Would Love To Work With Shah Rukh Khan On A Film Like Gangs Of New York: Rajkummar Rao

0:01Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of Express Conversations, a podcast where eminent voices from the world of politics, governance, sports, business and arts talk to us about their life, work and issues that really matter. In this episode, we will hear from Indian actors Raj Kumarau and Manushi Chiller. Our guests are in conversation with Annas Aarif from the Indian Express. In this episode, the duo talks about their new film Malik. They discuss their respective roles, what they look for while choosing a script and more.

0:38Speaker 2:Hi, guys, welcome to screen. So.

0:40Speaker 3:I was there at the trailer launch yesterday and what I could hear from the chitle Everyone loved the trailer, but there were also a lot of people who were comparing it to say, something like a pushpa and they were saying it has a lot of similarities to that.

0:54Speaker 2:But I don't know.

0:54Speaker 3:When I watched the trailer, what I could see that it's a genre that's not really being attempted, like the way that you have guys sown shown in the film. And what I could really imagine it to be was something like the last time we did something like this was in Rice with Sharok doing everything that he did in that film, And so firstly, I just want to start with you asking because you're also a shartow fan.

1:19Speaker 2:I'm also a shallow fan, and I just want to ask.

1:21Speaker 3:You about because he has himself said a lot that he's not never gotten to do a gangster gangster film, and I think so Race was one of the few ones that he really stepped into that role. But now you are making your debut in this genre, would you I would really I would really like to see both of you someday like doing a.

1:40Speaker 2:Gangster film and it will be of course. Yeah, it would be very nice to see.

1:44Speaker 3:Both of you together and like doing some sort of like like like a like a buddy shoting me, a kind of set up where you both guys go against each other. But like as a fan, I want to ask you, do you do you hope to say him someday in a genre like this because you have having done it right now.

2:02Speaker 4:Oh to see me with him?

2:03Speaker 2:Yeah, well absolutely.

2:05Speaker 4:I think anything to do with Sharuksa that I can do with him on screen together will be great. I think because as I'm sure everyone know that I'm a I'm a great, great admirer of his of him as an actor, as a person, his journey has inspired me a lot, so I think it will be a great opportunity for me as a fan as an actor to work with him.

2:29Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, And it would be so nice to see him within the action.

2:32Speaker 3:Of course he's doing it now, yeah yeah, but to finally see both of you.

2:36Speaker 2:Together something like Gangs of New York. Yeah. Yeah.

2:41Speaker 3:I want to ask you because traditionally, female characters have very little scope within within a gangster setup or like a setup like this, which is so driven by masculinity and so much of woidence and all of that.

2:55Speaker 2:That's what the traditional understanding has been.

2:58Speaker 3:So when you were signing this film, what really attracted you and what kind of a character should we expect from the film?

3:05Speaker 2:Well, I mean I would say it's you.

3:09Speaker 5:It's too generic to say that women don't have much to do in a gangster setup. But coming to your the latter part of your question, see Shalony is ultimately the film is about Malik. It's a story of how a simple boy becomes such a big gangster, and there are many characters that play a certain role in his life. So similarly, Shalony, who is his wife, his partner. She's a small town simple girl and she she but becomes his strength in a world of chaos where you know he's right in the middle of it, there's someone who kind of balances that out for him in life. And I think that's the role that she plays in Malex's life.

3:52Speaker 5:But individually, she's she has her opinions. She might not be as assertive and might not be picking up a gun probably to prove a point, but she's not intimidated in any manner or she's not scared to put her point of view across. So she is she has her own strength. Even though you spoke about this as being a man's world, but Charlonie has her own strength over there. For me personally, I mean, as someone who's just started out a couple of years ago, I wanted roles that helped me grow, work with the with teams that you know where I can where I can learn a lot more.

4:31Speaker 5:And I was at a stage in my career where I wanted to do something that really challenges me and really pushes me, and this was that role. So I think from a very like from from my perspective personally, that's what I was really looking for, and that's what Mali gave me.

