As ‘Mausam’ earns Rs 9 crore at Box Office on its opening day, Shahid and Sonam are being applauded for their convincing portrayals of Harry and Aayat respectively in the movie, a sensitive cross-community love story, which is a right mix of art and mainstream cinema. Zeenews.com’s Swati Chaturvedi caught up with the wonderful pair on her show Kahiye Janab.
Following are the excerpts:
Swati: There have been many changes in you Shahid in the last three years.
Sonam: That’s standard style. Every three months Shahid has to change his hair style. He has nice hair like my father. It was my father’s USP and now Shahid has the same. I loved his advertisement where his hair was bouncing.
Swati: What’s your say on rumours that you both didn’t like each other?
Sonam: Who has given you this story? We have gone shopping together.
Shahid: Sonam’s standards are very high.
Swati: You have completely devoted two years for ‘Mausam’...
Shahid: Yes, though Sonam did one or two films in between but she has given her blood, sweat and tears to ‘Mausam’.
Sonam: There are many scenes where I have cried and as far as blood is concerned, Shahid has thrown me around in the film. He has flung me around couple of times while shooting for the film.
Swati: How was your experience of flinging? I thought you were a lover boy...
Shahid: (Laughing) I carried Sonam so gently. It is a passionate film and I flung her like I used to fly aircraft.
Swati: Does this apply to real life too?
Sonam: Honestly speaking he is a very sharif(decent) baby. People just speculate about him because he just doesn’t speak that much. I have known him for two years there’s nothing as such.
Swati: Are you single?
Shahid: For all the wonderful, beautiful ladies I’ll be single forever.
Swati: You have been alleged of having affairs. What’s your reaction?
Shahid: You are saying that those were allegations, so there’s nothing for me to say. I don’t like such talk about girls.
Swati: You don’t kiss and tell?
Shahid: Definitely not. I don’t even meet and tell.
Swati: How was it working with Shahid?
Sonam: It was fantastic and superb. Arrogant is not the right word which should be applied to him. It’s strange that people call him arrogant. He can be moody, but I don’t know any actor who is not moody. Shahid is reserved.
Swati: How would you say that you have changed in these three and a half years?
Sonam: I am now not socially shy. I have let myself go a lot. I did ‘Mausam’ because I respect Pankaj Kapoor as an actor. I completely submitted to him. I enjoyed ‘Mausam’ as it helped me let go.
Swati: Every actor has nakhras, so how was it working with your father?
Shahid: In my generation, I haven’t seen actors with nakhras and I haven’t worked with different generations so maybe I don’t know. It is different working with your father, but eventually it is an actor-director relationship.
He was a bit soft with Sonam. An actress part in a romantic film is very important so it was very important for both of them to get together. Dad and Sonam struck the right chord from the very start.
Swati: Nobody felt left out…
Sonam: Why would I feel left out? I felt more in place to a certain extent. Shahid sometimes didn’t know where his place was. Sometimes he didn’t know where he has to be the son and actor.
I knew where my place was. It was a very defined relationship between a director and an actor.
Swati: How was it special working with your father?
Shahid: To see him show you a shot. I would give up everything to enjoy that moment of him showing me how to give a shot. He is just a fabulous actor. Just to be there when he is explaining a scene to you and he starts telling about what you would be going through as an actor, it is just a beautiful experience to see him transform.
Swati: What are the similarities in terms of emotional commonalities. How much are you your father’s son?
Shahid: I came to Mumbai when I was ten and gradually I got to know my father. But in the last 4-5 years, we have become very close. We stay right next to each other and I am with him almost all the time. But you don’t get to experience each other at work place. When we worked together, I realised we were quite similar in our approach towards work….
Sometimes it is a huge benefit, but sometimes it becomes an issue as we both are similar and can have clashes, but a father is always right. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him in his creative space.
Sonam and I gained from him as an actor and I, myself as a son.
Adapted by: Biplob Ghosal
