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Prithviraj, Kareena Kapoor, Meghna Gulzar discuss Daayra and Malayalam cinema at Expresso
Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Meghna Gulzar open up about Daayra, their characters, creative choices and filmmaking at the 16th edition of Expresso.
After hosting some of the biggest names from the world of entertainment, The Indian Express series Expresso is back with its 16th edition. This time, the spotlight is on Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Meghna Gulzar, who joined us for a candid conversation at Taj Lands End in Mumbai.
During the session, the trio spoke about their upcoming film Daayra, the complexities of its central characters, their creative choices, and the differences between the Malayalam and Hindi film industries.
Talking about what drew him to Daayra, Prithviraj Sukumaran said the film appealed to him because it refuses to place its central characters neatly on either side of right and wrong.
“The prime reason why Daayra appealed to me is that I don’t agree with the entirety of Raman, but the problem is, I don’t disagree with the entirety of Raman either. Neither do I agree with the entirety of Ajooni, nor do I disagree with the entirety of Ajooni. That is the space in which the film exists, and that is what holds for me.”
He further explained why it was important for Meghna Gulzar to approach the story without validating either side. “It was vitally important that, as a filmmaker, Meghna play the mediator here and not validate either side of the argument. The film takes you through a journey where equal weightage is given to either side of the perspective, and in the end, the question is posed to you: Which is the right side for you? If we are successful in making the film the way we dreamt, then you won’t be able to pick a side easily. This is what the film is about. That is what crime, punishment and the delivery of justice are about.”
Meghna Gulzar on choosing Kareena Kapoor and Prithviraj for Daayra
Speaking about how Raman and Ajooni evolved during the writing process, Meghna Gulzar said the two characters were conceived as complete opposites who also complement each other.
“The characters, by the time we finished writing the script, were quite opposite to each other and complemented each other in a very, very ironic way. One cannot exist without the other, and one completes the other. It is not a love story, but nevertheless, that is still the way their dynamics work,” she said.
Meghna explained that Ajooni was conceived different from the way female police officers have traditionally been portrayed in films.
“I knew that I wanted Ajooni to be represented in a way that was very different from the way we have seen female police officers in films till now. I had the liberty of doing that because I was going to see her out of uniform a lot of the time. Since she is a special investigation officer, most of the time they don’t wear uniforms when they are playing that role. So it gave me an opportunity to interpret a female police officer differently,” she said.
That approach led her to Kareena Kapoor.
“That is when Kareena’s name came into my mind. Fortunately for me, it coincided with the time when she was keen to work with me, and that is how that happened,” she said.
For Raman, Meghna wanted to move away from assigning the character to a specific region or film industry.
“With Raman, it was somehow important to me that Daayra is made up of regionally neutral characters. Raman is a name you can have in North India, South India, the Northeast or East India. It was important for me to have Raman, who should not be from the Hindi film industry. That was very important for me with Daayra,” she said.
“And the minute I knew that, his (Prithviraj) name popped into my head. We have a friend in common, so I asked for a meeting, and that’s how it happened,” she added.