!~RAjPUT~!

Choreographer-filmmaker Ahmed Khan is ready with his second film Fool N Final and this time he sounds much excited and confident about his product. In a no-holds-barred exclusive conversation with IndiaFM, Ahmed talks about everything that one would want to know of him from his multi-starrer film, his innovative comic book characters, Hollywood inspirations, choreographing techniques, Mike Tyson, football fascination, to his memories as a child actor in films like Mr. India and Raakh.This interview doesn't seem to end but at the same time your interest for reading it won't end either. Finally Fool N Final is releasing. And it is looking real big. Huge star-cast and a massive setupThis is the first time I have gotten Sunny Deol and Shahid Kapoor to work together. Viveik Oberoi is in a very different role in this film. We have a huge star-cast comprising of Om Puri, Sharmila Tagore, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Arbaaz Khan, Chunkey Pandey, etc. and all of them have big roles in the film. So it was difficult managing so many people at one time. But I would like to thank my producer Mr. Firoz Nadiadwala who supported me all the way. This film deals with a multiple track. It has three screenplays running simultaneously in Fool N Final but they are not individual or different from each other. They are all weaved into one story. Fool N Final has three screenplays running simultaneously but they are not individual or different from each other. Sunny Deol plays a Punjabi who stays in Dubai in an Indian colony. In many places over the world, Indians migrate and create a place of their own. Sunny stays there with his brother Om Puri and sister-in-law Sharmila Tagore. He is a very local but tough guy. He is like a real life hulk. The only thing missing is the animation. Is his name Hulk in the film? No, his name is Munna in the film. A complete irony to his character! Yes it is. Whenever Om, Sharmila or Vijay Raaz are in trouble, they shout out 'Munnaaaaa'. And we wonder which kid are they calling. And then lands this huge overgrown kid. When he makes an entry the whole world shatters and there is trembling sound and he starts whacking people. It is a very funny role that he is doing. Sunny is always associated with the tough guy image. Have you done anything different this time or does he still end up bashing 25 people at one go? It's more hilarious. When he makes an entry the sound in the background plays as 'Munna Munna le sabki tuna.' So you think you are watching an international music video with Hulk in that. You will love him in this film. He cracks jaws, break bones, breaks cars, et all but in a comic manner. Shahid Kapoor is completely dressed up like Eminem, wearing pants with the waist of 36-38. Then there is Shahid Kapoor who plays a very very very different role. He recently starred in the blockbuster Vivah where he played Prem. But here he will be seen in a very different manner. His name is Raja and again the irony comes in that he is a pauper. If you have seen the first song, he is presented in a very teen manner. He is completely dressed up like Eminem, wearing pants with the waist of 36-38. He is a small time thief but he robs on a BMX bike. All the top mafias of Dubai are after him. His partner is Paresh Rawal whose screen name is Choubey who happens to be the uncle of his love Ayesha Takia. So they are the awesome threesome. Paresh however always gets them stuck and Shahid rescues everybody. At the same time he also plays Sunny's nephew as he is Sharmila and Om Puri's son. But he runs away from the house and they have to get him back. He is a character who always shows that he is in the family but always wants to go away from it. He goes gaga over Ayesha and does everything for her. Paresh Rawal says that if he wants Ayesha to be in his life, he will have to rob. So these are two separate tracks but they join together as one family. Then comes Viveik Oberoi. His name is Lucky and once again there is an irony in his name. He believes that when money talks, bull shit walks. The problem is that he doesn't have money. He wants people to fight in an illegal ring and he keeps on losing money. He runs a small game parlour. Sunny bashes up one of his fighters who was supposed to win a fight and get all his money back. Now he goes behind Sunny to do a fight for him and Sunny gives him requirements to build his basti. And then he lives up to his commitment. At the same time Sunny wants Shahid to stop committing robberies. But Shahid is involved in a big diamond robbery. A diamond is robbed from India which is transit to London but via Dubai. There the diamond comes to Arbaaz Khan whose name is Moscow Chikna and Jackie Shroff who is Gunmaster G9. Gunmaster G9 was a Mithun Chakravarthy film. Yes, Jackie's character is still living in that era and not in 2007. And Arbaaz believes he is from