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Salman Khan’s Notebook director Nitin Kakkar learnt filmmaking from? Find out!

National Award-winning director Nitin Kakkar reveals the thrill of getting to work on a set for the first time with Salman Khan’s Notebook and also shares his journey as a filmmaker in this two-part exclusive interview

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Highly-acclaimed director Nitin Kakkar is best-known for his brand of films like Filmistaan (2012) for which he even won the National Award. With Notebook, not only is the filmmaker exploring the romantic genre for the first time, but it’s also the first time that he’s worked on a ‘film set’. Yes, the filmmaker has so far only shot at live and real locations! But well, working on a film like Notebook which is backed by Salman Khan (Salman Khan Films) as a producer has its perks. And with the kind of response the film’s trailer and songs have been garnering, looks like Kakkar’s directorial starring newbies Zaheer Iqbal and Pranutan Bahl has already hit bull’s eye with the audience. Those who’ve had a dekko of the film can’t stop raving about the fabulously-made film and the endearing chemistry of the lead pair as well as the bunch of kids. All this even as the renowned filmmaker has not even had any formal training in filmmaking, he reveals. The filmmaker has come a long way indeed. In an exclusive chat the award-winning Nitin Kakkar talks about his firsts with Notebook and shares all about his own cinematic journey in this candid two-part interview.

Notebook is not just an unconventional love story, but this is also the first time that you are directing a love story. So how was the experience?

Yes, and it has been a great experience to create this world of Notebook with a floating school, and kids studying and these two people who’ve never met falling in love with each other. As a filmmaker, I can think with my mind or I can think with my heart. I prefer to think with my heart because that’s how I make movies and for me working on Notebook has been a fantastic experience and also a great learning process. This is also the first time I have shot a film on a set and I was so excited with the fact that I have a producer (Salman Khan) who is saying ‘ki main tere liye set banaunga’ (laughs). Of course, this set came with a lot of challenges as it was in the middle of water. But, it has been a beautiful experience. It has taken me long to reach to this point where I get a producer ready to erect sets for my film. And I cherish that.

 

The diary or should we say ‘The Notebook’ that Pranutan Bahl’s character writes in the film is a key character in Zaheer Iqbal’s Kabir falling in love with Firdaus. Do you keep any such diary?

Yes I do, but it’s private and I don’t share it. It has personal markers of my life. I write either when I’m too happy or when I’m dealing with something specific in life. It’s an outlet. So, I recently read my old diary and I realised I’ve come a long way from being a tuition teacher at 21.

 

You were a tuition teacher! So there’s a connection between your film’s reel characters and your real life?

Yes I was tuition teacher for six years till I was 21. I feel that anything you learn in life is never a waste, especially as a filmmaker. So, yes I could relate to Kabir (Zaheer) and Firdaus (Pranutan) being teachers and there’s a part of me in their characters.

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Your journey has been quite an interesting one. Tell us more about it…

See, I’ve never been to a film school. I’ve learnt filmmaking in cinema halls where I go and watch a film and if it made me go through a sea of emotions, I kept trying to figure out how those guys did that! Even now, sometimes when I like a film, I see it again and again to understand what the filmmaker has been doing right. So the cinema hall has been my classroom and I’ve learnt from all the filmmakers. So, well, as a 21-year-old I was hoping that someday I’ll make a film and today I’m four films old and blessed to have worked with a lot of amazing people in the industry. I feel a lot of gratitude towards the universe. Also there was nobody to guide me in what I was doing, so it kind of feels like an achievement that I’m getting to live my dream. There’s a lot of gratitude and privilege to be on the sets. Like I said, I feel like I have come a long way.

 

How do you deal with the process of being rejected or being accepted and your films being liked or not?

I realised early on that I am answerable only to myself. So, the question is: ‘Have I remained true to my core?’ If the answer is yes, then I’m happy. I don’t think I’m a great director and I might have limitations as a filmmaker, but I’m ready to learn and grow with each experience. I love to meet people, have conversations – it’s a constant. I’m also aware that things change every Friday. After one Friday your phone may not stop ringing for years and after another Friday there may be no calls. This industry is like that.

 

Whose films and what kind of cinema do you look up to?

I’ve learnt from all the filmmakers so there’s no specific filmmaker or the kind of cinema I prefer more than the other. I may not like all the films made by a filmmaker, but all filmmakers have made at least one film that I really like. And wasie bhi who am I to say ki kisiska kaam bura hai. When you make a film is when you understand and realise what a filmmaker has to go through to make that film. Most recently, I loved Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy and I’ll probably watch it twice more as she’s done so many things that are just right in the film.

 

But as a filmmaker there must be a preference. What’s your approach to filmmaking?

Well, I like honest cinema not the pretentious kinds. To be able to convey a complicated thing in a simple manner rather than make a simple thing complicated is my approach. The thought should be big, the film simple – is how I look at it. I feel I can make all kinds, but I’ll find my rhythm slowly. I can get into the space of being intellectual trying to prove to be one of those types, but I would never do that! Story-telling is about communication na? Ab main bana loon kuch jo koi dekhe hi nahin… So, at the end it’s about communicating your thoughts to the audience.

 

How much does box office matter to you as a filmmaker?

Sahi, galat, how I did at the box office, yeh sab baatein temporary maayne rakhti hain! The films matter, filmmakers don’t. It’s not about me at all, it’s about my films and I hope they stay long after I’m gone. Time is the real test, not the box office. And as a filmmaker you need to make films that even 20 years later if somebody picks up that film and watches it, is able to connect to it.

 

What next after Notebook?

Well, after Notebook I’m doing this film called Jawaani Jaaneman with Saif (Ali Khan) and Alaia (Furniturewalla) and we start the shoot in June-July.

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