‘We are professional soulmates’: Filmmaker duo Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar | Exclusive

Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar

What was the biggest challenge for Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti while making The Archies? Was it setting something like this in 1964 - it's their first period film - among 8500 people in a town called Riverdale?

Does she have a favourite character from The Archies? "You can't have just one favourite character, it changes," says Zoya, while Reema disagrees. Hers is Jughead, she reveals during a conversation with Mayank Shekhar has part of Mid-day's Sit With Hitlist series.

The chat veers towards Zoya's debut directorial, Luck By Chance, which was about a newcomer entering the world of cinema. The film had a scene were Shah Rukh Khan, playing the superstar that he is, hangs out at a party with a bunch of newcomers and gives them some invaluable advice.

The scene had a line Zoya evidently wrote with Shah Rukh in mind. Considering The Archies was the debut film for his daughter and a bunch of other youngsters, did she think of calling SRK for a pep talk, Chake De! Style? "No, that's my job," exclaims Zoya.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, starring Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar, was supposed to be a small film, we are told. "After Luck By Chance, she said I just want three boys, no hair-makeup, and I am just going to follow them around in a car… That was Zoya's idea of a small film," Reema reveals.

Reema has been an associate with Excel Entertainment since its inception, as she has assisted both Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar in all their films and commercials to date. Together, Reema and Zoya Akhtar helm Tiger Baby Films, a film production company, founded in October 2015.

"We may not be life soulmates, but we are definitely professional soulmates," says Reema, and Zoya echoes her. Reema also gives an insight into Zoya's process as a filmmaker. "When we are editing, you send Zoya a 100-page script, she will send you back 120 pages. I'm like, ‘What have you edited?'"

While we know quite a fair bit about Zoya's family and her upbringing, considering both her parents and her brother belong to the film world, Reema is a far greater mystery. She did study at Sophia College for a couple of years, but how did she start this long-lasting professional soul-sister-ship with Zoya? Find out in the full interview out on January 20.