Russia, hence Moscow Chikna even though he has never been to Russia. Chunkey Pandey is the one who is being hunted because he is the one who stole the diamond. He reaches Dubai and there you find everybody behind this diamond. There is Jonny Lever who is called Pattu Pilot. He believes he is the fastest car driver in Dubai so he calls himself that. He ends up crashing his car everywhere. Then there is Sameera Reddy who is a girl who has come to Dubai from India in search of work but apparently her agent Zakir Hussain wanted her to get into the wrong kind of business. She runs away from him and he and his men are hunting for her. She is found by Sharmila Tagore and she refuges her. Her house is guarded by Munna and so the bad guys cannot enter the place. . So we have a Malayalee, Bihari, Gujrati, Sindhi, etc. And all of them racking their brains, fight for a diamond which eventually reaches into the hands of Shahid Kapoor. The whole film is a different kind of story. I have treated it like a comic book like my promos suggest. It's like you come to read a comic book and leave your brains at home. It's a very commercial, up-tempo and a funny film to watch. The length is also perfect. You finish two buckets of popcorn and the film is over. The length of Fool N Final is perfect. You finish two buckets of popcorn and the film is over. Neeraj Vora and Anurag Kashyap coming together for the script. Quite an odd combination, don't you think? Anurag started the film and then Neeraj covered over it. Then I had Abbas and Umesh who did the film. The first draft was written by Anurag and then I needed to commercialize the film with comic fill. So we roped in Neeraj and finally it was completed by Abbas Herapurwala and Umesh Shukla. They spiked the ideas of dialogues and gags and that's how the film was made. Firoz Nadiadwala is known for his action comedies. Does Fool N Final follow suit? If you see the film you will see that it has action and comedy along with a touch of emotions to a level. I got seven Hummers in one song. Vivek Oberoi drives a swanky Aston Martin in the film which has been making quite a bit of news. He does and in one series there are these whole series of Hummers. There is the H1 Alpha Hummer. I got seven Hummers in one song. I told my producer that I require it and he told me 'ask for it and it shall be'. I thought he was joking but when I reached Dubai all those Black beauties were in front of me. My eyes popped out and they went a foot away from my face. Ok, is Fool N Final inspired from Guy Richie's Snatch? I have been a very big fan of Guy Richie, Oliver Stone and Robert Rodriguez. So when we were writing this film Snatch was there behind our minds. I won't say it's a copy but I'm very inspired by Snatch, Transporter and U-Turn. It's just an inspired idea. Fool N Final is very inspired by Snatch, Transporter and U-Turn. The tagline of the film is also the same as that of Snatch. Yea. 'Stealing Stones and Breaking bones'. I loved that tagline and so did Firoz. So instead of putting Full 'n' Final - the game begins or game ends or some crap like that I'd rather put on what we like. There's no harm in showing people what we like. Have you choreographed all the songs of this film? You being a choreographer yourself, do the songs have something special to say? Yes, I did all my songs. Since this is my film I have recorded the songs the way I wanted to. I made the singers sing the way I wanted to. I wanted to treat Shahid like Shahid. He is my childhood friend and we have grown up together. We used to stay in the same building and our parents are friends. I had choreographed his first film Ishk Vishq. He looks different from what we normally see of him. Even the same goes for Ayesha. No heroine would have worn what she has worn. No heroine would have worn what Ayesha Takia has worn in Fool N Final. Whose idea was it to have Mike Tyson for a promotional video? Who approached him? Would you like to speak anything about that? This was an idea given to us by Mushtaq Nadiadwala, Firoz's younger brother. We asked him how he came up with such an idea and he said that he has been a fan of only two people. One is Mohammed Ali and the next is Mike Tyson. I thought it's a nice idea but how do we talk to him? My producer is quite influential and quite savvy about international artists making an appearance in his films. And in one week I heard that Firoz has spoken to his lawyers and things have been worked out. As a director I was overjoyed and knew that was incredible. One cannot imagine Mike Tyson and dance in the same frame. The combination is weird. I'm not too sure on what I'm going to do with him although we are shooting for a music video. I have yet to be clear on what I am going to do with him. Am I going to make him dance? There was an article I read recently on a newspaper which asked various choreographers