The new Khan!
ANUJ KUMAR
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Imran Khan appears confident before the release of the much publicised “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na”.
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Where is the clash? I see no reason why both the films can’t succeed provided they are good.
Photo: Anu Pushkarna
Talking sense Imran Khan says it is a misconception that star kids don’t know about the real world outside the film industry.
“To every successful Khan there is an unsuccessful one, to every hit Kapoor there is a flop one. Surnames don’t matter; it’s the box office results that decide your fate.” Down to earth! If this quote is any yardstick, Imran Khan is one. As his “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na” releases this week, Imran admits he is nervous. “Not about the box office result but the still photo shoots. The character I am playing is very much like me…and to me acting is all about being natural. In fact, I insisted on shooting in my own clothes and Abbas agreed. It gives a sense of reality. I find dance, photo shoots and notions like a hero has to be a body builder very odd.”
No prize for guessing that it is Aamir Khan who is helping him find his feet. This relationship goes back to “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” and “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander” days where Imran played the young Aamir. “I don’t remember about ‘QSQT’ because I was only three then but I remember “Jo Jeeta….” Mansoor left me in Aamir’s custody. He used to do my make-up and help me rehearse my lines.”
Ideal to practical
Soon after completing his higher secondary education he left for Los Angeles, again no prizes for presuming, to study direction. “So in a way I have no Indian college experience, which the film is all about.” He explains the film starts from what youngsters consider ideal love and then go through some experiences to understand the practical side of life.
Talking of his first co-star, Imran finds Genelia even more spontaneous and natural than him. “At times she rehearsed in one way and delivered the dialogues in a different way during the takes. Her lines remained the same but the blocking changed then and there. In contrast I tried to figure out in advance what I was going to do.” Imran reveals it was the master shots that used to help in such situations. “When you have canned a long shot, your actions should match it in the close-up.” So like his uncle, he is also into method acting. “I find this term ridiculous. Being prepared doesn’t mean I am a method actor. People say Aamir takes his work home, he lives his characters in real life…all this is wrong. I feel his best work is ‘Rang De Basanti’ because he is completely and effortlessly into the character.” We agree that the two share a gene pool so facial similarities are bound to be there but from the promos it appears “Jaane Tu…” has been deliberately made to look like “Dil Chahta Hai”. The way Imran serenades Genelia reminds of Aamir wooing Preity. “‘Dil Chahta Hai’ happens to be the watershed in the way young life is represented in Indian cinema. It introduced a new style. So there are bound to be influences but nothing is deliberate.”
In the limelight
Handling the media is also part of training these days and sharing personal lives is no longer a taboo. “I have a philosophical view on this. I feel it is something inevitable and you have to live with it if you are in show business. As for sharing personal life, to each his own but I do believe if you have somebody in life and you deny it for career sake you are showing disrespect to that somebody.”
The week is being projected as the clash of the new generation with Harman Baweja also making his debut. “Where is the clash? I see no reason why both the films can’t succeed provided they are good. We both have got a chance because of our families but after this Friday, audience will decide do we deserve another chance?”
Imran already has two up his sleeve. He is playing a grey character in “Kidnap” followed by Soham Shah’s “Luck” where he will share screen space with his real life ‘friend’ Shruti Hassan. “From now on I am playing characters, which have hardly any connection with the real me. No complaints, I like to be stretched.”
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