The subject of Kabul Express looks like that of a documentary film. But it has mainstream actors. So would you classify the film as documentary or commercial?
Kabul Express is not a documentary. I have never been able to understand in today’s context what is commercial and what not. Commercial is a term that should not be applied to a film before you make it. Because even commercial films do bad at the box office and a realistic film does brilliantly.
Canvas for commercial/mainstream cinema is very wide today. I don’t think six songs and a love story make a commercial cinema. Kabul Express has all the elements to entertain, engross and provoke you; therefore it is commercial in its true sense.
I love cinema be it commercial or cerebral. Rang De Basanti on paper must have sounded like a very non commercial film, but it is one of the biggest commercial films of the year.
The film was ready by mid 2006, so why have you released it now, in December?
The shooting of the film was completed in 2005 end. The film was ready by May 2006. But we are releasing it in December because we were traveling with the film in the festival circuit. The big festivals want films before they are released theatrically.
All the release dates that were announced in the press were just trade speculation. We were always clear that we wanted to release the film after taking it to specific festivals because they serve as sample audiences.
So what is the difference in audience at festivals and in theaters?
There is no difference in the audience. The festivals that I have gone to were open to the public. I didn’t take Kabul Express to Cannes, which is open only to trade and industry. Toronto, Pusan, Dubai and London are open to public therefore we went there to get a response and we have also got a tremendous response from the Korean, Canadian, American and British audiences. So this shows that the film is speaking a global language. To get a reaction like the way I did from a predominantly international audience was a great feeling.
Why didn’t you screen the film at an Indian festival like the International Film Festival of India (IFFI)?
We were not even invited by IFFI. Nevertheless, IFFI took place 20 days before the release and it was in India amidst the Indian press. So opening the film to reviews at a festival in India 20 days before its release didn’t make sense. The film would look stale by the time it released in theatres.
The subject of film appears to be very serious. But the promo, song and interviews sound very fun. So is it a fun film or a serious film?
I wouldn’t be able to define whether its fun film or a serious film. All I can say is that it’s a serious backdrop but never gets preachy or serious in its narrative. I hope we have not trivialized the issue with the humor. As a movie watcher I have always found humor to be more profound than a serious story.
Kabul Express works at various levels. It works at a face value as a very entertaining thriller but at the same time it has several layers, which if the audience wants it can understand or can choose to ignore.
Why did you choose to shoot in Afghanistan?
I wanted to make the film in Afghanistan because I have strength of experience in Afghanistan. I have made a few documentaries on Afghanistan previously. When you are a documentary film maker you are responsible for yourself. But when you take 60 people with you on the basis of you personal assurances, it’s a huge responsibility. Every person in the cast and crew was there because we had given them an assurance that we can shoot a film in Afghanistan.
How did you manage to make production arrangements in Afghanistan?
My friend Rajan and I have spent a lot of time in Afghanistan doing documentaries. So we already had a great network of friends in place. One can take Indian production crew to Switzerland or New Zealand because there is an organized film industry there. But there was no point taking production people from India and throwing them in Afghanistan.
Your film incorporates a star cast from so many different countries. What prompted you to cast people on the basis of the nationality of the character?
It was Aditya Chopra’s idea and today I think it is one of the strong points of the film to cast every actor according to the nationality of the character. Today what Hanif Hum Ghum, Lynda Arsenio and Salman Shahid have brought to the film, I don’t think any other actor could have done that.
It was a very difficult process to put them all together. As an industry we are so used to casting Indian characters for any sort of role. We don’t have a good database or any procedure to follow if we want to cast internationally. I had to go myself and audition a lot of Afghan actors. For Pakistani actors I had to go through films and TV dramas. I saw Salman Shahid in Pakistani film Khamosh Pani.
John and Arshad developed a very great rapport off screen so it translated very well on screen and I am sure after Kabul Express, they will be cast together in at least three more films.
After Kabul Express will you continue to make feature films or will you go back to making documentary films?
I am already onto my next films in terms of script but haven’t started pre-production. I have a three film contract with Yash Raj. Kabul Express was not the first script that I had written. But I chose to make Kabul Express because it would have been a clutter breaker for me as my debut film.
My first film is much bigger in its scale and budget and that is the one that made me want to become a feature film maker. I will work on this film with Yash Raj now and I can choose the stars I want to work with.
I will also continue to make documentaries and will be embarking one in Afghanistan. Documentaries are my raw material from where I derive my scripts. So if I stop making documentaries I will be in a vacuum.
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