Shahrukh to take off with Shekhar Kapoor

By: Upala KBR, Mid-Day
Friday, November 30, 2007

Shahrukh Khan will appear in an advertisment for Jet Airways. The ad is being directed by Shekhar Kapoor. The director admits, “I have directed a part of the Jet Airways ad.

We will shoot the remaining portion soon. Both Shahrukh and I have been busy with our other commitments and we should hopefully, complete it soon."

SRK doesn"t need a 'look"

Kapur who makes his comeback into the commercials sector after a long break, took on the assignment when Naresh Goyal, (Founder and Chairman, Jet Airways) requested him to direct the ad.

“Naresh is like family to me so when he requested me to direct SRK"s ad I couldn"t refuse.

They had a script already prepared by their advertising agency." SRK is also on the board of the airlines and was more than happy to endorse it.

Kapur laughs off queries on SRK"s look in the ad film, “It"s a simple concept.

Two-three people in India are like brand names and one doesn"t need to give 'a look" to someone as big as Shahrukh. Local advertisers might think it better to give him a look and styling but to me it"s all about Shahrukh, as a huge brand who is the selling the concept. Why would I need to give him a look?"

About directing King Khan, Shekhar says, “It was great fun shooting with Shahrukh. There is absolutely no tension as he"s chilled out and has no hassles." Shekhar is enjoying dabbling with the medium, “Shooting a commercial is completely different from shooting a film.

And now shooting them is much better than it used to be. The new lot of directors has changed and things are becoming more interesting. One can do things like experimenting with visuals, lighting etc, which one couldn"t do earlier."

Good scripts matter

Kapur says he"s is willing to shoot more ads but it all depends on the kind of script he gets, “I don"t direct ads anymore. I"ve directed a couple of ads in the west one of which was a huge 7 million dollar Walls ice cream commercial. I prefer directing feature films to commercials. But yes, if I get a really good script for a commercial I do it. Feature films are far more difficult to shoot."