A tinge of humour

After Waar Chhod Na Yaar, director Faraz Haider has once again blended humour with a serious issue. This time he has mixed comedy with horror Naanu Ki Jaanu. The result hasn’t proved palatable for all but he is being appreciated for trying something which is usually not seen in Bollywood. “My first film had a dark subject of war but it was told in a humorous way so that the message could reach the audience without being preachy,” says the director.

Excerpts:

How was the experience of working with Abhay Deol and Manu Rishi all over again?

I was the assistant director in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye where Manu ji was the actor and dialogue writer as well but it is a different experience when you are the director. Our tuning was already there and we worked hard on the script. Abhay gives important inputs and has a sound understanding of the character he plays. At some point the film is emotional, some scenes are pure horror and some generate comedy. So there are various checkpoints and the actors pulled it off very well.

You assisted Dibakar Banerjee in your first film, what was your take away from that experience?

I like his knack for detailing. Even as he pays attention to main characters, he gives equal importance to secondary characters who form the backdrop. He takes care even if there is a single word written on the wall. If this kind of detailing is taken care of during the shoot, a lot of information about the subject of the film can be conveyed as it is a visual medium. It makes a difference in the aesthetics of the film.

You also did a cameo in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and very few people know that you are also a good actor. How does it help when you brief your actors?

You have to be an actor to work as a director. It helps in visualisation of characters and explaining the role to actors. However, one must apprciate that every actor has his or her own process. I never show the actor how to act in a scene as in that case you restrict your actor and he will only copy you, which is bad. We should let them explore and if there are mistakes, according to script or treatment, you can intervene.

Waar Chhod Na Yaar also had a dark subject of war but you used humour to convey that. How important is humour to treat difficult subjects?

This is my way of doing it as the medium has a lot to do with how you convey an emotion. Directors have formulated a way of treating a genre but I don’t want to go by generic formula. Also, humour is very much part of my personality and I am going to try it with every other genre. My next script has a political background but the treatment is again humorous. I will keep the audience happy.

How important were Aligarh Muslim University days to make you realise that you want to make films?

I was a Physics student who used to do drama all the time! When my classmates were preparing for MCA, I was thinking of doing Mass Communication. After doing theatre, I realised that I have a great interest in arts.

Films were not the only thing in mind but the art of acting, stage and whole set decoration inspired me. Cinema was obviously the step ahead. But you have to be creative and technical expertise is must which I learnt through a course after graduation but the aesthetics which I imbibed during my University days are still with me.