Aditya Chopra on <i>Kabul Express</i>
Courtesy:
IndiaFM
Wednesday,
November
22,
2006
For
ten
years
I
have
been
fortunate
enough
to
have
consistently
been
part
of
some
of
the
most
successful
Indian
films
as
a
producer
and
a
director.
But
ten
years
down
the
line
I
felt
the
urge
to
do
something
more,
something
different,
more
challenging.
I
wanted
to
come
out
of
my
comfort
zone
of
creating
popular
blockbusters
for
Indians
all
over
the
world
and
try
to
create
a
film
that
reaches
out
to
a
wider
audience,
an
international
audience.
A
film
that
would
be
Indian
in
soul
but
international
in
its
cinematic
language.
While I was toying with this thought, the script of Kabul Express landed on my desk. Even before I finished reading the last page, I knew that I had found the film I was looking for. And although I was over committed [I had 4 films in production] I knew I just had to make this film, and make it now.
The first decision that I took as a producer was to cast each character from its country of origin. So John Abraham and Arshad Warsi from India became the TWO INDIANS, Linda Arsenio from USA became the AMERICAN, Hanif Hum Ghum from Afghanistan became the AFGHAN and Salman Shahid from Pakistan became the PAKISTANI. For me this was the essence of Kabul Express. To have each person represent their country, and speak in their unique language and style would make the film look and feel real, and give the film a distinct identity. The story and characters created by Kabir leave a lasting impression on the mind. As you travel through the journey with these five diverse characters you see all of them react to joy, pain and fear in the same way and in the process you discover the simplest truth of life - that people all over the world are the same.
This is the ethos of Kabul Express and it is this belief with which we have all made the film hoping that the way the film reaches out to us, it will reach out to everyone all over because - people all over the world are the same.
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