‘We won’t give in’

After Ek Tha Tiger, Kabir Khan is back with yet another highly anticipated Salman Khan starrer, Bajrangi Bhaijaan. This film is set in Kashmir, taking forward the director’s penchant for setting his films in picturesque, unusual locations. Quiz him about this aspect of his films, and Kabir laughs. “You know, the biggest grouse Salman has against me, is that I keep making him travel and he hates to,” Kabir says. “For Ek Tha Tiger, I made him travel over the world and for Bajrangi all over India… I come from a documentary background, so I get uncomfortable on sets. I need real locations to make my creative juices flow. Locations for me are not just a backdrop — they are like a character in the film. So I make all my actors travel and they don’t have an option!” he adds.

Moving on to a serious subject, certain religious groups have been protesting against Bajrangi Bhaijaan, but Kabir shrugs off the reports. “There are some people who tell me ‘Bajrangi’ and ‘Bhaijaan’ cannot go together — but why not? The beauty of this country is its secular fabric. I’m sorry, we are not going to give in to the shrill screaming of some religious organisations,” he asserts.

Incidentally, Kabir’s Saif Ali Khan starrer Phantom was ready before Bajrangi Bhaijaan, but still hasn’t released. The director says the studio, UTV, has taken a call on releasing the film on August 28, during the Raksha Bandhan weekend. “The initial release date was April 3, but UTV decided on August, as its other film (Jagga Jasoos) got postponed and the slot was vacant,” Kabir says.

And what about his Phantom leading lady, Katrina Kaif, with whom Kabir also worked in New York and Ek Tha Tiger, but not Bajrangi Bhaijaan? Kabir says that Kat is not just a colleague to him, she is like family. “She is a private person, but in public she has to maintain a certain mask and be aloof. Once you get to know her, she is very warm. We have a lot of common interests and we enjoy a laugh, but in public she is always very proper — that isn’t the real her,” Kabir shares.