'SRK's memory is phenomenal'

Filmmaker Tarun Mansukhani, 33, who was in New York recently to attend the I View film festival organised by the advocacy group Engendered, talked at length about his value system, the influence his mother has had on him, and the genres that are close to his heart as a filmmaker.

He has served as an assistant on a string of hit films before Karan Johar (whom he had assisted on many films including Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) asked him to direct Dostana. Mansukhani has also served as an assistant to Aditya Chopra on Mohabaatein and to Nikhil Advani on Kal Ho Naa Ho.

Before thius interview started in a suite in Radisson in mid-Manhattan, Mansukhani, who looks younger than he is, said he needed to smoke.

"No, you can't," I told him, smiling. "I am not smoking here," he said. "I am dashing off the street."

After the interview, he said, he enjoyed very much but he was going off to the street again.

"It was a good interview. Why do you want to smoke again?" I said. "You never know how the next one will be," he said laughing as he raced to the street corner.

You have announced Dostana 2. What are the challenges have you set for yourself?

It cannot be more of the same. As I am writing, I am constantly conscious of the fact that it should have new elements, new tension, new twists and everything about it should look and sound fresh.

Even the title?

I don't want to call it Dostana 2. I will be using the word in the title, of course, but it has to be far more imaginative than Dostana 2. It has to have an identity of its own. It is funny, even when Dostana was made, we had everything in place but the title came up the last. It might happen this time, too.

'I can't imagine making a film without Boman Irani'

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Farhan Akhtar, writer, filmmaker and actor, came to New York last week with his director-sister Zoya Akhtar for the screening of Luck by Chance at the I View Film festival.

"Film festivals are important as they often provide an opportunity to look at a film from a fresh perspective," the 35-year-old filmmaker said.

He readily admitted that when he worked on a project he did not think of making a film that catered to a special audience. "It is the story that should hold my attention," he said. "I don't tell myself, I am going to make a film with a message or this is going to be a socially relevant film. Whatever films I make, the mandate is that it should touch the audiences and engage them from the first scene."

Akhtar, the son of writers Javed Akhtar (Sholay and Deewar) and Honey Irani (Lamhe and many other films), has collaborated with his father on several projects. He chats with Arthur J Pais:

What are some of the challenges you have set for yourself in the Don sequel?

Even when I was writing the script for Don, I suspected it could lead to a sequel. I wanted to be faithful to the original Don [which Javed Akhtar wrote with Salim Khan] but in my film, the villain lived. I was amazed at the way people were fascinated by this villain. Of course, they were not endorsing what he did but they were so intrigued and fascinated by him that they wanted so see more of him.

In the first film I felt the obligation to be faithful to the original Don to a great extent. I kept telling myself while making the first Don: don't try to be very smart. But now I feel I am free, and this is going to be my baby. At the same I know the audiences are expected many surprising twists in the sequel. One of my challenges is to know that the audiences are waiting for the big surprises and give them something they could not have imagined. It is not going to be easy but I feel it can be done.


Image: Boman Irani, director Tarun Mansukhani, Farhan Akhtar and John Abraham

I'm proud I brought homosexuality out of closet: Tarun Mansukhani

Talk about gays and their acceptability problems are no longer hush-hush with 'Queer Pride' rallies becoming an annual event in many Indian cities. And one-film old writer-director Tarun Mansukhani takes pride in bringing homosexuality out of the closet in films with his commercial hit 'Dostana'. He now plans a sequel to the comedy.