Divya
‘Khaali Peeli’ starring Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday is set to premiere on Zee Plex and ZEE5 tomorrow, on October 2.
Maqbool Khan, who marks his directorial debut with this film, opens up about the movie, the ‘Beyonce Sharma Jaegi’ controversy and the insider vs outsider debate in a DNA exclusive.
Characters & Mumbai
Maqbool Khan stars off by talking about Ishaan and Ananya’s characters in the movie. He says Ishaan’s character is a ‘very street-smart kind of a character’ and that he is ‘a very filmy person who believes in cinema’. Khan then says that Ananya’s role has the same features.
Maqbool then mentions his reason for choosing Mumbai as the setting of the film. He says that many dreams come true in the city of Mumbai and he also has a deep connection with the place. The first thing that comes to one’s mind while thinking of Mumbai are the ‘iconic kaali-peeli’ taxis, is what the director says.
“Those drivers are the real heroes. They are very smart and one can find very colourful characters among them. So, we thought that we should create our hero among them, because no one would know Mumbai better than them. Therefore, the decision was intentional to see the city through their eyes, that is how we came up we this character (of Ishaan Khatter).”
‘Beyonce Sharma Jaegi’ to ‘Duniya Sharma Jaegi’
Maqbool addresses the ‘Beyonce Sharma Jaegi’ controversy by saying, “Controversy would be the last thing you would want for your project.”
Earlier, the song track ‘Beyonce Sharma Jaegi’ widened many eyes for its unintentional racist undertones which led to many listeners being disappointed and offended. Khan states that his intention was never to hurt any sentiments and that the meaning of the track was taken out of context.
“We are responsible makers and come from a very humble, middle-class background. We never thought people will take out something of this sort from the song. So, when we realised that this could also go in this direction where ‘racism’ was being talked about, we collectively decided that there is no harm (in changing the name of the song) and we didn’t want to hurt anyone’s sentiments. We thought, if a certain section of the audience has a problem with this, we will address it,” Maqbool mentioned this to be the reason for as to why the name of the song was immediately changed after the controversy hiked.
On being asked whether or not the controversy will have a negative impact on the film, Khan says, “It is a clean and entertaining film. Whoever wants to watch, they will. I don’t think it is going to have so much of an impact.“
Direct-to-digital release
Maqbool believes that a digital release is the best option for the moment although the initial plan was that of a theatre premiere.
“Nobody thought that we will land into this kind of a pandemic where the entire world will come to a standstill. My film was made for theaters and we had planned to release it on June 12 initially, but then the pandemic happened. Even after that we did waited for sometime, but then there is money riding on the project. So, keeping everything in mind including the uncertainly looming over the opening of theaters, we eventually decided to go with the best option.“
He added that while watching a series is ‘a long-time investment’, a film, he quipped can be finished in less than 3 hours. “So, this is the best option right now for all the makers.”
The insider-outsider debate
Maqbool Khan specifies that he himself did not have any film background after being asked on the insider vs outsider debate. “I am a complete outsider, and so many people involved in this film including Ali, Himanshu, my writers, director of photography, are all outsiders. In fact, all the big stars like Dharamendra, Akshay Kumar are outsiders who came here struggled, worked hard and made a name for themselves.”
“Every doctor wants that his/her child should be a doctor, a lawyer will want that his/her offspring takes up the profession he practices. But, I feel that there is no set rule to this.”
“As a star, someone might get their child their first break, but if that person is not talented, people will discard them. People will not watch them. There have been such instances where people have shot up to stardom like no one’s business, they became superstars in their first film, but later on, their careers have been destroyed,” Maqbool concluded.
