Ali Abbas Zafar is the big name in the industry after Sultan. Now one director like Kabeer has suggested that the Tiger 2 should be directed by Ali for Salman Bhai. What more can Zafar ask for. Talking to media in a chit chat Ali says “How I look at it is that film-making is a business like any other: there’s money spent on it.
We are in the market with creative content, and as film-makers what we need to do is to balance that. I feel that the inherent commerce of film-making lies within the story – and then everything else follows, like the stars and then the kind of music you’ll have, the kind of route you’ll take to tell that story.”He is clear that for all the romanticism that film-making is infused with, his fidelity lies not just to its art, but to the unmistakable commerce that Bollywood lives for.
Ali grew up with his grandparents in Dehradun. His father was an army man and then worked for ONGC; his mother was a teacher. He moved to Delhi for college. And it was then that things began to change: the Biochemistry student strayed from the science labs to the “The Players”, the theatre group at Kirori Mal College with an alumni list that famously includes Amitabh Bachchan. In 2003, he began attaching himself to films being shot in Delhi. Amu by Shonali Bose.
A short schedule on Farhan Akhtar’s Lakshya. “I kind of worked on those films and realised that this is where I get some kind of happiness and satisfaction. And that’s the time I decided – this is 2005 and 2006 – that I need to move to Bombay.”
He worked as an AD (Assistant Director), the Holy Grail for those who want to eventually direct their own films. His break came when, in 2006, he got a chance to assist Shaad Ali who was then directing Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. A long stint within Yashraj Studios followed.
It was on New York that he met and became inner-circle gold for Katrina Kaif. And then he wrote Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, which he pitched to Adi Chopra, who agreed to make it. Katrina starred. Not a blockbuster, but a neat little hit for his first time out the stables.
Katrina and Salman will star in his next project, Tiger Zinda Hai – the sequel to Kabir Khan’sEk Tha Tiger (2012). “It’s a big film with the weight of a blockbuster franchise – the second weighs on you!”
“My major challenge is that today, there is this man, Salman Khan, who is a phenomenon and he is at the peak of his game…if I don’t match up to the standards of what people are expecting, people will ask why is he working with these young boys?”
But as he kicks back with his standard cup of green tea, or heads out to shoot some ball, or into a script session for his next there’s no sign of nerves about his next step. Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bollywood game is strong. He just has to keep doing it.He has to make a hit again with the Bhai of Bollywood.