whether they would want to choreograph Tyson. Most of them were quite reluctant because you are dealing with 'Iron' Mike Tyson, former heavyweight World Champion. He is a big guy. Its not that I can easily tell him to turn left or right and he'll do it easily. So are you nervous? No, not exactly. He is a tough guy to deal with and I am tough too. Is music important for an action-comedy like this? Himesh Reshammiya has composed for the film. Apparently Himesh left about 18-20 films so that he could do this film. He called me up personally showing his interest in the film. I told him that it is a compliment but I would love it if you paid full attention to it. Because my film and his kind of music sound different. I cannot say that music plays an important part but a very lightening part in my film. I know that for a fact mainly because I am a choreographer. Sunny Deol is like a real life hulk. The only thing missing is the animation. So do you think he has composed better than A.R. Rahman who composed for your first film Lakeer? I would not comment on that because I am a fan of Rahman. We cannot compare both of them. I would have had a Rahman for this film too but it didn't require an A.R. Rahman. It requires a Himesh and his kind of music. So I won't be wasting his compositions in this film. Did the failure of your first film, disappoint you? Any failure disappoints anyone. You learn from failures and you learn from success. So did you have a different approach in this outing? I did feel that I need a change and I would not have a Sunny Deol in my film. But I knew Sunny was the right person to work with again. The role completely demanded it. Then we got Shahid and Paresh and the fun loving gang. Post Lakeer, when I checked my mail all my fans said they expected something visually appealing and young and energetic and somehow they didn't get that. Now that the promo of Fool N Final is out, I have got very positive reviews for it. They said that this was expected from my first film. You learn from people, you don't learn from yourself. Sunny Deol is not exactly known for his dancing histrionics. Does he have any dances in the film? Yes he does. In fact he has danced with Shahid and Viveik. Shahid was a bit help for me on the sets. Sunny used to be shy on the sets like a kid so then Shahid encouraged him. Simultaneously, I had action scenes where Shahid and Sunny were fighting together. That's where Sunny helped Shahid. He explained to Shahid on how he should take a blow and how to hit other people. There is a lot of respect because Shahid respects Deol as a senior and Sunny respects Shahid because he is much junior to him. So for me it was easy. If you have two artists who cannot dance then it's difficult but when one can dance while the other cannot then it gets easier. There is a nice Punjabi up-tempo song which is going to rule the discos for sure. Shahid, Viveik and Sunny are dancing to it. If you have two artists who cannot dance then it's difficult but when one can dance while the other cannot then it gets easier. You have also choreographed for Anil Sharma's Apne. So how many of the Deols did you make dance to your tunes? All three of them together (smiles). I was the first human in India who has encountered this visual. God has given me the pleasure to make three Deols dance in one frame. Right from Dharamji to Sunny to Bobby. I was handling three eras. It was not that I was dealing with one artist of one generation and then the next and then next but they were a family. A father with his two sons who are very close knitted. They have so much respect for each other. It was a bit difficult because Dharamji used to dance and feel shy. Sunny used to come to him and tell him to do it only if he was comfortable. He would then say he can do it. Then Bobby would come to me and say that he would not jump so much in front of papa. So I was facing all these problems on the sets. But Anil Sharma was a big support. He knows the family very well. He kept telling Dharamji 'aapko toh karna hi padega'. At the end of the day they all had fun. I made Sunny and Bobby dance like Dharamji. Both of them would imitate him and he would get angry and shout 'shut up, you are copying me' and then the whole song would stop. Then he would take off and dance to the song Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana. If you recall, Dharamji created a step where he would dance with one hand up and one hand down. So the other two also do that. Dharamji is the original man who created that movement and this time he is doing it with his sons. It's going to be hilarious. Firoz Nadiadwala had announced a film Deewane Huye Paagal with you way back in 2004 along with Phir Hera Pheri. The film later got shelved and Vikram Bhatt directed a film with the same title for Firoz. Is Fool N Final the film you were going to direct? No, it was a different