Yash Chopra’s Fanaa may be mired in controversy, but it certainly is one of the year’s big hits.
And even though Gujarat is still undecided about screening the film, director Kunal Kohli (inset) seems to be having the last laugh. The 39-year old has already turned producer.
Until he zeroes in on his next project, Kunal is still in Fanaa mode. He tells us about his favourite scenes in the film
The scene: Rehaan (Aamir Khan), posing as a tourist guide, tries to woo Zooni (Kajol) by reciting poetry to her. Rehaan is actually a terrorist though.
Director’s cut: I was very conscious that the second part of my film would be heavy. I wanted the first half to be light, funny and entertaining. I wrote the dialogues and the shayari, adapting some shayarai from famous works. Shayari like Tere dil mein mere saaso ko panaah mil jaye… The original shayari was written in chaste Urdu, which I thought some people would not understand. So, I did something sacrilegious and twisted it around.
Besides, Aamir was playing a character within a character. He was playing a terrorist in the garb of a tourist guide. So, he was the kind of guy who had probably heard the shayari somewhere and said it in his own words.
The scene: Rehaan takes Zooni sight-seeing around Delhi. He takes her to the Khooni Darwaza and asks if she’s afraid. She replies saying a blind person who has never seen colour would not be scared of the colour of blood (’khoon ka rang’). Aamir then places his arm around her and says, ‘Ab tumhe dar lag raha hai’ (Now you are afraid).
Director’s cut: This was a great scene, and we wrapped it up in just two hours.
Unlike what people say, Aamir gives in completely to the director. He does have his inputs, of course, but so did my other actors like Hrithik Roshan (in Mujhse Dosti Karogi), Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji (Hum Tum).
I also like the scene that comes later. They have spent the night together and are in an auto, when Zooni holds Rehaan’s hand and says, ‘Ab tumhe dar lag raha hai’ (Now, it is you who are afraid).
We shot this against a blurred background, not on the road.
