His moment in the sun
From a romantic film like Kal Ho Na Ho to a hard-core spy thriller like D-Day, filmmaker Nikhil Advani’s journey has been full of ups and downs. He calls it a “struggle” but adds, “I am fortunate that people have always believed in me as a filmmaker, even though I have had average films like Salaam-e-Ishq and Patiala House and a disaster like Chandni Chowk To China.” Nikhil goes on to cite a few examples. “Yash Chopra backed me as a first-time filmmaker. When I started making D-Day, people asked me if I was sure about what I was getting into. Until then I was always associated with romantic films and suddenly I was trying to make a thriller with Arjun Rampal and Rishi Kapoor in lead roles. But producer Shabnam Kapoor backed me on this one. And now I am enjoying my moment in the sun,” he says.
The filmmaker has made yet another daring move by deciding not to have any item numbers in his future films. Despite item numbers being seen as sure-shot crowdpullers, Nikhil stands firm on his decision. He says, “I had a good item number ready for D-Day but decided to remove it after the Delhi gang rape incident. I am the father of a seven-year-old daughter and I don’t want to show anything in my films that objectifies women.”
There have been a lot of comparisons between D-Day and Ek Tha Tiger. But Nikhil laughs them off. “The budget of my film is equal to what Ek Tha Tiger spent in its promotions. The comparison ends at the fact that Salman Khan played a RAW agent in the film like the characters in my film. But in terms of ethos and style, my film is different. Kabir Khan is a dear friend of mine and I know about the next film he’s making with Saif Ali Khan that has a script penned by S. Hussain Zaidi. In fact, he was one of the first to see D-Day and he told me, ‘Now I have the guts to make a film exactly like this’.”
A lot of people thought it was brave of the filmmaker to pit Arjun Rampal against acting veterans such as Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor. But Nikhil defends his decision, saying, “Arjun is smouldering and sexy. I was tempted to get him to remove his shirt in the film,” he laughs, adding, “But he has held his own among Irrfan and Rishi.” It was also heard that Arjun was so confident of the film that he wanted an Eid release, which is when Chennai Express is slotted as well. “Full marks to Arjun for wanting to arrive with Shah Rukh Khan. I have had the good fortune of working with SRK in four films and I have learnt you don’t want to pit yourself against him,” says Nikhil with a smile.
Not too long ago there were loud whispers in the industry about all not being well between Karan Johar and Nikhil. The filmmaker dismisses them altogether. “Karan was the first person I showed D-Day to, when it was still being edited. Right now, we are in talks of working together. So I would like to apologise to everyone who thinks John Lennon and Paul McCartney have split up,” he says.
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