‘To bring down Ajay Devgn's larger than life image was difficult’ – Nishikant Kamat

Director Nishikant Kamat comes with a baggage of films like ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’, ‘Force’, ‘Lai Bhaari’ which have done well both commercially and critically. And now the humble and versatile filmmaker is gearing up for his next ‘Drishyam’, which hits the theatres this week. Ahead of the release, Nishikant talks about the movie, on working with Ajay Devgn, his passion for cinema and more.

‘Drishyam’ is a remake of the Tamil film. Have you made any changes to the original script?

I have stuck to the 60% of the film. 40% I have changed. I wanted to add my sensibility and make it more pan India. The Tamil version is region specific.

Was it your idea to make the film?

Viacom18 approached me for the film with a DVD asking me to watch it. I watched and liked it. And that is when I decided to make the movie.

The Malayalam version of the movie has won several awards. Any expectations of winning awards here as well

No, I am not looking at awards. I just want it to be liked by people.

Given that the film was a huge hit down South, is there more of a pressure?

More than the pressure it is a responsibility. I have to make a good film because they made a good film. I have put in at least that much effort. But whether it works or no is something in the hands of the audience.

Ajay Devgn is doing an intense film like ‘Drishyam’ after a long time. How difficult was it for him to get into this zone after doing commercial entertainers?

Honestly, it wasn’t very difficult as such. It was just that he had not done it for a long time and I was working with him for first time. Fortunately, when we met for the initial 2-3 times, we became okay with each other and shooting went on smooth. He also believed in me. Both the things fell in place and we worked in good working conditions.

I didn’t want him to show off his body. We have given Ajay some oversized clothes just to bring him into that common man looks. He walks also like lion. We had to tone down his walk. Actually, he has got a larger than life image and to bring it down was the difficult part. But I am used to it. In ‘Lai Bhaari’, Riteish had never done an action role. I pushed him to do that.

Did you have issues getting Tabu on-board for this role?

When I saw the original film, I thought of Tabu. Then I went to her and told her that there is a film called ‘Drishyam’ that I want to do. ‘I have seen it. I always wanted to play that inspector’ is what she told me. So then I told her that is exactly what I am offering you. She agreed to do the movie in two minutes. I didn’t have to work hard to convince her.

There were also reports that before you approached Ajay Devgn for the role, you had taken the script to Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar. True?

No not at all. I never approached anyone and Ajay Devgn was always the first choice for my films.

Gulzar has written the lyrics for the movie and Vishal Bharadwaj has composed them. How was it working with them?

I realized that their love and passion for good cinema is same. All these people, even though they are legendarily big, they were very accommodating me. They didn’t treat as if ‘Yeh Kaun Bachcha Aagaya?’.

Ajay was initially supposed to shoot ‘Shivaay’ but then he had to delay that project. ‘Drishyam’ started due to delay in his other film. Did that create an issue?

Of course! It was a big surprise for me that we had to begin shooting in February-March because we were scheduled to begin shooting in August-September. Ajay called me from Bulgaria and told me about the shift in Shivaay shoot. I spoke to my team and by evening we had decided to shoot ‘Drishyam’. It was a mad house. We completed the shoot in 58 days.

Do you enjoy experimenting?

Cinema as a form I enjoy and try to make different cinema every time. Every film of mine is radically different from each other. I don’t claim that all of them will be successful. But at least I have some creative satisfaction that I am trying something out of the box. Like, I have never done a suspense thriller. ‘Drishyam’ is my first. I try different things to not get bored of making films.

How is ‘Rocky Handsome’ shaping up?

I have finished the shoot of ‘Rocky Handsome’. Once ‘Drishyam’ releases, I will start work on that.

You also have ‘Mauli’ coming up next..

(interrupts) ‘Mauli’ is still in its scripting stage. It will be a fun action film. Let’s see what I pull off. It is too early to talk about it because I will start shooting for it only next year.