know it and do it perfectly. She knew the Hindi lines like she would speak English or Chinese.

What is your favourite song in the film?

Right now it is Radio and Naach Meri Jaan, which are really nice songs. There are another three songs that are going to come up and they’re also phenomenal. The music of this film is really good, emotional, touching, sweet, full of life and joyous, like celebratory music.

Tubelight revolves around the power of believing, have you ever used that in your own life?

All the time. If I don’t believe in something, I don’t even touch it.

How can people get more involved with your Being Human charity?

Now we’re tying up something with Tubelight. Once we tie it up, we’ll let you know what we’re doing because every time I’ve been asked the question “How do we help?” So you’re already helping by asking. My answer to this is: look left, look right and give it to the most deserving person or towards the person’s education or to a hospital where somebody needs healthcare. Education and healthcare are the two top priorities in the world.

What is your greatest unfulfilled ambition?

I have no idea.

Reema Lagoo tragically passed away recently. We will always associate her with you most. What are your fondest memories of her?

I know. That’s really sad. I’ve done more than six films where she’s played my mother so I had a great time with her. On screen she was a mother, but off screen she was like a friend. She had that motherly quality and it’s so sad that I wasn’t here when she passed away. When VK sir, Vinod Khanna, passed away, I wasn’t here and I’ve not met the family yet, but when I come back now I will do that. Everyone was tweeting and posting stuff on Facebook and I just didn’t have the heart to do that.

How will you be celebrating Eid this year?

With my parents!

Why should we see Tubelight?

If you want to go and have fun with your family, if you want to get reunited, if you want to cry a little bit, laugh a lot, feel really good about yourself, see a really cool movie then I think this is the one that you might want to go watch.

Why do you love cinema?

I’ve been born in this film industry. My father tried to be an actor, he did about twenty-four films and it didn’t work. He became a screenplay writer. My eyes have opened in this industry; there’s nothing better that I could do apart from films and I don’t do that well either so I just can’t imagine how bad I’d be at all the other things.

Please give a message for your fans?

Be good. Stay out of trouble.

Tubelight is in cinemas now

Eastern Eye