Bollywood at Brandeis

Interview with “Dil Se” Director, Andrew Payne

In today’s discussion section, someone raised a question about the casting of Shah Rukh Khan in “Dil Se.” It was suggested that Khan may have a personal interest in portraying the diverse people in India. Rather, this interview with director Mani Ratnam suggests that it is the opposite. Khan’s widespread appeal among the public has made him the ideal candidate as the protagonist of a controversial film. Ratnam confirms Khan’s role as India’s “every man,” as well as his sense of humor and geniality:

“It was just a feeling. I hadn’t seen too many of his films before. You feel that you want somebody who would be a common man, who would represent All India Radio, which is the voice of the ordinary citizen, and still be able to carry the film on his shoulders. I needed somebody who would take us across the line. It was a difficult subject, it was the 50th year of Indian Independence but there are corners which still have darker areas. We tried to cover it and this film was trying to explore into the gray thing. And we wanted this happy mood to control that side of it. So he somewhere represented that kind of mood.

Filed by apayne10 at March 4th, 2013 under Uncategorized