Karan Johar reveals major details about Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

Does Ranbir play a double role? Find out

It's been only a day since the teaser of the much anticipated film of the year, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, left everyone wanting more.

And it seems like Karan Johar doesn't like to keep secrets as he spoke at length about his upcoming film starring Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Fawad Khan in key roles.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK/DHARMAPRODUCTIONS

In a recent interview with Rediff, KJo revealed what to expect and what not to expect from his latest offering.

Spoiler alert! Here are a few excerpts from the tell-all interview.

Why did he choose to start the teaser with the leading man, which is quite unusual in Bollywood?

"Actually, the entire first half of that song is sung in one shot... I could have left more of it in [the teaser] and was tempted to, because of how good a performer Ranbir is, but I had to cut to the women at some point."

"In the film itself, it’s a very long shot. Almost two minutes of the song are on a tight close-up of his face. And he’s an actor who has the ability to hold," he added.

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Ae Dil Hai Mushkil teaser promises an emotional roller coaster

The teaser itself is an emotional roller coaster ride, does that mean the audience will leave the theatres in tears?

"No, no. I don’t think I can make another of those all-out, manipulative weepathons. I love crying in the movies. I grew up believing that when I cried in the movie, it meant I liked the movie."

"The film is intense but the hand on the intensity is not self-indulgent. It is a film about unrequited love. So, for me, it is also a very internal film... That emotion runs through the film, it’s not a cop out. We stick to the feeling of ‘ek tarfa pyaar’ as suggested by the dialogue at the end of the teaser," said Karan.

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Still, there are no chest-beating moments, the tonality and the syntax are very much that of cinema right now. It isn’t overly manipulative, and nothing is so intense that it takes you to a dark area. We commit to an emotion but... a little is a lot."

How much he has drawn ADHM from his own experiences?

"Oh, I told Ranbir that on some level, in some way, you are playing me. Normally I make films through observations that I filter through a dramatic, a cinematic palette. Not this time. I’ve been in love twice in my life and it’s been unreciprocated both times, and in my head I feel that I’m the brand ambassador of heartbreak."

"But that is a very identifiable zone for all of us. We’ve all had our heart broken. And I believe that love, that lost love, powers you in a certain way. I’ve taken that strength somewhere, and it has completed me in some way," added the director.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK/DHARMAPRODUCTIONS

Rumour has it, Ranbir plays a double role, is it true?

"It’s not a double role at all. To the people who have seen his two looks in the film, I just have to say: ‘People shave, dude.’ There’s so much speculation."

Karan explained, "Ranbir... I don’t know where that floodgate of emotion in Ranbir comes from. There’s a pent-up dam and there are little holes through which the emotion leaks out. One day it will burst."



What roles Aishwarya and Anushka are playing in the film?

"They’re complicated, without saying too much. And they are immensely progressive characters."

"I know that Aishwarya has never, ever played a part like this. She plays a poet who isn’t a very good poet, and so she is aware that she isn’t as respected in her community of poets. This is partly because she is too beautiful to be taken seriously and because she isn’t a great poet. She comes from a situation of heartbreak herself," revealed Karan.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK/DHARMAPRODUCTIONS

"Anushka comes from a dysfunctional family. Everyone has a broken hearted situation in some way. I have to say, though, that they are both incredibly strong and complex women characters, while being completely different in terms of character goals."

Imran Abbas thanks Ranbir Kapoor for helping out during ADHM

Is it a remake of Doosra Aadmi?

Karan clarified the rumours surrounding the film.

"The other rumour I’ve heard is that it’s a Doosra Aadmi remake. It’s not, it’s not a film about infidelity at all... The ‘morality’ is not questionable, so to say. Just because a film has four characters, they wonder if it’ll be like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Not at all."

What made him change the title from Ae Dil to Ae Dil Hai Mushkil?

"‘A troubled heart’ was my working title when I started the film. We then changed it to Ae Dil and it didn’t quite work but Ae Dil Hai Mushkil captures the feeling beautifully."

"Hopefully the new title song will go some way in changing that perception and letting people look at this film differently," he noted.

Will ADHM have a comedic element?

"Rom-com has become a bad word now because of forced comedic element in romantic films. This is not that. For me, the two characters [Ranbir and Anushka] were crazy anyway. They’re both Bollywood lovers, grew up celebrating the cheesiness and the madness. Again, in that sense, like me. A lot of the dialogue was therefore funny because of the referencing... There’s no need to push the humour. No rom, no com, just conversations."

PHOTO: FACEBOOK/DHARMAPRODUCTIONS

"With Aishwarya, the dialogue syntax changed -- she plays an Urdu poet -- and her style of speaking was different. There’s no haha scene."

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is slated to release in October.

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