MUMBAI : ‘Brahmastra’ maker Ayan Mukerji

MUMBAI : Has the response to ‘Brahmastra’ given you happiness or relief? Many people have seen it and many from the rest are wanting to see it… (Smiles) Before the release, my focus was to only complete the film. I hoped that it would speak for itself and the people would give it a chance. Trust me, it was very difficult to put this film together. I cut out the noise around me and put my full focus on ‘Brahmastra’. We finished the film only 2/3 days before it went out.

I am feeling happiness and relief both, definitely. Learning too. But the greatest emotion that I am feeling is a great energy about the future.

I am tired, but I am still brimming with energy and thinking about the way ahead.

Karan Johar deserves to be lauded for supporting you on such an expensive film. Buzz was you even reshot some scenes…
Yes, I did reshoot some scenes. I reshot portions of ‘Wake Up Sid’ and ‘Yeh Jawaani Yeh Deewani’ too. Raj Kapoor had a very famous saying ‘Films are not shot but reshot’. I give Karan and Dharma a lot of credit. ‘Brahmastra’ owes a lot to him and his production house.

Furthermore, we also had Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus as one of the producers on ‘Brahmastra’, the company who did the VFX.

And, of course, Star Studios who gave us all the money; we must give Star Studios a lot of credit for taking such a financial risk.

And let me tell you that Ranbir did the film practically free of cost. He and Alia Bhatt stood by me emotionally till the very end.

Let’s go over to RK-Alia’s love story…
Their personal life, their romance…. I feel very happy for them. They also put out a positive energy and people feel nice about them. As for their emotional support, I cannot fathom completing ‘Brahmastra’ without that. The movie went through a bunch of delays but Ranbir and Alia were so much in sync and continued to believe in the project; this pumped in a lot of energy into the team. Many times you know lead actors haven’t got along, that tells on the output.

It is believed by many that RK and Alia are the best in the current lot. Agree or disagree?

I am not going to answer this question head-on. I definitely agree that they are up there as the best actors of this generation. I would say that they have been in the forefront. They have given some of the best performances of our generation. But other actors have also given some of the best performances of our generation. And, I don’t want to write off that incredible work.

Right. But let me extend this further: A filmmaker (name withheld) said that he is lucky to be working in this era because Ranbir is around…

That’s wonderful. You know, Ranbir’s talent has shown right from his early days in B-Town. I agree with this, but in the spirit of humility, it is also the particular film and director that allows that talent to shine. And I must underline here that we have actors of equal talent in our industry.

Would you term ‘Brahmastra’ as a hit?

Most certainly.