Debutant director Karan Malhotra tells us what helped him strike gold at the BO with Agneepath
Did you not want to cast Abhishek Bachchan as Vijay Dinananath Chauhan?
Not really. Hrithik has the charm of a boy and the attitude of a man. Also, he has a certain vulnerability, which I was looking in my characterisation of Vijay Dinananth Chauhan.
Did you not want to check on how Amitabh felt at your choice of Vijay? Since it wasn't his son...
It was not a controversy as far as I was concerned.
How did you keep the Karan Johar flavour out of your film?
See, I have worked with Karan on My Name Is Khan. Not on K3G, KHNH and KANK. So that typical Karan flavour hadn't rubbed off on me. And trust me, he never interfered in the making.
It was a huge responsibility handling his father's film...
Absolutely. I was constantly aware of tof it. Remaking Agneepath was an emotional decision.
How did Sanjay, Priyanka and Rishi get into the picture?
For Kancha Cheena's role, I wanted someone who is larger than life and yet is charming. And before you say that I was inspired by Priyanka's Maharashtrian character in Kaminey, let me tell you that I am a big Priyanka Chopra fan. I loved her even in Andaaz. And how can I ever forget Fashion? But I didn't have an easy time casting Rishi Sir. He was very apprehensive. He kept changing his mind. He felt that he may s**** up the film if he failed to pull off a negative role.
They say that the inclusion of Katrina Kaif was a last minute decision since you were nervous about box office collections...
The song was not a last minute decision. I would say bringing in Katrina was a practical decision taken by Karan Johar to make the film as big as possible.
And why no Mithun in the film?
Simple. Nobody could have played Mithunda's role. It would have been stupid if I had attempted to put someone else in his shoes.
Hrithik's character is too subtle...
Nobody can do it the way Mr Bachchan did, and I would have wanted my Vijay to be subtle even if it wasn't Hrithik. I wanted the negative characters in my film to be bigger. This made Hrithik's victory seem bigger. There is no need of a Nehle Pe Dehla type of elocution competition in the film. Actually, Hrithik's character is similar to what I am - simple, short-tempered and stubborn (laughs).
So tell us about you...
I don't have too many friends. I only love watching films. I neither drink or smoke. I am actually a boring guy.
Moral of the story - India loves drama - Dabangg, Singham, Agneepath...
We Indians are dramatic by nature. We are intrinsically built like that. Foreigners may find us too sensitive and we may say they are insensitive.
Is Agneepath 3 on the cards?
No baba. Everybody died in the film (laughs). But yes, my next will be with Dharma Productions as well. I have a three-film-deal with Karan Johar.
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