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EXCLUSIVE: Ranbir and Deepika feel safe with each other as actors – Imtiaz Ali
Director Imtiaz Ali reunites Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in the romantic-drama Tamasha, which is their third outing together after their 2013 blockbuster, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Bachna Ae Haseeno, in 2008. In an exclusive chat with Pinkvilla, the thinking director talks about the actors’ much talked about chemistry, the film’s unique promotions and the moviegoers’ endless love for Ranbir despite few box office failures in the past.
The countdown has begun, Tamasha will be out in the next few days. How does it feel?
There is excitement, still some things need to be checked and finished. It is like before you go on a journey, you put your entire luggage together...everything is in now. The feeling is great because I know that in the next five, six, seven,10 days, Ranbir, Deepika and me will be together. I have been working on the movie so I have not been much involved in the film’s publicity. Obviously, it is the people who decide the fate of the movie, what we could have decided is to try to make it in a way that people like it. We have done our best, we are happy about that, so let’s see.
You worked with Ranbir in Rockstar while you directed Deepika in Love Aaj Kal few years back, did you notice any change in them?
I think Ranbir has become from boy to man. He has matured as a person and he has become more pure as an actor. Deepika has grown tremendously as an actor, she has become much more confident and much less shy about her performance. She is personally a very shy person so earlier even in her performances she would hold herself back.
There have been some really aggressive promotions happening for the film. Was it planned this way?
Promotions were planned little bit and the rest happened as the follow up of what we had planned. Ranbir, Deepika and I have a certain friendship and informality with which we talk. We had to just record and show people what we are doing. How much can you just say to people that my film is good, come and watch my film, people will not come. But if you give a sense of who you are, how you are thinking, how you are feeling interested then probably people will feel interested in coming. And then, Ranbir and Deepika are the kind of people, who have great minds, they are experienced, so they don’t want to do things that are useless.
How would you describe Tamasha, what is the gist of the movie, what are you trying to convey?
There is something special inside everybody; sometimes it needs a woman’s touch to discover that. There are some intense moments, there are some funny moments...Sometimes to achieve greater goals in your life you have to go through some bitter experiences, it is not without hardship that you achieve any happiness in your life, and the same happens in Tamasha. There are all kinds of colours in the film that you will see in life. In certain ways, in certain parts of what happens in the movie is something that I have seen in real life. I have been fortunate to have experienced the power of a woman in somebody’s life. The power of just love, romance, just the happy feeling which can drive somebody to do much better in life.
Some of our sources had said that Deepika wanted to do few promotions solo...
That was just sitting over here we had done the video and the video was about them saying that I will do my solo bit and you do your solo bit. But ultimately it didn’t happen like that. We were also saying this because Ranbir was shooting away in the UK and Europe. So first few things that happened were with Deepika alone while Ranbir was on skype chat. They have a great camaraderie; it is not as if there is a fight.
As we all know that they were in a relationship and they have openly spoken about their thoughts and feelings post split. So how was it shooting romantic and certain intense scenes with them?
Personally, they are great with each other. I think they love and respect each other. What really matters, as far as I am concerned is that as actors they are in great space to work with each other. Both of them are equally adventurous as actors, both of them can take the kind of risk that a great performance will require and they can give each other the kind of support that a great performance or a good film would want. They both feel very safe with each other as actors because they feel that the other will support me. That is what I mean when I say that they have love and respect for each other. Often times, whether people are dating or not dating each other, whether they have been girlfriends, boyfriends or are going to be together, that quality is not there, and if it is not there then the other actor always feels little scared so he/she doesn’t give his/her best. With Ranbir and Deepika, they make sure that the other also does the best.
Deepika is currently on a high as far as her career is concerned, whereas Ranbir has been on a low for some time now...did that change the equations in any which way?
No, not at all. For the audience, or for the media, it is a very big thing and it is a moot question that everybody asks, but if you see the life of any other actor, they go through ups and downs so much that it is just to answer your question that they will ever think about it. It does not play at all in their minds because they also know that if I take my success or my failure to my head then I will not enjoy the work that I am doing. So what is the point?
Tamasha is being said to be the litmus test for Ranbir...
Every step that an actor takes is a litmus test. I am happy the amount of love and concern that people have for Ranbir. There is a lot of positive energy in people that they want Tamasha to work. They know who Ranbir is. Internally, they all know that he is a very good actor. And it’s this view that has also gone across to people that he is a great guy. People in this country, who watch Hindi movies, just love him. They want his movies to do well. And I feel we have the love and blessings of people because of Ranbir in this film.
Any incident while filming that left a mark?
Ranbir and Deepika were doing this very intense song - Agar Tum Saath Ho, which is the most intense part of the movie, and both of them as people are also very intense, so there was almost an electric feeling in that whole location and outside. There was a kind of stunned silence when the scene was happening because of the emotional journey that the actors took while shooting. The whole colony around Haus khaz in Delhi was transformed into a silent location because of the energy that was coming from them. They actually broke down while filming such intense sequences which you can see in the film. They kind of got carried away while performing, and I feel that the actors must get carried away.
So how would you sum up your entire experience of filming Tamasha?
It was extremely illuminating and a lot of fun, too. The fact is that I love these two people. I have never had better actors than these two in any of my movies. Just to be with them was the biggest joy. I have this feeling, that with them I can also explore, they can also guide me. We are friends, we trust each other, so the three of us have done good work in the film as a result of the other two.
So do we see you collaborating with them again?
I must and I hope and I would love to work with Ranbir and Deepika again. I am not ready with any script yet. I first have a script and then decide the actors, it is never the other way round. So if I do have something, I would love to pitch it to them.
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