Wednesday, Jul 12, 2017

Bollywood actors Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor, who were rumoured to be romantically involved, have displayed an unpredictable dynamic during the promotions of their new film, Jagga Jasoos.

Mildly put, they blow hot and cold towards each other.

Think about it: the Jagga Jasoos hero has been accused of ‘mansplaining’ — talking over Kaif during interviews and answering questions directed at her — and in turn she has hit back saying she doesn’t fancy working with him in the future.

During their press junket in Abu Dhabi last week to promote their July 14 release, there were no visible signs of animosity, but there was an underlying tension that reared its head sporadically.

Kapoor never missed a chance to take subtle digs at her, describing her as “hypercity” with a propensity to ask “foolish questions” and Kaif responded with her famously placid — almost glacial — expression.

So what’s the beef between them? Are they friends or not?

“Am I really your friend? The person on my right should answer this. So Katrina, are we really friends?” said Kapoor, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, during their sit-down interview with Gulf News tabloid!.

A sphinx-like Kaif looks at him. He doesn’t wait for her to answer and continues without missing a beat.

“We have this on-off fighting. The first day I met her, I remember she had a fight with me. Around the same time, she became my friend,” said Kapoor.

Kaif seems to have regrouped.

“Ranbir has said that well. Our professional dynamic when we are in our workspace has always been like this… We always had a good, fun, energetic dynamic. On the first day of Ajab [Prem Ki] Gazab [Kahaani], like how a five-year-old would do — he untied my shoelaces and I fell over my face and we had a fight,” said Kaif.

She softens her “like how a five-year-old” remark by blaming it on their collective “super-passionate” nature towards their craft. How bullying translates to bettering a person’s performance at work is anybody’s guess, but Kapoor jumps in with: “Having said that, Katrina has had a huge influence in my professional and personal life — it’s huge. Even if she doesn’t consider me her friend tomorrow, I will force myself on her. I don’t think I can picture myself without her being around.”

The two allegedly dated for six years before calling it quits last year. Both never officially confirmed or denied their relationship or break-up, or that they lived together in Bandra, Mumbai.

His terms of forced (read questionable) endearment — that he would force himself on her — are met with a studied ambivalence.

Their conclusion: they share the same mischievous “Laurel and Hardy”, “Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire” or “Popeye and his friend” vibe. A byword for chemistry and camaraderie, these duos and their antics aren’t meant to be taken too seriously.

Fair enough.

Their personal equation as romantic partners aside, any pair is likely to go through such a phase because Jagga Jasoos is easily one of Bollywood’s most laborious films to have been made. Directed by maverick director Anurag Basu of Barfi! fame, Jagga Jasoos took more than three and a half years to shoot and Basu even missed the Abu Dhabi leg of promotions last week because he was busy with post-production work. Constant script changes by Basu, re-shooting portions of the film completely and securing the dates of two of Bollywood’s busiest actors are some of the factors that translated into an overlong pre-production. Incidentally, actor Govinda’s portions did not make the final cut.

CHAOS THEORY

So what’s it like working with Basu?

“It can be described in one word — chaos. That is how he works,” said Kapoor, who is also one of the co-producers of this film. He further explained: “There is no screenplay or no script with us. There [are] no assistant directors who do half the job, there are no production assistants — he is shooting himself, he is talking to you while acting, he is doing everything. As an actor, you have to be very secure to meet or work with him. As an actor, if you get insecure and wonder what you are doing then you can’t really go forward.”

While his co-star interjects and says that it’s “organised chaos”, Kapoor shoots it down with: “It is a disorganised mess... I was co-producing the film so it is disorganised chaos.”

Kapoor, who clearly didn’t get the mansplaining memo, should know.

Their previous film in 2012, Barfi!, a charming film about a deaf-mute boy, took over two years to make, but scooped several awards and positive reviews. Kapoor is hoping that history will repeat itself and Jagga will enjoy a similar glory.

“Jagga Jasoos tested our patience, but I think Anurag Basu has achieved what he wanted to make… I choose films because the stories appeal to me,” said Kapoor. “It was really harrowing, I didn’t know what I was doing. I was losing my patience, but eventually he pulled it off.”

Jagga Jasoos is described by the lead pair as a genre-busting film that’s a mixture of fantasy, adventure, comedy, mystery and drama. Here, Kapoor plays the titular oddball who embarks on a quest to find his missing father. He’s not a professional detective, but he doesn’t mind the challenge.

Jagga even sports the hairstyle (a Tintin-esque hangover?) that his father gave him before going missing, in the hope of being recognised by him. He meets with Kaif’s character Shruti, a disaster-prone oddball, along the way. Did we also tell you that there are also a couple of murders thrown in his trail?

IT’S DIFFERENT

“Jagga Jasoos is the first-of-its-kind genre and it will be hard to give it a particular tag. Dada [Basu] has made something so unique. His vision is just spectacular. It’s a musical and he conveys it in a way that we have never seen before,” said Kaif. Most of the dialogues are sung. It occupies the space of La La Land, the Oscar-winning musical about love, ambition and career, believes its key players.

While it can be argued that most Bollywood films are musicals (where else would you have actors break into song with a backdrop of snow-clad mountains?), Jagga Jasoos differentiates itself by having a pair who love speaking through singing. Jagga stammers, so singing helps him overcome his speech impediment.

“We had a lot of practice. Dada didn’t jump on the first day and say: ‘start singing dialogues to each other’. He drew us into the world slowly… in the first few scenes, there was a ticker beat — tak, tak, tak — in the background. First he asked us to say the dialogues, based on his beat. It’s tricky to get it at first,” said Kaif, who added that Basu has a rhythm that he wants his actors to follow.

Following 160 days of filming, spread over three and a half years, and in countries including India, Morocco and Kenya, Jagga Jasoos was born. The seed was sown when the director realised that he’s yet to make a film that his children could enjoy. Something on the lines of Beauty and the Beast, if you will.

“If you look at the phenomenon the world over for films like Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, Sound of Music or Frozen, it’s for the children but the story will appeal to everyone… When Dada made Barfi!, his kids came out and said it was too slow… With Jagga Jasoos, we have tried to make a film that everyone, irrespective of their age, will enjoy. We wanted it to have universal appeal,” said Kapoor.

QUOTE UNQUOTE

On why Kapoor shied away from social media and Kaif has embraced it:

“I am not on social media because I am lazy… I am shy, so I don’t think I can use social media well. That is primarily the reason. And trolls are a part and parcel of being on social media. If you get the bouquets, you will also get the brickbats. That is how life is. People shouldn’t take trolls so seriously. Your god is in the work. You just have to focus on your work,” said Kapoor.

“I am loving it. Actually, I was wary of it and I had a lot of concerns initially, which is why I stayed away from it. The decision to join it was impulsive, there was no plan or thought behind it,” said Kaif.

Don’t miss it!

Jagga Jasoos is out in the UAE on July 14.

By Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Senior Reporter

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