Mid-day

• Says Azmi had a calming effect on the cast and crew of his 12-minute film

Mumbai, Nov 17: After making a 12-minute film entitled Positive on AIDS for Mira Nair for the Bill Gates Foundation, Farhan Akhtar has done an ad  for a German watch company. “It isn’t my first ad,” Farhan informs.

“During Dil Chahta Hai, I had done an ad for a drink called Slice.” He also worked as assistant in an ad agency for three years.

Speaking on his AIDS film Farhan says, “It was tough fitting my story into such a short duration.

My film is 16½ minutes when the brief was 12 minutes. My consolation is that all the films in the series crossed 12 minutes.”

Farhan recalls the moment. “Mira called to say she’d like me to do one of her AIDS films. But by the time Mira asked me to contribute, her other AIDS films with Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan and her own, were already into production.
So certain aspects of the AIDS issue were already being dealt with. I had to quickly think of something new. I chose to do a film on how important it is for the family to support someone who is HIV positive.”

Farhan’s leading man in the AIDS film is a newcomer, Arjun Mathur.

Calming effect

More interestingly, Farhan gets to work with Shabana for the first time. “I had to be very careful about what I approached her with. I knew if I went to her with something she didn’t approve of, she’d tell me to buzz off, regardless of our relationship. I didn’t want her to be in that position where she might have to say no.”

Farhan says it was no different   working with Shabana and the other members of the cast. “She does have a calming effect, not just on the director but other actors too. She really helped Arjun get comfortable. She worked with the mood and line of his scenes.” 

Farhan has seen the other films in the AIDS series. “I like the visual style of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Blood Brothers. Also, Santosh Sivan’s Sankalp is very sweet.”