I have an emotional bond with Salman Khan: Aejaz Gulab

Ahead of its release, Debut Director Aejaz Gulab in a chat with India Forums speaks about his experience working with Nana Patekar, what made him take up Ab Tak Chhappan 2, his struggle to reach where he is, and lot more.

How was your experience working on Ab Tak Chhappan 2 as a full fledge director?

It was great. After doing this movie I have realized there are many responsibilities that the director needs to bear. He has to think about the visuals that suit the script level plus execute those visuals along with the suitable music. So I got to learn a lot from it and because the first movie, Ab Tak Chhappan was a blockbuster so it was a challenge for me to make this movie of that level.

How was it working with a senior actor like Nana Patekar?

It was great fun working with him. Nana Sir is a great actor and had also been a director so his thinking level was much ahead of me. He treated us like family and many times on the sets he prepared mutton and fish fry for us. We never had any argument, thus it was a smooth sailing journey with him. When we reached the location Nana Sir and I used to stage the scene beforehand so that other actors can understand their movements and the scene perfectly. A lot of hard work was put in during the scripting of the film. It became very easy for me because all the actors were very talented and they used to rehearse the scenes so well that during their rehearsals only my scene was ready to shoot. After that I only had to place the camera at the right angles. It was that easy for me.

Unlike other movies Ab Tak Chhappan 2 is not being promoted, what is the reason behind that?

It's a fact that we got very less time for the promotion, but the main reason is that we don't have songs in the movie. Our dialogues are very powerful and we wanted to reach out to the audience by mere word of mouth. Hence musical promotions were not needed. Previously we had decided that we will at least have a promotional song but after the editing we realized that there was no need for that.

Success rate of movies is decided by the Promotional strategy these days, so don't you think your movie might lack behind when it comes to the box office collections?

Promotions are required or else the audience will not know that the film is releasing. But Nana Sir has a very strong fan following and after 2006, people thought that a sequel should be made. Though the sequel is coming after almost 10 years the impact of the first movie is so strong that audience will be automatically be attracted to the theatres. In our trailers we are highlighting Nana Sir's dialogues because his dialogue delivery is so strong that it will be on the tip of the tongue of the people.

How much pressure and responsibilities were there on you to make the sequel?

Ab Tak Chhappan was a grand hit and hence there was double pressure on me because we had to make something of that level or bigger than it. Secondly, as we see other films' sequel doesn't have any similarity to the previous part but for me it was a tough task as I had to carry on the previous story, had to justify the characters, had to show the involvement of new characters that are introduced, most importantly had to maintain the link with the previous part.

Tell us about your journey from being a stunt man to a director now.

My journey was very tough. I started off as a stunt man and went on to become a body double. The challenge grew as the stunts I performed left the mark of the actor, so I had to keep in mind the beauty of his talent and perform accordingly. Then when I became a stunt assistant to Abbas Ali Mughal saab, I had the challenge to execute his thoughts, take care of the safety level, design the sequence; all this took a lot of effort. In 2006, IIFA awarded me as the best Action Director for film Shootout At Lokhandwala and after receiving that award my confidence level grew. Since I had worked with various directors for many years I had a little experience about Direction; as to how to prepare a concept, how to design it, how to make the background set design, etc. When I got a chance with this film I thought that it's the right time to put all that I have learned and prepare something with my creativity. Hopefully and with my mother's blessings and by God's grace I will become successful.

What are your upcoming projects?

Three of my movies are on floor as an action director - Jasba, Wazir and Angry Arjun. As far as Direction my script is in progress with the same writer Nilesh Girkar who has written Ab Tak Chhappan 2 and according to the concept of the film the characters that suit the roles are Nana Patekar and Salman Khan. I share a different rapport with Salman bhai and Aamir bhai because I used to be their body double. When I had met with an accident I had received a lot of help from them. Salman bhai had also arranged for my operation. I have an emotional bond with him and I am also a big fan of his so I would love to do my next film with him. But I haven't approached him yet because my dad used to tell me that become something first and then only approach anyone. So I wanted to first do something as a director and I will approach him after receiving appreciation for it. Let success make the noise.

Ab Tak Chhappan 2 is slated to release on 27th February, 2015. We wish All the Best to the Team of Ab Tak Chhappan 2.

 

Priyanka Chauhan