Exclusive: Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani's Ishita Moitra on Shabana Azmi-Dharmendra's power & more
The hallmarks of a quintessential Karan Johar movie have become defining markers of Bollywood romance itself. The big family spectacle, the fluttering of a chiffon saree against picturesque locations and grand declarations of love made for quite the formula that almost always guaranteed packed theatres. With Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, the director manages to both celebrate and subvert all of that in a self-aware piece of cinema. Starring Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Shabana Azmi, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and others, the film follows two lovers who swap families to better understand each other. Writer Ishita Moitra, best known for Four More Shots Please! and Shakuntala Devi, was tasked with crafting a love story that has emotional beats along with relevant commentary on gender roles, diversity and more. In an exclusive interview, Moitra opened up about her process of writing Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, a scene-stealing Ranveer Singh and the pure joy of watching Jaya Bachchan in her villain era.What was Karan Johar’s vision for the film?
The brief was to keep it entertaining yet relevant. We were trying to make certain points, even though this was a mainstream Hindi film. It was written between the first and the second Covid-19 wave. The world was a very bleak place and we wanted to do something sunny. I was really happy to write this film. A lot of good things happened and it just permeated into every aspect of my life. I'm a Bengali from Delhi and I also speak, read and write Punjabi because my father was an army officer posted to Amritsar when I was a kid. Little did I know that it would come to use so many years later.
Is there a major scene in the script that was left on the cutting room floor?
There was dialogue that I really loved and it didn't make it to the final cut. When Rocky is searching for Jamini, his friend Vicky asks "Jamini kaisa naam hota hai?" and Rocky says, "Jo log May aur June mein paida hote hai unko Jamini (Gemini) kehte hai.” We had a very long cut and full marks to the editor Nitin Baid and also Karan Johar. They made sure there was not one dull moment in the film. And they cut it to this quite perfect length.
Ranveer Singh is in his element as Rocky Randhawa. What went into writing his character?
We already knew that he was going to play the part, so I couldn't even imagine anyone else. With every word that was written, I only thought of him saying those lines. When he does Gully Boy you imagine him as Murad. You can't think that he wasn't born in Dharavi and that he isn't a rapper. Or if you see him as Khilji or as Kapil Dev, he's outstanding. He takes a part and it becomes him. I don't know how he does it. Rocky Randhawa has benefited from his personality. People really enjoyed seeing him play this flamboyant and endearing character. They wanted to see him in every scene and I've met people who told me they didn't want the film to end. The film was 2 hours 48 minutes long and they still wanted more.
There is something to be said about men written by women…
With Rocky, we wanted to explore a different sort of masculinity. He's macho but he's also sensitive. He's also someone who says sorry, but he'll also do 150-kilo squats. The idea is to look behind the facade of this person. All of us like Rani judge people like this but maybe they are very loving people who are willing to learn and are sensitive and have golden hearts. You don't know until you actually give the other a real opportunity. It won't happen till we rise above and celebrate differences.
What went into fleshing out Alia Bhatt's Rani as a chiffon saree-wearing woke heroine?
She's a feminist, opinionated and direct. She doesn't shy away from confrontation. It's so wonderful that we can have a mainstream heroine like that right now. And yet she's not afraid to love. She's vulnerable. She's cute. We tried to show that a woman like her can also be an extremely caring person. We see the equation that she has with his family. Alia has just nailed it. My favourite scene is the “khela hobe” scene between Jaya ji and her. That dramatic face-off is so good. Alia delivered the lines with so much spunk and flourish. She has also spoken outstanding Bengali and she's not Bengali. But there was so much mehnat that went into her completely absorbing the world of Rani Chatterjee and becoming her. She's also quite independent and she is actually Rani. Karan, recently said she is a kind of Rani in her real life as well just like Ranveer is Rocky.
How much fun was it to write the scenes between Alia and Ranveer that show off their chemistry?
Both their films together - Gully Boy and Rocky Aur Rani are so different. Murad and Safina and Rocky and Rani are from two different worlds, but the chemistry remains. People were commenting on the lack of chemistry before and we were like "pehle picture toh dekhlo". I hope they do more films together because there's this pure give-and-take between the two artists which is great to watch. That's what makes everything come alive and feel so real.
Shabana Azmi and Dharmendra have such a wonderful arc...
Karan wanted a dignified take on their relationship. This is an extramarital affair but the film doesn't take a moral stance on it. The film explains where the characters are coming from. By the end, you know that Jamini too was in a bad marriage and Kaval and Dhanlaxmi have never been happy. The man has been lonely his entire life. He's not even had any sort of equation with his son. And so when you see the two of them - those seven days in 1978 and then there are these few days that he has with Jamini and you end up not judging them. You know, everybody deserves love. And I'm so glad that people are liking it so much. When the Abhi Na Jao Chodkar moment happened, the theatre was full of rapturous applause and it was so great I was. It's also the power of Dharam ji and Shabana ma'am - decades and decades of movies and they still have the hearts of the viewers.
Watching a veteran actress like Shabana getting the Karan Johar treatment is such a delight…
She looks so beautiful in the film. Everything that she wore and the way she carried herself with such grace. My favourite moment is when she visits him (Dharmendra's Kaval) and he doesn't recognise her, her heart skips a beat and she starts to leave. But when he starts singing, it was just so good to see her do that heroine thing. I remember her doing something mainstream like this in Amar Akbar Anthony, this was back in the ’70s. But the way that she's done it in this film, it feels like she hasn't aged a day.
Jaya Bachchan looks like she had a gala time playing Dhanlaxmi. What was it like behind the scenes?
She does it with so much relish. She was laughing between takes. It was her making fun of all the people who see her in a certain way. I think she's just such a fabulous actor and she dug into this part with such aplomb. She plays a matriarch who is a patriarch. During the dining table scene, when Rani says "I insist," she imitates her and it is so fun to watch her. She has crushed it as an antagonist. We also knew that she isn't the kind of person who could just have a change of heart in the end. That would take a long time. For a person like her to just acknowledge the fact that I may have been wrong here is good enough. It would have been weird if she would just join in and dance at the wedding. Karan decided this is a more realistic end. She may come around in a few years. With Tijori's character, you see he's estranged from his father and he has a realisation in the end when he passes away. That change of heart was foreshadowed earlier.
How did the gender-bent Dola Re Dola happen?
Karan called it his ode to Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It's genius what he's managed to do in that sequence. The two of them (Ranveer Singh and Tota Roy Chaudhury) have danced their hearts out. Oh, my God! The audience was clapping throughout. It was entertaining at the same time it was trying to make such a valid point.
What would you like to see in a possible sequel?
Everyone is asking where they end up staying. According to us, I think they stay in their own home. Not with the Chatterjees or with the Randhawas. But they have a good enough equation with both families. I think the ending is beautiful by itself.
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