film. The cast comprised of Anil Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and Nana Patekar. It was a different cast and story. After the failure of Lakeer, I didn't want to just jump into another film straightaway. It was nice of Firoz because he gave me the liberty and the opportunity to think twice. We announced the film, had a mahurat but I was not sure of the film. So I told him that and he told me take a year off if I wanted to figure things out. So he roped in Vikram Bhatt and they made another film as they had the dates. So there weren't any issues between you and Firoz? The issue happened because of unwanted things. If you see, after the mahurat of a film if you say you don't want to do the film then it gets a little edgy. One starts thinking and it gets a bit difficult. Our fault was that we didn't finalize the script and straightaway did the mahurat. As a director I had to be comfortable with the script. So he told me not to push myself. He told me that he has a script and Shahid Kapoor and Akshay Kumar have agreed to that, so he could go ahead. If we had problems then we wouldn't be doing this final now, would we? Why would he immediately make a film with me after that? I also choreographed all the songs for his Phir Hera Pheri. Firoz is quite used to having so many people in his films. But in this film he has reached the maximum. We have 19 artists in the film including Sharmilaji. She is from yesteryears and very conditioned. She treated us like her children. When I was ready, we had to get dates. Every artist is very busy today. Initially in the first and second schedule everything went fine. It's after that that things usually go haywire. But despite so many artists we managed to pull it off. It's looking really smart. It's fun and full of action, comedy, a bit of romance, some emotions, good music and the look is really good. The climax action sequence of Firoz Nadiadwala's films are always lavish. What will be the case in Fool N Final with such a massive cast? In the last climax action scene, I have procured one fighter from Kung Fu Hustle. He is from the Shaolin. If you see him, you will say that you have seen him somewhere. He fights in the end with Sunny. Then there is this guy called Rubin who acted in Phantom of the Opera. He is from London. Then there is this guy Wilson who is from the Gladiator. He is from the U.S. So I have put all these three guys together in the end and they have some nice action sequences with Sunny Deol. It's a nice fight on top of the edge of the water. They are gladiators and they fight with Sunny. There is a bare-knuckle fight, very illegal and people are betting on them. Tell us about Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar. That film is really close to my heart and I always wanted to make it since the last cricket World Cup. But I never got the opportunity or time for it. I need 11 solid guys to be a part of that film. The film doesn't deal with one or two protagonists but it's a team with a substitute and a coach. So I need space, time and overall a budget to make that film. It's a football team and now I'm hearing that a lot of films are being made on this sport. Right now I am just waiting for the release of Fool N Final and then I am committed to make a film with Firoz again. Then there is one more film. Though I have not been signed for it, Shahid and I have locked down one script. Now I think I will take a gap and choreograph some songs and then get back to filmmaking again. You had announced a film called Mazhab in 2004. Is Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar the same film? Mazhab is Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar, we were contemplating between these two titles. Is film-making more tiring or vice-versa? Filmmaking is much better because you know what you want and you can do what you want. Being a choreographer is easier because you come on the sets, do your work for five days or so and then leave the sets. But at the same time, the choreographer would wish he could do some things his way as well. As a director I can choreograph my songs as well. The action is by Allan Amin and he has done a superlative job in it. Shahid Kapoor has spent three months learning to do stunts on a BMX bike. You have to see him do his stunts. He has done a wheelie and a tail whip. An H2 Hummer is chasing Shahid on the streets of Dubai while he in on a BMX. You should check out his speed. He is even faster than the cars. It's really dangerous and hats off to Allan for getting it done and hats off to Shahid for doing it. He has come down 16 floors from a building from his BMX. Shahid is running away from the bad guys and enters the lift of a building with his BMX. It reaches the top floor. These goons run behind him. From the terrace there is a cloth hanging till the ground. Then he leaps on the ground and rides the