Netflix India's upcoming AK vs AK has Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap play exaggerated versions of themselves in a story about a disgraced director who kidnaps a movie star's daughter. The film's team, Anil Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap and director Vikramaditya Motwane speak to Anupama Chopra about the curious realities of shooting the film, the boundaries they didn't cross, and who was the biggest 'diva' on set.
Edited Excerpts:
Anupama Chopra: Anurag and Anil, you've put yourself out there shamelessly. From gaalis to physically hurting each other to poking each other in all the really soft spots like failure, ageing and nepotism. When you guys were making this film, was there anything to which you said 'we won't go there'?
Anurag Kashyap: Sunita's (Kapoor, Anil Kapoor's wife) bedroom.
Vikramaditya Motwane: Yeah, we couldn't go close to the door. The camera stayed behind the door at all times.
Anil Kapoor: Absolutely. Baaki sab allowed tha. Sunita was the only one we were all scared of, that's it.
Anupama Chopra: Anil, you couldn't convince her to be part of this?
Anil Kapoor: No, Sunita you can't. To be honest with you, right from the time I've known her, when we started dating, she decided that she wanted her own space and didn't want to be a known face.
Vikramaditya Motwane: He tried though. I remember I was in the house one day and we were still discussing the scenes and Anil put me in front and said, 'Babe, Vikram wants to just ask you something'. I said, 'Will you be a part of it?'. Before my sentence finished, she just looked at me and I said 'okay, I am going, bye'.
Anupama Chopra: Anil, was there even one moment when you said 'yaar main itna badaa star hoon. Aap mujhse yeh karvaaoge?
Anil Kapoor: No, because I've never even thought of myself as a star. I was just telling someone this recently. I always dreamt to be an actor, but the characters written by my filmmakers were so good that I became a star. Then they wrote it even better and I became a bigger star. But for me, I always pursued a good role and a good character and pursued good filmmakers. The choices I have made in my career has been the reason of my longevity. And I was ready to fail constantly. If you see my old interviews which I did in my first decade of my career, I've always said I am ready to fail. People may make fun of me, but I hoped I'd get some gem that will help me make my career even longer. For me it was always the marathon, not the 100 metre dash. I've always said 'an actor will live forever, a star will come and go'. So that was always been my dream.
Vikramaditya Motwane: I realized on the shoot that I don't think Anil has any boundaries when it comes to what you want him to do. Like that scene outside Grant Road station is actually outside Grant Road station. He is lying on the ground outside Grant Road station and I am thinking 'would I do that take after take after take?'. But he's done it. I was also trying to find those boundaries during the shoot but I don't think he has any. It was anything for the role, anything for the shot.
Anurag Kashyap: And he would also push you. He would push us to rehearse and get it right. He was ready to do as many takes as possible. In this, I was actually the diva.