Jaideep Sahni started his career with Ram Gopal Varma’s Jungle. In a short span of time, this fabulous writer has done some wonderful
screenplays and has also written dialogues for Bunty and Babli and Company. Known for his unconventional work, Sahni
however, got much acclamation as a writer of Chak De India. His forthcoming flick is much awaited Aaja Nachle, which is also a
comeback movie of Madhuri Dixit.
Jaideep was on live IndiaFM chat. Here’s bringing you the transcript of the chat
rajvir : hey Jaideep loved the film, are u exclusive with Yrf or are u allowed to write films outside as well.
Jaideep Sahni : Thanks Rajvir. I have a contract for scripts with the studio. Lyrics I can write for anybody and I do.
Prakash : Are you surprised by the peoples reaction...
Jaideep Sahni : We felt we had done something honestly for a cause that was dear to our hearts so we did think the audience will
reward us, but this big--we didn''t expect, we just hoped for the sake of the actual Indian hockey team and their coach Maharaj Kishan Kaushik
who were our inspiration
Rocky : hi sir..... its a good script hv seen in recent times and in
that SRK rules
Jaideep Sahni : thanks rocky, yes we were fortunate that Shahrukh felt as strongly about telling this story as we did and gave it his all. he
made our character credible, interesting and attractive
arpan : After seeing company, jungle, khoshla ka ghosala and Chek de, I must say you r truely a great writer. I can see new guljaar and
akhtar in you. But chak de was your finest effort.
Jaideep Sahni : Thanks you Arpan. I have been very lucky to have met people in my career who invited me into their world and became
a part of my world and taught me all they knew. there is still a long way to go and a lot to learn. Gulzar saab and javed saab is a long long long
long way off, relistically speaking.
lailaa : you did an awesome job with Chak De
India…congrats…im proud of the film
Jaideep Sahni : Thanks you lailaa--it took us eight months to find the girls from all over india and many more months to train them in the
raining camp, in hockey, in acting, in dialects--as some were players and some were actors, and everyone had something to learn. They worked
like hard like maniacs and i gues the results showed. We all in the crew are so incredibly proud of them and feel very fortunate to have found
them.
Prakash : did you get a chance to see the Chak De india Website.... I feel its awesome...
Jaideep Sahni : yes Prakash, it''s a great site. All credit to anand and his team of fine programmers and designers in the yrf internet
division. they are a great bunch of guys who love both comps and movies and make our work seem better than it is.
Fais : hi there..... wat do think abt india pakistan joint ventures.... is it good or not?
Jaideep Sahni : I think Indo-Pak joint ventures in not just movies but in every sphere of life is a great idea. If people in Europe can be
separate countries but like brothers, so can we be. I''ll never forget the warmth of people at the Kara film festival when we visited them at the
time they awarded khosla ka ghosla for the best original screenplay. People here need to be told how much people there love us and care for
what we do.
idevert : aren''t you inetereseted in Si-Fi because a writer like you
should try that... i''m sure we will have a good si-fi film if you write one...
Jaideep Sahni : I am very inetersted in scenice fic idevert--i am a computer engineer and science and technology are the loves of my life
besides stories and songs.
Prakash : We also heard that Chak De India has been given Tax Exemption.... It means now this film will be Tax Free... This is GREAT
NEWS : :
Jaideep Sahni : Yes it has been given tax exemption in punjab and from today in mumbai--it''s great news--we hope more and more
people see the film and talk about th indian women hockey team and their coach m k kaushik and it helps in getting them a sponsor.
rajvir : so no one besides YRF gets to work with u thats unfair?
Jaideep Sahni : i''m happy here rajvir. I''m getting to do subjects that i care for, working with directors like shimit and others who give
their all, and the unquestioning backing of a studio for the ideas which we want to make. It''s a rare thing to get
inder : Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii i m a great fan of urs
Jaideep Sahni : thanks inder
proneet : was it a consious decision to have the message cast equality & one india in ur film while scripting it
Jaideep Sahni : yes proneet, the arena of sports and a team was a great place to take on so many issues that we all feel strongly about
but usually are not able to do anything about. fortunately we got an opportunity in this story and so many charavcters allowed us to take on
much more than a usual movie and we went for it.
aki : hi jai, chak de was superb. when r u directing a film
Jaideep Sahni : thanks aki. i am not planning to direct a film because i feel i don''t have the kind of long attention span and the kind of
aptitude the job requires. besides why work so hard if you keep getting directors who can do it better than you
nick : wht was Aditya Chpra''s first reaction when he read ur script?
