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INTERVIEW: ‘CC2C can be made again with correct second half’: Nikhil Advani on completing 20 years, & Akshay Kumar
After delivering Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway, Rocket Boys 2, Mumbai Diaries 2 and Adhura in 2023, Nikkhil Advani and team are ready for Vedaa and Freedom At Midnight next. Read details
2023 has been a great year for Emmay Entertainment with as many as four releases – Rocket Boys 2, Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway, Mumbai Diaries 2, and Adhura. Director Nikkhil Advani, the founder of the banner along with Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani, insists that the four releases were never planned to be released in this manner. “It just fell into place. The universe conspired for us to have these diverse releases in a year,” says Nikkhil.
'Mumbai Diaries 2 got an overwhelming response,' says Nikkhil Advani
Of the four, one was his own directorial, the second season of the hugely successful Mumbai Diaries, which again got a positive response from the viewers. “I didn’t expect the second season to do so well. It was a tougher season and we have the pressure to match up to the response to season one. But thankfully, the response has been overwhelming,” he shares, quick to add that the real celebration for him is not the success of his own directorial, but other projects made by Abhay Pannu, Gauravv Chawla, and Ashma Chibber. “If I am directing a film, it will always have all the resources available. However, at Emmay, our big vision is to give directors more than what I get for my own directorial,” he exults.
Nikkhil got to learn a lot from the long format of filmmaking and is looking to execute all the learnings on his next for the big screen titled Vedaa with John Abraham and Sharvari. 2023 is special for multiple reasons. It marks the 20 years of Nikkhil Advani as a director (Kal Ho Na Ho – 2003) and 30 years since he first stepped into the film industry. “I started with Sudhir Mishra, Kundan Shah, and Aziz Mirza in 1993. It has been 30 years and I just feel I was at the right place at the right time. Just when I got married, I met Karan (Johar) for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I joined him and became a part of the Dharma Family,” he goes down the memory lane.
The filmmaker, known for films like Kal Ho Na Ho, Patiala House, D-Day, and Batla House, insists that be it success or failure, his intent was always to make good films. “Right from Shah Rukh (Khan) to Salman (Khan), John (Abraham), Akshay (Kumar) and Konkana (Sen Sharma) have recognized the honesty in me. They pick up my phone calls and that’s a great thing. The day they stop doing so, I will have to pack up. That’s happening because they saw honesty in my work – be it success or failure,” he smiles.
But how does Nikkhil deal with success and failure? “You won’t believe this, but I know every time a film is going to fail. Most filmmakers of a certain background know that they have made a bad film. You just hope nobody else knows before the release. I knew that the second half of Chandni Chowk To China was all over the place. Salaam-E-Ishq was totally out of arrogance. I didn’t want to direct one love story, so I tried to put 6 stories in it. Then I realized, you can’t lie on a 70 MM screen. In fact, today, you can’t even lie on a 9-inch screen,” he answers.
Akshay and I made Patiala House with a lot of honesty, says Nikkhil Advani
When asked about a film of his he would want to make differently today, he took no time to reply, “I think if we make Chandni Chowk To China today and correct the second half, it’s a great underdog story. It’s funny, has great action, and has huge production values. If somebody just corrects the second half what a film it would be,” he reminisces.
Point out another underrated directorial, Patiala House and he has a wide smile on his face as if the film is a part of his heart. “Akshay (Kumar) has some kind of a Google alert on Patiala House. Every time it plays on TV, he calls me and says, ‘I am crying, what an honest film we made’ and then he cursed the people who didn’t position the film correctly. It’s a special film,” he avers, adding further, “It’s a lovely film with great music. The performances by Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, and Akshay Kumar himself were fabulous.”
Nikkhil isn’t too happy with the phenomenon of stories being driven by numbers in today’s time and age. He looks back at the '90s and 2000s when actors did films based on the merit of the script. “There was no thought on box office back in the day. Analyzing numbers was the job of a trade analyst and not the actors. Today, actors hear the script and say, ‘Yeh Saturday Film Hai, Yeh Monday Film Hai’. Back then, an actor's job was to act.”
Nikkhil has wrapped up shooting for Vedaa and is ready to commence work on his next for the digital world called Freedom at Midnight. “My next is a 15-episode series called Freedom at Midnight. We wrote it over the last few years and are now finally ready to take it on floors,” he concludes.
Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates on Nikkhil Advani.
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