EXCLUSIVE | Kabir Khan on Salman Khan: ‘Did the first film in the spy universe Ek Tha Tiger, refused to make another action film with him during Bajrangi Bhaijaan because…’

Kabir Khan surely has all the reasons to celebrate as his film Chandu Champion recently won two awards at the International Film Festival Of Melbourne. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the filmmaker opened up about the honour, memories of Salman Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger, and the unforgettable Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

How does the recent honour at IFFM feel?

See, any award is, at the end of the day, a celebration of your work and recognition of your work from either the audience or the jury or, you know, the sort of fellow fellow members from an industry. So, this one, I especially, think, one is happy about because, the credibility of an award from an international film festival where, you know, the international, filmmakers and critics, are part of the jury, and they judge your work. It just makes the credibility of that award very high. Because, unfortunately, in the recent past, a lot of, you know, the awards, back home have become TV shows, and then the credibility has become suspect. So to get it from an international film festival from a jury, which is drawn from, you know, different, parts of the industry and is a bunch of respected film critics and filmmakers, it feels very good.

Sonali Kulkarni best described the essence of Murali’s journey in the film. She said that it’s a story impossible to believe, but important to tell. While you were making this film, were you also inspired?

Totally. That’s that that one line actually is a line which I wrote because, Yeah. That’s exactly the way I felt when I heard this story. I, as a filmmaker, thought if I do not tell this story, it would be criminal, that a story such as this exists, a man such as this exists. For almost half a century, we have ignored this person, and the country doesn’t know about him.

I said, no. If this is what I have I’m part of a form, which is one of the most powerful platforms in this country, and this story has to come. So for me, it was very clear. And I promised the family also this, that my next film will be, the film on Murlikant Petkar. So for me, I was absolutely very passionately driven by and inspired by his life, and I was very clear I want to make the story and bring it out to the big screen.

Be it Bajangi, be it 83, or be it Chandu, there is an inherent sincerity in these stories, in these characters. So what does it take to bring that convincingly on screen?

I mean thank you for that comment because this is something ultimately only an audience can perceive. Right? A filmmaker cannot say I’m gonna make it with sincerity. But if an audience perceives it, then I think it’s something that you’ve done correctly. I’ve always believed in, you know, being very honest with that work. I’ve always believed that I only want to do stories that I really believe in, and, I really, you know, very passionately want to tell that story on screen. I don’t think of things like, commercial viabilities and whether, you know, this is a part of the trend that’s working or not part of the trend that’s working.

Those are things which I feel are best left, you know, for others as a filmmaker. I think you should be fired with the, your imagination should get fired by the story that you want to tell. And then you tell it with all sincerity. And, ultimately, you know, every film finds its audiences. So, with Molikanth Pedkar, you know, as I said, it was for me, it was very simple. But this is a story that has to be told, and I felt I was very privileged and fortunate that I got this story.

You also have a way with places because the locations also become a character in your movies. So I wanted to ask you since Kabul Express till now, how much do you feel the art of shooting films or cinematography? Has anything changed, evolved?

So you’re absolutely right. For me, locations are very important. And as you mentioned, right, from Kabul Express, I’ve always, you know, believed in shooting in real locations. And, if you noticed my films, they have a lot of them outdoors. I’m not very happy with green screens and shooting indoors. So, for me, I feel that, you know, the location in my film is almost like a character in us. Because there are certain things that can happen only there. Having said that, of course, from Cabool Access to now, a lot of, you know, technological advances have taken place, which allow us to access locations even better. You know, cameras have become lighter. Cameras have become easier to handle in extreme temperatures when you go into locations.

VFX is coming to a support where we can, you know, with the help of VFX, maybe, erase some things which, sometimes come in the background in real locations that are not correct for your maybe the period you’re showing or the context that you’re showing. So, a lot of changes have come. It’s become much easier now, in fact, to be able to go and shoot on location.

