Rehaan carrying on B'woods Mirza legacy

Courtesy: IndiaFM
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Rehaan Khan, son of filmmaker Sharukh Mirza is a new entrant in Bollywood. Being launched by his father, Rehaan wants to carry on the legacy of the Mirza clan. He has already signed two films even before the release of his debut film.

Tell us about your debut film Jaana - Let's Fall in Love and your character in it

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Jaana is a musical love story. My father has always delivered musical hits and his strategy continues with this film too. I play a boy called Raju, who lives in a very small town called Nainital. This boy basically is frustrated to stay at this place. He wants to break the shackles and wants to go out do something else. The story conveys a message that there is no wrong way to do anything right. Then this girl enters in his life and he feels that this is his trump card. But he doesn't realize that God has written something different in his destiny. What happens to Raju at the end is what Jaana is all about.

Jaana also brings back Rajesh Khanna and Zeenat Aman on the big screen. How was it working with such senior actors?
Very few people know that my parents got married at Rajesh Khanna's house. My father did not have money for his marriage. He was a writer then and he wrote Dhanwan for Rajesh Khanna. And today I am working with him. In fact it was like a surprise for him. He looked at my mother and said I saw this kid when he was very small and look at him now. Today he is 23 years old and acting with me. However, I never met Rajeshji and Zeenatji before in my life but all I can say about her is that she (Zeenat) is the most gorgeous mother that any young man can have. She defines the beauty that nobody can. I am glad and so happy that I have had her as a mother in my very first film. Anjana is a very homely girl. I always told her that she is marriage material. She is very sweet and always very co-operative and humble. She does a lot of rehearsal and totally concentrates on her work.

Have you had any professional training in acting?
I went to Kishore Namit Kapoor's acting academy and he had trained me for three months. I did dancing classes, Salsa, rock-n-roll, action classes, skate boarding and horse riding. I did everything. You have to be trained in every aspect of acting to be a star today. If you want to be in Bollywood then you have to prepare for everything. People say you are a producer's son so everything is possible for you. But I want to tell them one thing that it was not my fault to be born as a producer's son.

What are the advantages of being a producer's son?
My father has been in this industry for about 30 to 40 years now. He was a writer, producer and then a director. I always wanted to be an actor but I was not confident till I trained myself to become one and then went to my father. Many people say that it's easy for a producer's son to become an actor but if you see it from a different perspective then you will realize that he has given breaks to a lot of new-comers including Ayub Khan, Asif Sheikh, Jatin-Lalit and choreographer Raju Khan. He has always introduced newcomers so if he gives me a break then what's wrong in that? And the only disadvantage is that people think that it's easy for you to get an entry but I want to say that it's not easy for anyone. There are many star sons who flop out. This is our profession. We are born here, this is our work and we will carry on the legacy. Definitely the expectations are high and if we are less than one percent of these expectations then we are not accepted.

Mirza brothers are known as musical maestros. Will this movie continue to maintain the record?
Jaana has five music directors. They include Anand-Milind and the rest are new directors. There's Guru, Rajendra and Shiv. We have variety of music and I can proudly say that Jaana will give all kinds of music. Ola Ola is a dance number, Kalma Kalma is a qawwali, the title track is a romantic song. HMV is so happy with the music that they are coming with its remix too.

How was the whole experience like?
Oh lovely, we have started shooting in November and completed in January and now we are releasing it on 25th of August.

This is the debut film of your brother Farhaan too. How is he as a director?
Farhaan was supposed to be launched as an actor by a very big name but he doesn't want me to let out the name. Though my father wanted to launch him, he never wanted to be an actor. Now he is debuting as a director with Jaana. And no one thought that I would be an actor as I had never taken it to heart.

What kind of role you are looking forward to?
I want to play such roles that have a vacancy in Bollywood. I want to play a guy, who has just got into college. I don't want to play a police inspector because it doesn't suit my age as I am only 23 year old. If I play such roles I will not be doing justice to that role. Later may be in the future I might do such roles.

What are the other projects you are working on?
Well I have just signed two projects right now. One is for a very big company while the other one I have just signed yesterday that I can't talk about now. I want to do quality work - quantity doesn't matter to me. My brother is also coming up with a solo film.

Were you offered any film by any filmmaker before Jaana?
I had signed a film before Jaana and informed my father about it. And my father was literally annoyed and he screamed at me. He called up that producer and gave him back the signing amount. That is one mistake I did. I was offered a film by a music company but they wanted me to be in contract. As I didn't want to be in contract so I didn't sign it.

Why should people go and watch Jaana?
People should watch it because I haven't seen any film like this at least in this year. It's a film for every young boy and girl in love and it's a film where we have Mr. Rajesh Khanna and Zeenat Aman getting back. So it's a film for every elderly person in love too. And it has got a very big social message. When you will see the film you will come to know about it.

What was the idea behind pairing Rajesh Khanna and Zeenat Aman in your film?
My father has always wanted me to be launched with Rajesh Khanna. We have remixed his four or five old songs. He will be seen singing and dancing. He has got a different look. He is not the same Kaka; he is a very modern Kaka. He used to tell me that we share same initials so I will be a star like him.

What have you learnt from him?
I learnt to be patient and to be a very nice person too. Though lot of people says that he is arrogant, I say that he is a child by heart.

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