Aditya Chopra has opened up about his reasons to direct his upcoming Paris-set romance Befikre, saying he wanted to do something that helped him rediscover his fearless passion for filmmaking.
The director, who is known for his reclusive nature, shot to fame with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ).
Chopra, in a note to his fans that was accompanied with his picture with lead pair Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor, said he wanted to get rid of the burden of expectations that had come to haunt him.
“It’s been 21 years since DDLJ and I have worked tirelessly producing loads of films, building a studio model, even [written] and directed a couple of films on the way. All the while I gained a lot of knowledge and experience, came to know a lot of things.
“But with knowledge came a sense of fear as well. Fear of failure, fear of not meeting expectations. When you know a lot, you become more cautious and when you become cautious, you tend to lose the one thing that drove you to do this in the first place, fearless passion. I figured it’s time to reboot myself.”
Chopra said he realised that what worked for DDLJ will not connect with youngsters today as the world has changed and so “have definitions of love”.
“More importantly, women have changed. Today they are equal to men [actually stronger] in every possible way. This truly has changed the rules of love forever. Who asks whom out first? Who says I love you first? Do we say I love you at all? Who breaks up first?.”
The director said he wanted to leave the baggage of his three hit films DDLJ, Mohabbatein and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, starring Shah Rukh Khan.
“I wanted to feel as if I’m making my first film. To achieve this, the most important decision I took was to surround myself with people I didn’t know. Since the film is set in Paris, I chose a full French crew.
“Since I was a complete stranger to them, they did not come with any baggage of my past achievements and treated me as any regular director. And since they were unknown to me and my style of filmmaking, I could rediscover myself as a student of cinema once again.”
Chopra said dramatic conflict, heightened emotions and intense romance were the three pillars on which his stories stood but he decided to ditch this as well in Befikre.
“So at 45, I’m being fearless once again. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and into the minefield of the young and restless. Unlearning everything that I know and trying to figure out if I’m still relevant to the youth today,” he said, adding he is “scared” about the response to the film.
Don’t miss it
Befikre premieres at the Dubai International Film Festival on December 8. For tickets and schedules, go to diff.ae.
