Farhan Akhtar, who is going to be seen in Lucknow Central, another film with a musical theme sat down for a chat with Neha Dhupia on her show, No Filter Neha.
He spoke about his actual choices for the cast of Dil Chahta Hai, his near-death experience and more. Read on to find out!
Q. When the ship authorities during Dil Dhadakne Do asked Farhan and gang to stop playing music!
Farhan: In all fairness everyone took turns to DJing , more often than not I was dancing and partying a lot less and enjoying playing music for everyone a lot more and we would go, take the speakers that we use for our Nagra system play back so that would come, the amp would be there and we would hook up the iPad or the phone and play music, it was great because all the guests started joining us, the other people on that ship would come and party with us till finally the authority of the ship said that you will have to stop doing it because its getting a bit too crowded out there, on that deck and also there is not enough people going to the discotheque that we would like them to go.
Q. When Farhan got a real-life ZNMD near-death experience
Farhan: So I was doing a solo jump and the solo jumps always go last. So I jumped down and did all my fun thing that I wanted to do by myself in the air and then I pull the shoot and I realised that I was really really far away from the runway, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to be able to make it back but I should try.
The thing is that when you turn (in the air) there is a lot of momentum that happens in the turn and so you’re actually like lifted and thrown down this way so I went down to my right at really high speed and landing without any flair of the chute or any such thing and I hurt myself pretty badly.
Q. Who Farhan thinks should be a gossip columnist
Farhan: Vikram Phadnis!
Q. Farhan talks about Ranveer and his 11 suitcases
Farhan: Because when we were getting out of the ship so something happened and they were like suitcase aap dal dijiye. So I said yeh hai mera suitcase. That guy looked at me and said aap do suitcase leke aaye? So I said haan kyu? kitne suitcase lane padnegey. Baba ke paas toh 11 suitcase hai.
So I asked him how have you got 11 suitcases? He’s like all my gym stuff is in one, all my this is in one thing, all my night clothes to party in one thing. I’m like wow yeah. Mere paas 2 suitcase hai this is not right , I have to up my suitcase count. He’s like buddy. I’m like why have you carried like 11 suitcases?
So he’s like Buddy. I don’t want to repeat my clothes!
Q. Guess who Farhan thinks is a good girl gone bad
Farhan: Good girl gone bad, Actually who will also find it funny when I say it Ekta Kapoor.
Q. Farhan confesses this one thing gives him most clarity
Farhan: I find a lot more clarity when I write. I feel like it's easier for me to say things when I write them down. When I speak I at times can digress a lot more, away from the topic at hand.
Q. Farhan talks about being a low-ly assistant
Farhan: Pankaj was a very good boss to have. He was very open. I mean I was a very low-ly assistant to have. And at that time they didn't have this system of first AD, second AD. It was like chal tu bhi aaja. That kind of a vibe. Ek clap de dena aur wahan jaakar mark vark laga dena. So I was that guy. I was like the 9th AD or something like that. So I was doing the clap and I had the amazing honour of waking the cast up early in the morning. So we were shooting in Dalhousie and I had to wake up at 4am and wake everybody up. So it used to be quite a task.
Q. Akshaye was always the first choice for Dil Chahta Hai.
Farhan: Akshaye Khanna was always the first choice. He was the first guy I ever met for that film. And I actually met him at that time because I wanted to cast him in the role that Aamir eventually played. So I spoke to him for the role that was Aakash.
Q. Farhan's dream cast for Dil Chahta Hai
Farhan: I wanted him (Akshaye Khanna) to play Aakash. I wanted Hrithik as Sameer and I wanted Abhishek as Sid. That was my ideal casting.
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