4:48Speaker 2:Yeah.

4:49Speaker 3:I want to ask you, guys, whenever a filmmaker approaches you with the script, what is something that you really look forward to?

4:57Speaker 2:Apart from the story part?

4:58Speaker 3:Like, of course, it's a give when that the script should be nice and it should something that resonate with you.

5:03Speaker 2:But other than that.

5:04Speaker 3:Is does you guys? You guys also look at the film. Who's the filmmaker, who is the producer?

5:09Speaker 4:Who is absolutely yeah, I think these three are the most important things. As you said, first and the fore most important thing is the script. It has to excite you as an actor. Then who's making it. If it's somebody who's already done a lot of work, then you trust that person because you've seen their work. But if someone new, then I tend to spend a lot of time with that person so that I want to know that, you know, we are at the same wavelength because I feel very passionately about what I do about cinema per se, so I want to see the same passion in the other person. Minor and eyes. And third the producers of course, who's backing it up? How will they present it eventually?

5:47Speaker 4:Because that matters a lot. You can make a good film, but if it doesn't reach only to the audience, that there's no point of making it.

5:52Speaker 2:Yeah, a very important. Yeah.

5:54Speaker 3:I asked this because has previously made a film like Buckshock or even Date, because I'm in with Pratigandi, which are very different from the kind of tonality that Malik has. So was there a concern that will he be able to pull off a film of that scale and that kind of sensibility.

6:13Speaker 4:Not really, I think because Pulkit he himself is a writer, so he wrote the script himself. He knows this world really well, and the script itself was so detailed and so well written that first time only when I read it, I absolutely fell in love with it. And then I've known Pulkit for a very long time. He directed me in bos in twenty seventeen, and he's a again guy with a lot of passion.

6:36Speaker 2:You know, he's a great human being.

6:39Speaker 4:So I thought, yeah, this will be the perfect film for him as well, because he also wanted to push his boundaries and take it much not higher.

6:47Speaker 3:How was it for you because you, as you said, you just started out and you're just like few films also when you step when you're stepping into this world. And with pul Kate helming, it was there any sort of apprehension that well.

7:02Speaker 5:Like Raj said that someone who's written the he's written the film, and he's someone who was so clear with what he wanted. And that's one thing that you know, I, as an actor know I'm very dependent on my directors. So I always would want to seek directors. I do seek directors who, uh, you know, who enjoyed that whole synergy that an actor shares with a director. And since I'm very new to this field, I do seek a lot of guidance from the directors that I work with. Also, you can have a certain script, but it's always the director's perspective of that story that eventually translates on screen.

7:40Speaker 5:So I had actually I watched Buckshuk after we started shooting for Marlek. I find it very difficult to watch sub you know, films where there's violence against women, although like Buckshak's very beautifully done. And I have to say this that when I was working with and when I when I met him the very first time, there was something about him that I really liked. There was a certain clarity that he had as a director, with what he wanted and the way he explained the character to me, I knew I was in good hands, So I was not afraid about the fact that I'm maybe working with someone whose work I've not seen as much before. I did watch Buckshak while we were shooting for Malek, and I absolutely loved that film. And you know, you spoke about him not doing action before, although there are a lot of technicalities that come when you do action, but I feel that how a director translates what's on paper onto screen is what you must see, not the genre that they've worked in, and I think that that's something that has proven with each film.

8:46Speaker 2:Yeah.

8:46Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm a huge admiral of the kind of work that you have done over the last decade. And so, but there is this one scene that I really really like, and I think, so that's your best That's what I've like because there's this and it's a moment that nobody talks about.

9:04Speaker 2:It's a moment in Talash.

9:06Speaker 3:Where Ranny and Amil are having an argument and you're standing there and you get a little uncomfortable and awkward, and then you say that I'll come later. I just love that moment. Do you remember shooting that moment because that I do.

