'Kal Ho Naa Ho' teaches about living in the moment: Nikkhil Advani on 20 years of film

Mumbai: Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani believes his 2003 directorial debut "Kal Ho Naa Ho", starring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan, with its theme of "living in the moment" continues to resonate with people twenty years after its release.

The film, which hit the screens on November 28 November 2003, was penned by Karan Johar who also produced it via his banner Dharma Productions. The story, set in New York, revolved around the life of three people - Aman (Shah Rukh), Rohit (Saif) and Naina's (Priety) journey together and how they discover themselves.

Looking back at his blockbuster debut, Advani has nothing but fond memories.

"It's a good story, a good script... It teaches you about living in the moment and resonates with people even today. We are too caught up with making plans, it is all about living in the moment. COVID-19 taught us that. You make plans for five or ten years and then the world comes to a stop,” the director told PTI in an interview.

Advani, who assisted filmmakers like Saeed Mirza, Sudhir Mishra, and Kundan Shah, before joining Johar as an assistant director on “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” and “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham”, remembers how Shah Rukh reacted when he read the script.

"Shah Rukh read three pages (of the script) and said, 'In Karan’s film, the role of the heroine is better than me'. But Shah Rukh is someone who brings magic to his character. Shah Rukh’s biggest strength is that he thinks, ‘I’m going to be good and everybody else also has to be good in the film’,” Advani recalled. Interestingly, Advani was keen to make an action spy-thriller as his directorial debut with Dharma when the production house asked him to go ahead with this film.

"Karan called me to his office and said, 'I know you want to make a film on terrorism, a spy thriller with Shah Rukh’. At that time Shah Rukh and I had worked out everything, the action sequence, and all, because we both love that thing (action).

"In Dharma Productions, after making ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ and ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’, (they) wanted to make a film that would cement their position. They were like, we can’t take a chance on this terrorism film, make this later,” the director said.

"Kal Ho Naa Ho" had a memorable track list with songs that are popular even today and Advani credits composers Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa and lyricist Javed Akhtar for creating magic with the music.

He said noted international singer Celine Dion and Pakistani singer-songwriter Nazia Haasan served as an inspiration for the music of “Kal Ho Naa Ho”.

“Loy and I once went to a German Bakery. He said he wanted a song to be like Celine Dion’s song, ‘My Heart Will Go On’. He hummed something, and I recorded it my phone and when Javed sahab heard it, he said, ‘Yeh gaana ('Kal Ho Naa Ho') hum sabki shradhanjali mein play hoga’ (This song will be played during our memorial service). He said the song is so simple yet impactful.

"Then we had, ‘Mahi Way’, which means nothing. It came from Shankar and Javed sahab said, ‘It sounds great’ and we should keep it. Karan came up with, 'It’s the time to disco' because he wanted a Nazia Haasan (kind of) song.” Released on November 28, “Kal Ho Naa Ho”, received mixed response from critics but was a huge commercial hit.

Both "Kal Ho Naa Ho" and "Anand", the 1971 cinema classic starring Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, had a terminally ill hero at the centre, but Advani said they were not influenced by the Hrishikesh Mukherjee-directed film.

"I never had ‘Anand’ or any other film that played in my mind while making 'Kal Ho Naa Ho'. ‘Anand’ is a great film. I don’t think there was any kind of inspiration that we wanted to make it like, ‘Anand’. Karan was very clear that he wanted to make a film about this girl, Naina,” he said.

Post the film, Advani said he struggled to find his voice as a filmmaker as his films such as “Salaam-e-Ishq”, “Chandni Chowk to China”, “Patiala House" failed to do well at the box office. He found success with "D Day" and started Emmay Entertainment, his production house.

“When you make a flop, it is horrible, but when you make a hit, it is more horrible because you have to keep up to that standard. The pressure is there that everything is not flash in the pan...

"Also, Karan and I fell out after that movie. We had an issue with each other, we went our different ways. Then I had ‘Salaam-E-Ishq’, ‘Chandi Chowk’, ‘Patiala House’, nothing worked. It was a tough time as I was making all the wrong decisions. I was trying to prove to everybody that I belong here. Then ‘D Day’ happened and Emmay Entertainment started," he said. The filmmaker’s upcoming projects include high octane action movie, “Vedaa” starring John Abraham, and political thriller drama series “Freedom at Midnight”, among many other things.

"I want to make a show about Kashmir. I feel there's so much to be told about it (Kashmir) I think we are not telling it correctly,” he said.

Asked if he will revisit the spy-thriller that he wanted to make with Shah Rukh, Advani said he would love to collaborate with the superstar on a future project. "I want to make a film with Shah Rukh at some point but I don’t have a subject yet. When I do, I’ll go to him."