Jaideep Sahni : adi just said drop everything else and hit this story with all you''ve got--this story needs to be told.
nick : which is ur fav film?
Jaideep Sahni : i haven''t seen too many films nick, so i don''t really know much about the classics and so on. i''m not much of a movie
watcher. in off time i read and write non-fiction--it works for me i guess.
Rocky : Are you gonna make any love story...i am sure that will be also be a hit...u rock!
Jaideep Sahni : i might give it a shot rocky but so far all i''ve done in that direction is lyrics
nick : which film is ur best work till date?
Jaideep Sahni : i don''t know about the best, i guess its not for me to say, but chak de has been the most challenging so far.
Prakash : Awaiting your next release with Yash Raj Team... " AAJA NACHLE"
Jaideep Sahni : thanks prakash, we all have worked very hard on aja nachle and again we had a great cast and crew. we all feel its
something special
chander : Hi sir, h r u, first of all Congrats to u for CHAK DE INDIA success
harshal : your story writing is so good
Jaideep Sahni : thanks chander, harshal. it''s a tough job but every passing year i''m slowly getting the hang of it
merryn : why not direction? u r a very good writer and can be a
good director?
Jaideep Sahni : yes i know merry but i am a lazy bum, and then when you have directors like Shimit taking your work to the next level, why get
up at 6 in the morning and run to the sets. I am too lazy for the job and perhaps not talented enough in a lot of things that somebody like
Shimit is in
Fais : thx Jaideep... Kara will always welcome u as always..... hope to c more from u.... wat next?
Jaideep Sahni : thanks fais, we were all so honoured to have come to Kara an would run there at the slightest of excuse
sm : hi...chak de roks
Jaideep Sahni : thanks sm
idevert : can i send you a basic outline for a sci-fi which if you like can turn into a screenplay
Jaideep Sahni : thanks idevert, you''re welcome to send your idea to yrf film development division as long as it''s registered and atleast
at a step outline level. please mark it to my colleague nandini arora
merryn : how was it workng with srk?
Jaideep Sahni : working with shahrukh was a revelation merryn. he did it our way and yet gave it so much that only he can give. it''s very
difficult to explain the number of levels on which shahrukh adds value to a film on and off the set to somebody who hasn''t worked with him
himself or herself
zorif : is there any story in your mind specially for SRK???
Jaideep Sahni : i''d love to work with shahrukh again zorif--unfortunately he leaves you completely spoilt with his contribution and you
feel it''d be like this everytime
sudhir : hi jaideep, i liked the way you wrote chak de, especially the scene whr srk tries to unite to unite the team
Jaideep Sahni : thanks Sudhir.
Veerudeep : Are you happy with the way Shimit has executed your script ?
Jaideep Sahni : yes verudeep, i am more than happy--i am grateful.
Singh Is King : Keep It Up YoOo! Rock On
Jaideep Sahni : thanks singh
Veerudeep : so i have heard that most writers are heave
drunkers....thts when they write best ...is it the same with u?
Jaideep Sahni : i''m more of a tea drinker, though recently i got myself a coffee filter and have switched to mysore coffee twice a
day
grahambell : khosla ka ghosla was a masterpiece
Jaideep Sahni : thanks grahambell, kkg was my poor little polio child which made a name for itself. i''m very fond and proud of it. all of
us in the crew and cast are.
grahambell : i am an aspiring filmmakers..., i ve 2 short films 2 my credit.... wish 2 work wit u sum day
KABIR KHAN : Did u find difficult to write on sports topic?
Jaideep Sahni : i was fortunate to get the time and support from both the studio and the hockey players and coach Kaushik to be able
to research the story and the issues well before writing the drafts--i guess because of that and the talents of Shimit and the wonderful crew he
assembled--sudeep dop, rob miller sports action consultant, mandira and team costumes, sukant and team sets, the players mir negi,
rahul, satnam sports coaching, dr adithya shetty sports medican specialist, teh AD team--ashimi, richa, vicky , sherena, assoc dir karan
kashyap, lp bhushan and his team, ep aashish singh--there as so many people who''s talents are behind the film as you saw it. i''m just one of
them. not to mention the girls who gave it all day after day under extremely gruelling conditions.
Veerudeep : i have also heard that a part of the chak de story is real life inspired from a hockey player''s life who resides at Wadala
in mumbai...how true is this??
