Zoya and Farhan Akhtar have come to be associated with travel aspirational films for the Bollywood audience. Films like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Dil Chahta Hai have brought exotic locations to limelight. This is in no comparison to the Yash Chopra genre of films that have made us virtually visit Europe and the U.S.A. since decades, but the theme of ‘discovering oneself’ whilst visiting a faraway place. This time the duo has decided to take that journey on luxurious setting of a cruise ship.
In an exclusive interview to Asian Voice, Farhan Akhtar, who has donned multifarious hats of a producer, actor, writer (dialogues) and a singer in the film, talked about how fortunate the filmmakers were in terms of getting a huge star cast together. The film boasts of stellar performers like Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Vikrant Massey, Rahul Bose and Manoj Bawa apart from himself. As Farhan, whose on-screen image is ‘calm and composed’, puts rightly, “Actors with different perceived energy levels in this film have complemented each other. It is fun to hang out with someone who is always up to something”. He is all praise for his sister and Director Zoya, “Her writing is matured and deep. The drama and characters she creates are never one-dimensional. She and her team create an intriguing, believable world. You never feel that you’ve not met someone like these characters”.
A bittersweet story of discovery and rediscovery, Dil Dhadakne Do is a comedy-drama set on a cruise ship. The story begins in the sparkling lifestyle of a popular Delhi socialite couple Neelam and Kamal Mehra. In celebration of their 30th wedding anniversary, they invite their family and close friends for a 10-day cruise around Turkey. A holiday that will change the lives of the Mehras forever. With their carefully constructed facade so rapidly falling apart, how will their glittering social circle judge their personal failures? Will the Mehras survive as a family? Having a brother-sister bond at the core of the story, it is at once a riveting emotional drama, a comic look at relationships and a meditation on the true meaning of family.
With Priyanka-Farhan as singers, and Ranveer-Anushka as choreographers (for ‘Pehli Baar’, the track), there are a lot of promises to be kept. Recalling his fanboy moment with Anil Kapoor, Farhan says, “We did the iconic signature step of Anil Kapoor in one of the songs. It was our little tribute to him”. Dil Dhadakne Do is produced by Excel Entertainment and is set to release internationally on 5th June 2015. Consistently entertaining, with music by Shankar Ehsaan & Loy, the film is set against the backdrop of the exotic Turkish countryside and a luxurious cruise liner sailing the Mediterranean sea. Farhan was amused at our question of what is next on the cards for the brother-sister duo after a road trip and a cruise sail, “Maybe next time we will base the film on an airplane”, he quipped.
Now all we need is to see the film with our family and friends and hope that someone among them too gets inspired enough to take us on that cruise ship celebration trip!
Photograph courtesy Excel Entertainment, Photographer Abheet Gidwani
