Kabir Khan’s workshop atop Kabul Express – wanna ride ??? Part 1
Kabir Khan’s workshop atop Kabul Express – wanna ride ??? Part 1
Sunday 19′th November Andheri West ….
A workshop was organised by the Biascope guys with Kabir Khan- the director of Kabul Express… Biascope is the first ‘filmy NGO’ to bridge the gap between audiences, amatuers and film makers. They have conducted similar events in the past too(check their website for details).
Anyways, for those who don’t know Kabir khan, he is the director of forthcoming film Kabul Express(John Abraham, Arshad Warsi) and several documentaries. Obviously the biggest question everyone (there were about 50 odd people in the preview theater) had was that how did he, a documentary film maker, journeyed into a full length ‘realistic’ feature film ??
And what’s mindboggling is that he managed to get YashRaj films, the ‘undisputed kings of popcorn romance‘ to produce it. How the hell did that happen ??? Additionally, was Kabir khan out of his minds to shoot a film in afghanistan ????
He came onto stage and talked a little about himself and fielded some Q&A. There was also a screening of his documentary film The Taliban,Years and Beyond. And as my luck would have it, managed to have a tete-tete with him too. HOPEFULLY, HE IS READING THIS ARTICLE AND TRYING TO CONTACT OZ VERY SOON !!!
Anyways this how he started off.He apologised that he would not be able to share the visuals of KE(Kabul Express) with us since the movie is releasing within a month – 15′th December (that’s right girls !!).
-There are no songs in KE, but I’m still greatful to YRF (YashRaj Films) that they have released a music album for the film as a part of its publicity, promotion.
-As far as I’m concerned, Documentaries are not a stepping stone to feature films for me. I’ll continue doing documentaries even after KE. However, it is a quantum leap from documentaries to feature films.
-In fact, in case of KE, my documentary TYB (Taliban -Years and Beyond) is the raw material for KE !!!
- I’m a delhite and the documentary culture is not so vibrant at delhi. The only place in delhi where documentaries are screened are perhaps India Habitat Center in which the audience comprises of 75 people, out of which 15 ARE THE DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS THEMSLEVES !!! There is not much of an audience for documentary films.
- I couldn’t raise funds locally for TYB. Only international organisations gave funding /comissions to my documentaries.
-Once shot, they would be bought from these organisations or may be sent to film festivals abroad. But there is no such platform where we can screen it to the majority of the audience. Hence we cannot get a creative feedback.
-While I was filming TYB in Afghanistan, I was writing my ‘behind the camera experiences’, along wiht my crew member Rajan Kapoor. The story, mileu, settings, characters that I met during the shooting of TYB was internalised by me and put into a structure; which later gave birth to a script !!
Kabir then talked about how he tried getting the funds for KE
-It was really tough after the scripting stage to get funding for the film. The idea of the film was
” 2 journalists, One pakistani, one American…. post 9/11 … in Afghanistan ”
- Clearly there were no traditional elements, no songs, no romance, no item numbers.
- Despite that, everyone(prospective producers) gave positive feedback “Achchi hai” …”Good story idea”… “Very Different” etc … but no one was willing to put the money !!!
-Then I realised something. WHY REALISTIC FILMS ALWAYS SHOT IN BOMBAY (now mumbai) ???
Because THEIR BUDGET ITSELF IS 2 CRORE !!! My script couldnt be shot in that sort of a budget.
-Most producers say “ Do you wanna narrate your story ? First tell me Who are the stars…. what is the market value ?? What can we expect in returns ??”
I used to react “Arey baba, I’m a documentary film maker trying to make a feautre film. How do I know about all this ???”
-As far as most producers are concerned, they believe in ‘proposals‘. Monday-Friday is ‘proposal day’. And saturday is ‘creative day’ “Aapko different script sunani hai ?? Aap saturday ko aaye” (English – You wanna narrate a ‘different script, you can come on saturday)
Kabir then talked about how the project got kick started….
-John and Arshad were with me and my script 10 months BEFORE YRF DECIDED TO PRODUCE IT. Despite that I had troucle getting producers
- I never sent my script to YRF as they have their own brand. But my script reached Aditya Chopra via a common friend. He was looking for film to do which was ‘out of his comfort zone’ and inherently different/challenging.
-At the same time, AC didn’t wanna make another ‘crossover film’. He wanted to make a film in the Indian/South Asian Context which would also have an international appeal. He made me refocus my vision and go back to my original script.
- I said “But the characters all seem to be speaking hindi (the same language)”. AC said “Don’t worry about the language/dialogues. Just go back to your vision”
- I then cast actors as per their nationalites. The afghan is played by an afghan actor, the pakistani by a pakistani actor… and so on. They all made work easier for me as the film had people from different nationalities as per their characters, I didn’t have to work on their accents.
-YRF gave great production support. We got security issues and even death threats whil shooting in afghanistan. The film wouldn’t have been possible without the support of YRF.
Here’s a little from the Question and Answers Session-
Q) John Abraham is the sexiest pin up guy !!! Hoe does he fit into Kabul Express ???