9:20Speaker 4:I do, Yeah, very clearly. Do we shot that in pasticlony in town somewhere, And yeah, I would just I just had to be present in that scene because it's my senior who I look up to, my senior officer and his wife, and it's a very personal moment for them. And it was like it happens in life sometimes you get stuck in very awkward situations and that you don't know what to do, whether it should be here, I should not be here, whether you should intervene or not.

9:47Speaker 4:So I was just being honest to the situation. And yeah, a lot of people actually have noticed that they have caught that moment. Yeah, but it was nice.

9:57Speaker 3:Yeah, because I was I was really young when I was like, I was perhaps elevel twelve when I watched the Rash for the first time and at that time we had just started out. You had given LGD and I had not seen LSD. But when I saw you in TAJ, I was like, this is somebody who's really who really has that in him and that that kind of awareness, as you said, and that sort of action reaction kind of stuff that you did in that moment, and because and what I've also been witnessing over the last few years is that this was some sort of criticism which is coming away that you have been doing some same sort of characters over over the few years inside the same small town guy who who's like within the same zone. But I have very another theory which I was also discussing with somebody like Cable Aroa, who you were in No Matter, and we were discussing how sometimes an actor who plays the same part it can be equally difficult for him as in contrast to an actor who plays the different part in every film, because you have to find something new within the same world.

11:04Speaker 3:So how is that kind of the thing that you have come out of?

11:09Speaker 2:No? It is?

11:09Speaker 4:It is I absolutely, of course I adore Cable, sir. I really admire him him saying it, I totally it makes sense to me. Also because you know people, it's very easy to say, yeah, same the same world, but it's not the same character. Small town. There are thousands and lacks of small towns, you know, in this world, and every small town there are so many lacks of people like and they all are different from one another, Like if you take Wiki from three and I think, so he's anyway absolutely similar to what I did say.

11:41Speaker 4:In some of the films, we have two very different characters, different journey, different situations, different set up, so and and in between. People forget that after three. Before three there was Sri Kant which happened. There's Mister and Missus Mahi, which is a drama, which is an emotional drama relationship film. Then this Wiki of course, which is again in the same world. But then there's Malik also, So it's not like I've been doing the same thing. But I have no complaints. I love doing comedies also love I love doing everything, and as long as they are these ones are working on the box office and people are getting entertained and people are laughing because it's very very I think the most difficult thing in the world is to make people laugh. And I'm very I feel very blessed that God has given me that capability that I can make them laugh, I can make them smile with my work on screen.

12:33Speaker 3:I just want to ask you also about because a lot of people are excited about guns and gulabs, so what can we expect.

12:41Speaker 4:I have no idea.

12:43Speaker 3:Yeah, because there's a lot of charter keep it keeps coming back on social media, or you might be hiding something, no idea, Okay, okay, but I'm really excited for the film. As she was talking about, what I could see from the trailer is what Pulkit has managed to do is that he's brought a lot of rooted sensibility. We keep throwing the term rooted a lot in the last few years that we are not making rooted films, rooted films, But when I watched the trailer of Mark, it reminded me of that word and I'm really excited to watch it and congradu.

13:17Speaker 4:Yeah, it's as you rightly said, it's a That's what makes it, I think, very different from a lot of other films is that it's very real, very believable, and it's absolutely rooted. And I know that people love watching films which are rooted, and we've seen that in recent past also a lot of films have done well which are about, you know, going back to your roots, and Malik is certainly all of that.

13:39Speaker 2:Best you.

13:43Speaker 1:Were listening to Raj Kumar Rau and Manage Chiller on Express Conversations. If you like the show, then do subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. You can also recommend the show to someone who think you'll like it, share it with a friend of someone in your family. It's the best way for people to get to know about you. Can also tweet us at Express podcast and write to us at podcasts at Indian Express dot com