What about the casting decision you have made? Because nobody saw Salman the way we saw him in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Nobody saw Kartik the way you presented him in Chandu Champion. So what made you say, okay, Salman will be Pawan, Kartik will be Murali?

I think for me, I’ve always believed in not casting with the preconceived, you know, image that an actor has. Because I feel then that’s lazy casting. And then that feels perfect casting So I feel there’s an element of surprise that goes away.

I’m really happy that I’ve managed to do that. I just finished this huge action franchise with him, Tiger, the Spyverse franchise. And everybody expected me to do another action film with him. But I just felt that, no. As a filmmaker, I should try something different with him. And, therefore, we went and embarked on, you know, where I know at the beginning, a lot of people thought that I was being stupid, not doing an action franchise with him and making him do a film, which is, you know, not the usual typical Salman film.

But today, everybody talks about Bajrangi Bhaijaan so fondly because they say, oh, it was such a non typical Salman film, and he came out as such a beautiful character in it. Again, you know, the kind of appreciation that Kartik is getting for Chandu Champion. I’m really happy. I mean, for, you know, Kartik to get an award at an international festival, as I said, from a bunch of, an international jury. You know, people who have no preconceived notions, they don’t even know us actually beyond a point.

They’re just purely judging you on the basis of your film and the basis of, you know, your performance. So for Kartik to get that, award in the face of a lot of, you know, very, high competition, with very good performances in the in the same year is a is a is a great validation that he he put in the extra effort to come looking different from the image that he had created, and, he was successful in that. So I’ve always enjoyed that process. I’m not saying it can always work. Sometimes, you know, it doesn’t work.

But at least you tried and you tried something new and didn’t keep repeating something that’s, you know, become a formula.

Ek Tha Tiger turned 12 on 15th August, and there are so many records that the film created that are still unbeaten. So what are your memories of creating the tiger character? Were you confident it would be a blockbuster?

It was a very exciting project for me. This was just my 3rd film. People don’t realize that, actually, I’ve just done Kabul Express and then I’ve done New York at that point in time. And Tiger was literally just my 3rd film where, you know, Adi felt that I should do this big action film with a, you know, with a superstar. I was very excited to do that film. Honestly, I’ve never, at the beginning of a film, thought, okay, I’ll tell you a blockbuster or something. I just love the material. I love the story, and I dive into it. And I was so glad that somebody like Salman portrayed Tiger because it went on to become such an iconic character in the cinema. And it was, you know, shot over 5 countries.

It was a true blue, spy film. Till then, you know, I don’t think we had in Hindi cinema, we had made those kinds of, spy films where, open on a huge action sequence and that was shot in Turkey. And then it, you know, travels to Dublin, Ireland, then it goes to Cuba, it goes to Thailand. You know, that ’s like the way Hollywood would approach their spy films. And I’m so glad that Aditya Chopra backed me with that vision.

And Tiger went on to become, you know, the big blockbuster it did and created a whole spy verse, which all of us are enjoying now. Yeah.

And, lastly, what has been your one takeaway from Chandu Champion as a filmmaker?

Films like this enrich me as a filmmaker because when you encounter stories like this and you’re able to, put them on screen and then you get the kind of love that yeah. These are films that don’t get the usual, you know, entertaining. When people get moved by films like these, you get, like, literally love letters written to you. And, and that’s what I’ve enjoyed. I’ve just been taken aback by the way people were moved by this story and the fact that it’s a true story. And a man such as this actually existed, and we all collectively had forgotten him.

So it really enriches you as somebody who got an opportunity to tell this story. And I’m so glad, you know, for the collaboration that both Kartik and I had, and now with these, sort of, awards at the Melbourne Film Festival, you know, we’re getting that validation. We’re getting that love, that that we always felt was due for this film.

Working as an Entertainment journalist for over five years, covering stories, reporting, and interviewing various film personalities of the film industry see more