Rahul Dholakia On Glorifying a Don In ‘Raees’ & the Call for a Ban

Rahul Dholakia talks about Shah Rukh Khan and his understanding before they started working on ‘Raees’.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rahul Dholakia, Ritesh Sidhwani, Shah Rukh Khan and Sunny Leone at the Raees success bash. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Rahul Dholakia is high on the success of his latest film Raees. We spoke to the National award winning filmmaker about some controversial aspects of his Shah Rukh Khan-starrer.

Q. What do you have to say to those who are alleging that you have glorified a don in Raees? The story portrays him as a Robin Hood and messiah of the masses without taking into account that he is technically a criminal, is corrupt, and has killed people - these elements are simply justified because he is a do-gooder.

Rahul Dholakia: No, I don’t think we are glorifying the don. It’s a fictional character first of all.

There has been lots of films on dons, gangsters and godfathers and all that. We are not trying to glorify him in any way. In fact at the end of it all, he takes responsibility for his own action and you have seen in the film what happens to him.

Also if you look at it, the character is a grey character, he does good things and he does bad things and somewhere down the line he gets tricked into something and he says things like “Muhalla bachate bachate, shehar jala diya.” So there is somewhat a guilt factor in this man and he is given the due that he should be getting. So I don’t think there is glorifying anything.

Co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani, Shah Rukh Khan and Rahul Dholakia. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Q. How was the equation during the filming. How much say did SRK have about how a certain scene should be done, did you stand your ground if you felt strongly about any element?

Rahul Dholakia: I think it was a mutual understanding between both of us.

Shah Rukh comes from a different school; I come from a different school. He has done different kind of films, I have done different kind of films but we had to be honest with the script.

Somewhere, me and him both came to an agreement that we will play it out this way, this is Raees’ world and lets stick to this world. And it was not just him and me, I think it was with every actor, every character including Nawaz. Also the creative team, which was the director of photography or the production designers, they said this is how we would treat it. And we have larger than life dialogues, so we will try to treat it in a realistic way in some form. We will have a layer of realism but at the same time it is a commercial film, so we will treat it a bit differently.

The way I work is, I am a very inclusive director, so I do take inputs from everybody not just Shah Rukh and I like to give my actors the space. So everybody has to perform it the way they like it as long as it is within Raees’ world and within my vision. So it was actually a good experience.

I don’t think Shah Rukh interfered in any form as such. I mean as much as an actor would, he has done that much. I think, he was more of an actor over here than the superstar, so, I think it was great, extremely great.

And his contributions, his suggestion were incredible and you know his patience to do repeated number of takes or rehearsals even with junior artists was incredible. I think the chemistry between him and Nawaz was superb and with everybody else. So we had a lots of fun working on this and it was never the - ‘my way or the highway’ for any one of us. It was always the Raees way. Raees as in the film.

Rahul Dholakia getting into action on the sets of Raees.

Q. Though you were not involved directly in it, why was it necessary for Shah Rukh Khan to visit Raj Thackeray before the release of the film? There’s a liberal media which backs the industry against the deeply narrow mindset that seeks a ban on Pakistani actors and almost everything else at the drop of a hat. A lot of us felt rather betrayed that SRK had to make that trip to appease the MNS.

Rahul Dholakia: Honestly I am not going to comment on that because I really don’t know why and what happened over there.

I am more concerned with the making of the film rather than the politics or the things around it.

But I really thank you all for your support. It’s an incredible support that you all have given us, the liberal journalist or any journalist, who has supported Raees or Parzania for that matter, so thank you so much.

Q. How do you react to the demand for a ban on your film in Gujarat by the VHP? Does it take you back to your Parzania days?

Rahul Dholakia: (Laughs) No, I don’t think it takes me back to Parzania days. I don’t know, I mean the film is running very well in Gujarat right now. People are dancing, enjoying, seeti maaraoing all over Gujarat and they are really enjoying the film, so I don’t even know how to react to this. They are all sold out shows, my friends from Gujarat have gone and seen it at various places, they have sent me clips. My family has gone in large numbers over there. Uncles, aunts have taken relatives, so obviously there is no such impact and I am glad that there is no such impact because it has nothing to do with any politics.

It is an entertaining film, so I am glad people are liking and rejoicing. They are saying, “Bahut dinon baad aisi film mili hai jaha pe seeti bhi marte hai log, taali bhi bajaate hai aur families enjoy kar rahi hai.” So, I am glad that it’s a family entertainer right now.

Team Raees on a ride. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Q. Was it a conscious decision to treat the film as a 70s Bachchan-wala gangster movie? The music, the dialogues, the attitude - everything was a throwback to the 70s Bachchan era.

Rahul Dholakia: Yeah, the film is set in the 70s and 80s and he is a gangster in that era.

We’ve all grown up watching Bachchan films. I’m a big big, big fan of Bachchan sir, so somewhere down the line that must have played a part because we grew up watching those films. So yeah, it was consciously somewhere when we writing it only and it kept getting bigger and bigger and was getting that flavour of the 70s.

Those were the finest films, which we grew up to, entertainment-wise, masala-wise since this was also a masala film, commercial film in that sense. It was treated that way.

Q. What next for Rahul Dholakia - there was a time when your films got stuck because of producers, now that you've done a successful SRK film, how do you think things will change?

Rahul Dholakia: Right now, I’m really happy with Raees, its success and how the audiences have loved it. I’m not sure if anything should change or will change. I’ll continue doing my film the way I want to do it and in the spirit in which I want to make them. I hope I don’t change in the process, in a good sense of way. Right now, I’m just loving the way people are liking Raees and enjoying and appreciating it worldwide.