Masala mix: Karan treads a different path

Though he is excited about presenting a different side of Shah Rukh, making the film did turn unpleasant when actor Aamir Bashir was denied a visa to the US.

Written by Shibani Bathija, My Name Is Khan is about a Muslim (Shah Rukh) who suffers from Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that impacts social interaction abilities, and is arrested as a suspected terrorist in post-9/11 Los Angeles after authorities mistake his disability for suspicious behaviour.

Is it true that some Muslim members of your cast were denied visas to enter the U.S.?

Yes, there were problems. We had certain legal issues. We had to make some changes to accommodate the developments. They were sorted out. I believe in completely going by the law of the land. That’s what we did in LA when trouble arose.

Was Aamir replaced by Jimmy Shergill after a great deal of deliberation?

Yes, we did have to do some serious re-thinking. I spoke to my casting director Shanu Sharma. I was very happy to have Jimmy Shergill on board. I had done his clothes for Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein. So I know him from his debut.

It was unfortunate that things didn’t work out with Aamir Bashir. Like Jimmy, he was terrific in A Wednesday. I look forward to working with him some other time.

Were you upset with Aamir Bashir for going to the press about the visa problem?

I don’t blame anyone for the situation. But I don’t see why the issue had to be reported so prominently in the Indian media. It complicated things for me. If creating hurdles for a filmmaker on a difficult foreign location makes news, so be it. It constantly kept creating stress for me.

Was it a painful experience to shoot in LA?

In my 11 years as a filmmaker, I’ve never experienced something so different.

Content-wise My Name Is Khan is diametrically opposite to whatever I’ve done in the past. You know, on the very first day of shooting my cameraman Ravi Chandran looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think you’ve ever shot something like this.’

It is the first time that I’m directing a screenplay I haven’t written myself. This gives me a level of detachment from the proceedings and yet a lot of attachment. It has released a plethora of unexplored emotions in my head.

This time I’m being creative in a different ways. And Shah Rukh plays a completely different human being. I’ve never directed that person before. It took a few days for all of us to get into the groove.