She managed the rare feat of bringing a caravan of 31 cinestars together for a song in Om Shanti Om in 2007. Now for her new film Happy New Year, Farah has been busy handling a cast of six, including top-rated actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, and the multi-faceted filmmaker says her triplets are easier to handle.
Happy New Year, slated to create Diwali ‘dhoom’ and ‘dhamaal’ in October, also stars Boman Irani, Sonu Sood and Vivaan Shah.
How does she manage to handle such a cast?
“Let me tell you, it’s much easier to handle triplets and less tiring too,” the effervescent Farah, a mother to two daughters and a son, said.
But she was quick to add: “It’s six people here (in Happy New Year) and the onus is on me to make sure that each one gets their due presence. Each person is important in the script – it’s not that only Shah Rukh is important. Each one has a character and a proper role to play and I have to make sure that each character stands out.”
What makes Farah happiest about being on the set of Happy New Year is the oneness of her eclectic cast.
“I always feel your movie will be as strong as your weakest link. So if I ignore somebody, that’s not going to be good for the movie. Even Shah Rukh knows that and he always keeps telling me to concentrate on Vivaan or make sure Sonu’s character is coming out well because each character is important,” she said of the musical heist, which will have strong elements of a formulaic heist movie and dollops of dance and music.
“In 95% of the movie, six of them are always together. So just in terms of logistics, it’s a nightmare because someone wants to come late or leave early. But the chemistry between all of them is so great even off screen, and that is translating very well on screen,” added the choreographer-turned-filmmaker.
