21 September,2023 10:20 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Thalapathy Vijay, Atlee and Shah Rukh Khan
Atlee's recent directorial 'Jawan' has turned out to be a box office blockbuster. The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer has been breaking all records at the box office and is on the path of eating Khan's previous film 'Pathaan' that was released earlier this year.
Jawan marks Atlee's first film with Shah Rukh Khan. The filmmaker recently recalled the reaction of his longtime collaborate, actor Thalapathy Vijay, upon learning about SRK's interest in working with him on a project. Atlee said that, like any other filmmaker, he saw it as a rare opportunity to collaborate with Shah Rukh Khan when the superstar suggested working together. Atlee said that he immediately agreed.
"Then I went to Vijay sir and told him. He said, âAre you serious? He came to you?' I said he did. He said, âGive your life to it.' So, everyone was very supportive," he said during a chat with Hindustan Times.
Atlee has never dreamy of working with the superstar. Reason? He believed it to be out of his reach. But a call from Red Chillies Entertainment in 2019 changed it. "When I was making Bigil [2019], I got a call from them, saying, âMr Khan wants to meet you.' I thought it was a joke. But he did want to meet me. So, I flew down to Mumbai, and Shah Rukh sir said he wanted to do a film with me. A week later, he came to Chennai and saw Bigil's rushes," told Atlee talking to Mid-day.
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For his debut Bollywood offering, Atlee knew he had the mammoth task of surpassing the expectations of the superstar's legion of fans. But the key to achieve it was simple: stick to the basics. "I've learnt a lot from [the late] MGR sir, Rajinikanth sir and Amitabh [Bachchan] sir. I've seen old, massy films of Amitabh sir. I stick to a basic formula that was used in the '80s and '90s. That's a grammar liked by the audience. It's not intellectual, but I believe it will work even 100 years down the line," reasons the director.
Jawan had an open ending, making fans wonder if there will be a part 2 of Jawan. The filmmaker clarified that all his films have an open ending but he has not considered making a sequel so far. However, the OTT version of Jawan will have some deleted scenes amounting to an extra 20 minutes.
