Filmmaker duo Abbas-Mustan’s Aitraaz, a bold drama that was ahead of its time, completes 20 years today. The film was about a man Raj (Akshay Kumar) being falsely accused of sexual harassment and attempted rape by his boss and former girlfriend Sonia (Priyanka Chopra). After some twists in the tale, Raj’s wife Priya (Kareena Kapoor Khan), a lawyer by profession, fights his case and ensures that he is free of all charges.
The film ends with Sonia ending her life by suicide. The incident is shown as a news update on a news channel. On the occasion of the film’s 20th anniversary, its screenplay writer Shiraz Ahmed revealed in an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama that they had actually shot the scene of Sonia’s suicide, but it was later edited out from the final print.
Shiraz Ahmed said, “We showed that Priyanka goes to the terrace of her corporate office and jumps from there. We didn’t show a green screen. We shot it with a crane and by hanging her through harness. A very good dialogue was played during the scene, which goes like, ‘Jab aadmi zindagi mein bohat tezi se oopar jata hai toh woh sochta hai ki use alag kisam ki kaamyabi milegi lekin usko tab pata chalta hai ki uske aas paas ke uske jitne log hain woh us se kitne door ho gaye.’ And then she jumps.”
He added, “It was a beautifully shot scene. We had also edited that scene. But then it was appearing gruesome since we wanted the family audience to see the film. So, we played those lines while showing the news about her suicide on TV in a showroom.”
The subject of Aitraaz about a man being falsely accused of a sexual crime by a cunning woman was quite out-of-the-box and bold. “If you try and find out, you will realize that such incidents had happened even then,” said Shiraz. “The credit should go to Abbas-Mustan. They were the people who showed guts to make this subject and made it so well and that too back then. Right from the start they did Baazigar, where they showed an anti-hero. Then in Ajnabee, they showed the wife-swapping angle.”
He said that the challenge was to present such a subject while keeping the Indian audience of that era in mind. “It had a controversial angle,” he said. “So, it was very important to consider Indian sentiments and values. Despite the subject, it had family values. It is a thin line when you are portraying a woman this way. But the whole point was that be it a man or a woman, mistakes can happen from anyone. It was a tricky situation, but we pulled it off.”
Speaking about the depth of the characters, Shiraz said, “As you know, Akshay Kumar is the protagonist with whom this incident happens. But the actual protagonist is Kareena Kapoor, through her bonding with her husband. At one point even she feels that maybe her husband is wrong. But she overcomes it and puts faith in him and says that she will fight his case. These values represent India’s culture and family values. This complimented the controversial part of the story.”
Aitraaz had some moments that were considered bold two decades ago. But Shiraz maintains that they didn’t get carried away with the theme. “It’s all about your intentions,” he said. “One intention can be that because of the theme, you might add scenes that titillate the audience. But that was not the case here. Even if you see it today, everything shown in the film was the requirement of the story. Hence, the film is such that it can be seen with a family.”
The makers received complete support from the film’s producer Subhash Ghai. In fact, Shiraz said that he didn’t keep a watch at the making of the film. “Subhash Ghai was very confident about the subject,” he said. “He heard it for the first time and said, ‘Go ahead’. In fact, he was so confident that he didn’t visit the sets even once. He just saw a copy. It was a very smooth shoot actually. There wasn’t a single scene or dialogue which an actor objected to, and we had to change.”
Aitraaz had released alongside a biggie like Veer-Zaara, Ram Gopal Varma’s Naach and the coloured version of the classic Mughal-e-Azam. Shiraz recalled that despite the situation, Ghai never felt like backing out. “The credit should go to Subhash Ghai ji,” he said. “When he saw the copy, he was very confident. We had a good theme, and the music was good too.”
But Shiraz claimed that Aitraaz had to face a lot of negativity from the industry itself. “People from the industry had declared it as a flop,” he said. “They said the film did well in initial days because of Diwali and from Monday, it will go down. But it sustained so well and that too in front of such big films.”
We are currently living in the era where two big films clashing at the box office leads to fights over getting maximum screens. But Ahmed said that this wasn’t the case 20 years ago. “It was a lot peaceful back then,” he said. “People are fearful in today’s times because you get the pirated copies of films on the second or third day itself. So, a section of the audiences watches the film for free. There was piracy back then too, but it wasn’t at this level as there was not much penetration of the internet. At that time, people used to get pirated films on CDs. So, the process used to take time.”
He added, “Hence, these days the makers want as many eyeballs as possible on the first day if there are two or more films releasing on the same day. Also in those days, films used to run for weeks and, at times, pick up later. But now the whole idea of a film picking up later doesn’t exist. Films are also more expensive today, so the makers wish to make as much money as possible in the first weekend, even if the numbers drop later.”
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