The director of a film is the one who lives with his creation the most. He conceives it, nurtures it, makes decisions that affects its future and sees it through to the end. Dark-horse director and quiet man Rohan Sippy is someone who believes in speaking through his medium and has literally lived, breathed and slept his directorial debut Kuch Naa Kaho for the past few years and will continue to do so until release. If he’s not working on the publicity stills for the film, he’s in post-production retouching a shot until it becomes worthy of his all-essential stamp of approval. He knows his characters inside out and every detail of his frame to a T. An inspiring new talent in the world of film, Rohan Sippy exclusively discusses here his debut venture.
KNK deals with issues related to love, the arrangement of love and complexity of relationships, where did the theme of the film originate from?
The theme came from the girl’s character, I thought I’d like to do something with a character like this which I guess could be the germ of the plot because other characters evolved from there.
Aspects of a relationship appears to be an underlying theme in the film, what would you say is your central theme?
What was it that attracted you to this theme/story?
The film has some very funny moments in it that take the viewer by complete surprise.
Why did you select Abhishek and Aishwarya for your film and what was it about them that led you to approach them for the roles?
Rohan on Abhishek’s character:
Rohan on Aishwarya’s character:
What is your favourite song in the film?
You signed Shankar Ehsaan Loy when they were relatively new to the industry in the sense that they didn’t have the hits they have today behind them. What made you take on these three fresh-faced music directors?
Have you always wanted to be a director?
Looking back on the making of KNK, what has been your favourite moment in shooting or favourite scene?
You’re planning a special never-before-done DVD with KNK, can you tell us anything else about that?
Definitely I’d say that the relationship itself and what it faces becomes one of the central themes as the story unfolds, in a more overt way than when we start the story and in more subtle ways throughout the character development in the script.
I think it was the youthfulness of it that we captured in the treatment of the film. The characters are quite young in that they’re not teeny-boppy or infantile but at the same time not reaching a level of maturity yet that qualifies to be called ‘mature’ and hence it’s that transition period when you’re still learning or discovering yourself. It’s about the characters making decisions for themselves and not being as conventionally pressured by society as you see in a lot of other films. But at the same time they are weighed down by acting responsibly and acting with dignity, which is a non-physical statement that’s always a challenge when you’re projecting something within the paradigm of film.
Yes and that’s a conscious effort. There’s very little slapstick in the film compared to other Hindi films but where the comedy is concerned you definitely have to work at getting it to a level that remains effervescent and fresh in format. You define your film by where you get to and that’s a very clear dramatic area which required a light treatment. The crucial thing is to fall in love with your characters and I think the best way to do that is to create situations where you’re laughing with them and if you succeed in doing that then you’re really rooting for them emotionally and so forth, so that was a conscious decision to make it as palatable, as emotionally appealing and light hearted as possible.
Abhishek was always my first choice. I’ve known him as we’ve grown up together and I felt he was the right age and has a great sense of humour which would come in handy when delivering his lines. I think he has influenced the character in a major way because it’s very much him. A dream casting would have been to get Aishwarya opposite him because she’s that kind of actress and I can’t imagine approaching anyone else but her.
I think in many ways it’s very close to him, the sense of humour is very him in the deadpan variety! There’s a gravity that he brings or a presence that he has where his eyes say so much that he has really gotten under the skin of the character in a way I feel no other actor could. Even in the sheer physical presence that he shares with Aishwarya is one with a strong chemistry as you’ll see in the film. Technically he’s playing a young, modern character who has the convictions to do what he feels.
She’s again someone I think playing a character that is not seen before in this way. The sheer presence she has and what she’s brought to the role which has many shades to it and a fine line between two roles in life and the way she’s pulled it off is amazing. It’s a complex role that if played either way too much would have detracted from the character I had originally planned and it was a concern if any actress could tackle it successfully and would we be able to convey it successfully, but she has done it and pulled it off so effortlessly. It’s a very difficult line to tread but she’s brought the right balance between the two roles her character is required to adopt in a way I think highlights how good an actress she is.
I think Shankar Ehsaan Loy have done such an incredible job with the soundtrack that choosing one particular song is like asking me to choose between children. They’re so personal to me because of the process of recording them, choreographing them, shooting them and editing them and now we’re at the stage of making promos for them, that it’s difficult to pick a favourite. If there is one I feel an affinity towards it would have to be Baat Meri Suniye To Zara simply because it’s the eldest child, the first song we recorded. It’s just the way it came together, it was an idea Shankar had thought of and Javed saab added his own touch to and suggested we make a duet out of it in that frivolous kind of format. And it just evolved so organically and we went to the studio and it was sheer magic with the lyrics and Shankar put a melody to it, Ehsaan and Loy got together and put a whole arrangement together. To choreograph it, Saroj ji picked up on the offbeat that exists in the song and choreographed it around that, and that made the song along with my cameraman shooting it and doing such a great job, and again in the editing phase we managed to retain that spirit of a live performance that there is there. I think all the songs are very special but because this was the first song we recorded I’d have to pick this one if I had to single one out.
We signed Shankar Ehsaan Loy before Dil Chahta Hai so they had done little known work because they had some bad luck. They did a film called Dus which never got made and it was Javed saab who recommended them to me and my father and once I met them I knew it had to be them. They composed the title song and I loved it, we vibed so well and they know so much about music, they literally live it and breathe it. I think they’ve done a great job and the music has been appreciated by all who’ve heard it which is obviously a great thing too.
I think so, I didn’t entertain the idea at college at all of getting into a desk job I just had a drawing to films in a way I knew they would have something to do with my future.
I can’t pick one particular moment from so many because it’s been a long process that feels like you’re juggling all these balls in the air and you just manage to catch a few, so there are those you let get away and those you hold onto. I think on screen if there is a moment that from a technical and creative point of view that is satisfying in terms of execution, it would be the moment before the title song begins. What that scene is and which other ones are particularly special you’ll have to wait to find out after you see the film and watch for on the DVD because a lot more will be revealed in that.
It’s going to be fun because we have a lot of behind the scenes footage and outtakes that will be on the DVD because we had so much fun doing it. Abhishek is such a live wire with so much energy even when the camera is not rolling that people will get to see that, and a lot of other material that shows how we put this film together as well as some other special features which will be firsts for an Indian film DVD. So watch for it and we’ll release information on it after the theatrical release, right here on your site.
Fuad Omar.