Mumbai: Sriram Raghavan’s association with Saif Ali Khan began while he was directing a documentary on a serial killer after which they worked on a film together,
“Ram Gopal Varma’s Ek Hasina Thi was the first movie I worked on and it was there that I met Saif. Our association continued and we made Agent Vinod under his production house, Illuminati Films. Saif loved the subject and decided to produce the film,” Sriram adds.
Asked about Saif’s pluses and minuses, Sriram says with a smile, “Saif is an intelligent person and an intelligent actor. The only thing he lacks is punctuality…he is generally late reporting to sets… for a 9 am shoot he comes by 11 am. A little discipline would help. But he is a gem to work with as he is a very patient listener and understands all the nuances of filmmaking. Above all, I love his acting.”
But what went wrong with Agent Vinod? “Actually, the film should have been shorter. And well the action in my films is not quite the spectacular type that the Indian audience is used to. No flying cars…”
On his upcoming film Badlapur, a crime thriller, he says, “You will see real action. We have shot in real jails at Pune and Nashik. The protagonist’s character is that of a withdrawn person who has left his job and wants to take revenge.”
All praises for Varun he says, “Varun has taken the role very seriously. I felt his father David Dhawan would call me up and ask, ‘what role have you given to my son?’ But he did not. Overall though, I am happy with Varun’s performance, especially in the later part of the film. He has done a wonderful job.”