A) John and Arshad were there before YRF came in.
John’s body language off camera is different from his on screen persona. He has an image that of a macho,tough,pin up guy. But in the film I wanted a sensitive, easy going, boyish soul who can also look tough. I gave him the script. He read it and said “I love the script. I don’t care who produces it. I believe in it. I believe in the character. I wanna go to Kabul !!” He was so enthusiastic about the script.
And let me tell you, he faced the brunt of the issues in Kabul !! He was the most high profile person on the sets, while we were shooting (this is around the time Garam Masala got released) and he faced problems of security, death threats, and even food. But still, that man stood by me.
Arshad and I are good friends cos his wife (Maria Goretti) and my wife are VJ’s. Therefore I know Arshad for some time. He has a brilliant sense of humor off camera too !! The oneliners in my film are very much like Arshad.
Both the characters are like me, Delhi guys.
Q) I’ve been following your documentaries. You are a primarily a cinematographer. The why didn’[t you handle the camera for KE ???
A) I’m passionate about cinematography and camerawork and I wanted to shoot it myself.
But as a first time feature film director, I wanted to concentrate more on the actors/actresses and their performances. If I was handling the camer as well, I might have paid more attention to the frame, the edges-composition etc and I might have missed out on the expressions.
That’s why, Anshuman, my junior from MCRC Jamia Millia Islamia handled the camera. He was the one who got the last interview of Ahmed Shah Masood 10 days before he was killed by the Taliban.
Q) Is there a plan to take KE beyond Bollywood ??
A)There’s no such conscious attempt to cater to a larger audience. Its our film. But it being celebrated at various film festivals. At the Toronto Film Festival, Pusan Film Festival, European Film festival (London), a world premiere at the Dubai Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival. It has been successful uptill now.
There’s a lot of Humor in KE. It’s not just a gritty thriller. USA won’t touch any humor in the context of Afghanistan post 9/11.
At a KE film screening in Korea, I signed 200 autographs !! It’s an Asian take on the current political scenario. It’s not just being released in the ‘traditional NRI theaters’ but even in the main markets abroad.
EG: a traditional NRI theater would be somewhere in South Hall – London (a largely Punjabi population) or Jackson Heights,Brooklyn NYC rather
We’re also taking it to ‘main – non traditionally NRI Theaters’ like Odeon in Leicster Square (London) and other major theaters in NYC.
Coming up in part 2 – more Q&A, a short mention on Taliban Years and Beyond and my mini meeting with Kabir Khan (I’m also from Jamia by the way !!!)
to be contd.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
- Dude, Thanks for the fantastic coverage… awaiting Part 2 and KK’s phone call
Wow Kartik…Thanks…Cannot wait for the second part…
“-There are no songs in KE, but I’m still greatful to YRF (YashRaj Films) that they have released a music album for the film as a part of its publicity, promotion”
I was going to write an article on how indians cannot promote/market a movie without songs, but i am a bit tied up at the mo, so if you do not mind i will mek a few points here.
I do not get why producers would want to waste money on 7-8 songs (when only one song is half-decent and rest crap) to promote a movie like Kabul Express. When they can use that money to market the movie wisely to attract the public. This kind of movies need to be promoted diffrently to get the public in cinema. Promoting Kabul Express with songs will certainly not attract the public. they could have used JA/AW/YRF star-power to attract.. or promoting as a hatke movie.
Some producers/directors think that after the movie is made and songs are made.. everything is done!
A good one Kartik
I have been waiting for this one since a long time now. The reviews have been good from festivals but will wait
Witing for the second part
-Punds
Thanks Kartik for sharing your experience.
John is so amazed by the response of the film!
He enjoyed the great landscape of the film.
Did you guys know why there is no Bollywood heroine in the film? Coz of the war lords! It would be like dinner receipe for them:)
Manjeet .. next time you meet him …
ask him to check the articles (parts 1 and 2)
Would love to hear his comments too !!!
great post Karthik!
We are transcending all paradigms of cinema infotainment everyday at PFC!
(WOW that sounds like the punch line for some film magazine
)
KE looks promising and fun. I heard the album is getting good reviews too.
Hey Kartik, was disappointed on knowing that there did happen a workshop with Kabir where one of his documentaries was shown public. Just today, visited PFC in the morning to read your article ‘Kabir Kahn’s workshop atop Kabul Express – Wanna Ride’ which had a mention “Hope Kabir reads this and gets in touch with OZ” and few minutes later I asked him “Hey Kabir, you had some workshop in the preview theatre and do you know OZ. (As if I know him very well, its been just few days my visit to PFC and came to know about the contributing authors like anurag, manjeet and others). Told him about OZ’s blogging site and manjeet’s coverage on ‘No Smoking’. Loved it Manjeet… Keep Coming… Kartik how do i Keep myself updated about any such minor thing happening in the near future. Will you give me a hint… Thanks
KK has been MIA on PFC for a VLT (very long time). a great comeback post! =D> i want pictures next time kk :-w
We gotta bug Oz to cancel that looong due beer and send in a camera !!! No wait don’t cancel the beer … I didn’t say that !!!