Determination behind Talaash's hype

The director and screenwriter Reema Kagti explains the challenges of bringing Talaash to life.

Aamir Khan as the character Suraj Singh Shekhawat in Talaash.

When Reema Kagti co-wrote the script for Talaash with Zoya Akhtar, she had Aamir Khan in mind. But when they approached Khan for a reading of the completed script, he said he was so busy that he would not be able to look at it for at least a year and a half.

Kagti and Akhtar then did the obligatory rounds with other actors. Nothing clicked. But when Khan finally did sit through the first narration, he was hooked. One more read-through and he was sold. It took a while to get there, but Kagti and Akhtar finally had the actor they had written the script for.

Khan has always been a perfectionist and whenever he is working on a project, the grapevine is abuzz with stories of rifts between him and his directors. It is said that he is domineering and likes to take the reins, sometimes to the extent of invading the creative space of directors. Did Kagti face any such challenges?

"I respect Aamir as an actor and he has proved to respect me as a director," she says. "No one stepped on anyone's toes. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort, so yes, there were suggestions made by the rest of the team. Not just Aamir, even Zoya, Farhan [Akhtar, one of the producers] and Ritesh [Sidhwani, also a producer] had feedback and suggestions. It is up to the director to positively incorporate the suggestions without letting it affect their vision."

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