bicycle down. He has done it himself and you will see it in the movie. It's a risky stunt and Shahid had got vertigo. He did it for me. I don't think he would have done it for anybody. He woke up in the morning, didn't have his breakfast, just began rehearsing and took the shot at 1:30. You see Shahid Kapoor the way youngsters want to see him as. The next song will begin soon and you should really see his dance in the next song. It's out of the world. From being a child artist in Mr. India to turning choreographer, did you always want to direct a film? When I was a child-artist in Mr. India, I was 11 years old. We used to help out Shekhar Kapoor in menial things. I used to see him directing and I felt that it was a nice job. A director works like a dog - get this, get that, get everyone's dates together, etc. but the moment the film goes on the floor, you are the captain. That struck in my mind. After it's a cut, everyone looks at you, waits for you till you say 'one more take or OK'. I felt this is the position one should be in. whether you are an actor, cameraman or choreographer, the final call is the director's. It struck me at a young age but then I was interested in dancing. So I assisted Saroj Khan and then came Rangeela when I was 19. Today I'm 32 and have finished my second film. For my first scene as a choreographer I handled Aamir and Jackie together for Rangeela. I felt so weird telling them cut and do something else. Did you work as a child artist in any other film other than Mr. India? I did a film called Raakh starring Aamir Khan. It's was a beautiful film. You can imagine, while doing Mr. India, Jackie Shroff used to come to visit Anil Kapoor because they were good friends. I called him Jackie uncle and he used to make my hair and make us laugh. And imagine today I am directing him. Apart from that, for my first scene as a choreographer I handled Aamir and Jackie together for Rangeela. I felt so weird telling them cut and do something else. It was very nice of them to hear me out and support me when I was 19. I also taught Sunny Deol to dance in Angrakshak along with Saroj Khan. So I used to wait for him in his hotel suite and he would tell me that I'm the new boy. Today it feels really different. Such a senior man and I'm directing him. Which choreographers do you think are doing good work today? There are many choreographers today. Ganesh Hegde does a good job at times. Then there is Remo who is quite good. He was my assistant. Then there are Bosco-Caesar. I started out at 19 so I sound very senior now but they are all older than me (laughs). Now that I'm doing many songs and also directing, which gives an image that I'm 45 plus. I'm doing so many songs and also directing, which gives an image that I'm 45 plus. Who do you think is the best dancer in Bollywood? With all my heart, I think it is Shahid Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. You also have to watch out for this new boy Harman Baweja. He is also my childhood friend and will make his debut soon. All my childhood friends are becoming heroes. I couldn't do his entire film because I was busy with my own film. I taught Harman dancing when he was 9 years old. You should watch him dance. He is too good. And the worst? Be honest. You want me to get beaten up. If I say Sunny Deol, he is not a dancer so I cannot call him a bad dancer. So if there is a song to do then somehow he has to manage it. So we can't call him a bad dancer because he is trying to act it out as it is a part of the film. He is not the best dancer but the way he presents himself in his songs you have to see that he has the biggest hits. Shah Rukh is not a brilliant dancer but when he comes in front of the camera and when the song is played he exudes energy. I have done Yes Boss, Pardes, etc. with him and so whenever I have to put him in front of my camera, with his charisma and agility in his body, I have to forget about the dance and work on his expressions. In those terms he is the best dancer. Then there is Govinda. He only used to do small steps like moving his shoulders or moving his neck. I can say that once upon a time there were no dancers. That was the time of Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor. That was the decade where there were no dancing heroes. There were more action heroes than family men. Then the era changed when Aamir Khan came in. He got the college style. After that the era completely changed when Hrithik came in. It's getting better and better.Now that a sequel to Mr. India is being planned, wouldn't it be interesting to have you and Aftab in the outing as grown ups? I told Shekhar Kapoor that he will have to make Mr. Indias now because all the kids have grown big. Even Aftab and Karan Nath were in the movie and we all are adults now. To that he said a very nice thing - 'Ahmed, even though you have grown I'm still the same'.