Jaideep Sahni : no verudeep. i guess you are talking about mir ranjan negi. neither the script nor the film was written to be a biopic on
him or anybody else but when he joined us as the hockey coach of the cast he read the script and was very moved. it was then we realised our
storyremonded him of some things that happened in his past. we are all a very close knit crew and feel very special because in a small way due
to our film negi got some sort of justice, and perhaps an apology which the nation owes to a fine player like him. though most of what i
understood and tried to deal with in the script about a coach''s job and challenges comes from my time in the research hangning out with
national coach maharj krishan kaushik who is the man behind the rise of the indian womens hockey team
idevert : what''s the name of actor who played Krishna Ji... she was very good...
Jaideep Sahni : the actor who played Krishnaji so well is Vibha Chibber. She is a professional theatre ands film actress and we were
very fortunate that she decided to become a part of this film
umer : hows your equation with Adi Chopra?
Jaideep Sahni : he''s a senior colleague and a close friend umer. all of us at the studio are pretty close to him.
merryn : what do you think of amir khan?
Jaideep Sahni : I don''t know amir khan merryn, but you can only have respect for a man who tries his damn best to practice what he preaches
in a world which is largely not conducive to it.
ikramsk : bonjour jaideep c''est comment de travailler avec srk ? chak de india est un suces
Jaideep Sahni : me only know english, hindi, punjabi and hyderabadi ikramsk
HUSSAIN : Your story is always related with social issue?
Jaideep Sahni : like all writers i feel happy if while earning a living i am able to relate my work to what''s happening around me hussain.
doesn''t happen very often i guess, but when it does, it''s very satisfying
proneet : what would be your reaction if any producer or director asked u to lift a movie frm a hollywood film which is quite a norm in
hindi films
Jaideep Sahni : i would politely decline proneet, unless i''m starving, which atleast as of now i''m not fortunately
proneet : hi jaideep congratulations on the success of chak de
Jaideep Sahni : thanks for the compliment guys--they don''t belong just to me rally. In my small career of six films I have never seen a
script so whole the entire cast and crew, and have never seen so many people work so hard for so long to prepare and film a script. eartedly
adopted
khosla : do u think bunty and babli is a good movie
Jaideep Sahni : it was good for us khosla. we wre trying to form an entertaining bridge between small towns and big towns because
both shad and i feel very bullish on our small town youth and felta bout it strongly. we chose a form that we felt would celebrate their hunger
to achieve and their energy and perhaps throw some light on what would happen if they don''t get the same opportunities as their big city
counterparts. we thing we were able to draw the country''s and more importantly the media''s attention towards them for some time atleat, so our
job was dome well by the standards we set for ourself.
inder : Plzz tell me abt ur next ventures
Jaideep Sahni : i''m scratching around on a few ideas right now, spending most of my time researching, reading and meeting
people--let''s see which one grows into something worthwile.
james : hi its great that you are one scriptwriter today who is able to get his name along side the producers and directors in same size
of fonts . the last scriptwriters who were able to do that were salim-javed .
Jaideep Sahni : yes james, though a lot of credit for this also goes to the producers and directors i worked with
ZZZZ DON} : what do you think you of CDI success, is it hit , super hit or average
Jaideep Sahni : i don''t know don, it''s still running so i guess we will know after a few weeks, though the my distribution colleagues are
already celebrating, so i guess it must be prretty good
{ZZZZ DON} : do u think rgv''s aag will hot the box office?
Jaideep Sahni : anything rgv does is going to be special james
gr8 movie... : was SRK hard 2 convince abt the scenes
Jaideep Sahni : no gr8, Shahrukh was a dream, but like i said this is something that only people who have worked with him understand
because they have experienced it firsthand
CHAK DE! : Jiadeep is it true there was some tension between SRK and Shimit?
Jaideep Sahni : no chak de!, both shahrukh and shimit are not the kind of people who have such things. it''s quite funny a publication
thought that and printed it--i guess all of us were too busy in post prod and there was a curiosity about the movie so they had to print
something so they printed the first rumour they heard
ayush : did you face any kinda problems while you were researching on the script?im sure you must have because the story shows the
effort and hardwork that went into it and it has come out to be a huge success............
Jaideep Sahni : yes there was a lot of research Chak de! but research is never difficult, it''s always a pleasure. since writing is largely a
lonely job, i look forward to the two parts i like best--researching and readings with the actors, because both are new beginnings in a way, and
very enjoyable
CHAK DE! : how did u pich such a complex story about HOCKEY ??a neglected game and YASH RAJ have put so much money on the
project??
Jaideep Sahni : getting the studio to support the subject was the easiest part of the whole thing chak de!