August 10 will mark 20 years since the release on one of the most iconic movies of all time - Dil Chahtha Hai.
The movie saved Goa - suffering from bleak tourism following the 9/11 terrorist attacks with hordes of people visiting Goa, especially the Chapora fort for this pic.
Our thread starts with the idea of DCH - the story that @FarOutAkhtar wrote. His childhood friend narrated a story to him - which became the outline for Akash.
Farhan frequented Goa a lot and also had a memorable trip to New York in 1996 all of which were combined in the script
The film was supposed to be set in New York, but when the shooting schedule was finalized, it would have been really cold in NY.
NY was replaced by Australia.
Farhan Akthar had worked as assistant director in Akshaye Khanna's debut - Himalay Putra. He had also met @realpreityzinta during the shooting of Kya Kehna which was directed by his mother Honey Irani.
Both agreed to be a part of Farhan's film when it got made.
Farhan initially cast Akshaye Khanna as Akash, Hrithik Roshan as Sid and Saif Ali Khan as Sameer. Saif said no.
Hrithik said no. Later Abhishek Bachchan said no.
Aamir Khan agreed, but only to play Akash.
Akshaye consented to play Sid. With Aamir on board, Saif said yes.
The character of Pooja, Saif's love interest was supposed to be played by Hrishita Bhat. She said no.
Isha Koppikar then said no.
Sonali Kulkarni was finally cast.
The way she got the role is interesting - somebody was carrying her photographs and they fell in front of Zoya Akhtar. She saw those photos and decided to call her.
We see this play out in Luck By Chance when Konkana Sen Sharma gives photographs of Farhan Akhtar to a producer.
The character of Subodh was played by Farhan Akhtar's friend Asad Dadarkar - his only movie role.
In 1996, Farhan had visited USA. Asad had planned the trip to a minute. Farhan wanted to spend an extra couple of hours in Las Vegas, but Asad said no.
"To eat in a specific restaurant in another city, we have to leave Vegas at 9.46PM."
Farhan wanted to take revenge on this - he decided to incorporate the character Subodh in his script and asked Asad to play him.
He was seriously the most sorted adult we know of.
The way music of the film came together, can be a film in itself.
Farhan Akhtar initially wanted @arrahman as music director, but somehow felt they wont get along.
He had worked with Shankar Mahadevan on Breathless and heard the recording of 'Dhuan Dhuan' from Mission Kashmir
Shankar Ehsan Loy were then signed as music directors.
SEL along with @Javedakhtarjadu and @FarOutAkhtar went to Khandala to work on the music. Ehsan had told his family - I dont know when I will return.
But they finished the tunes for all songs within a week.
Initially the iconic bass line introduction for Dil Chahta Hai was going to be used for Jaane Kyun..
But Shankar Mahadevan had a brainwave while brushing his teeth and walked out with toothbrush in hand to say "Boys we should use that for Dil Chahta Hai"
A very nice blues number was also composed "Pyaar mein Kitna Gham hai". This would have been the song instead of Tanhayee..
Tanhayee was chosen as it had anger in it - that was the emotion Farhan Akhtar was going for.
@FarOutAkhtar we are all waiting for the blues number now.
Father and Son pair had arguments over some of the songs.
Farhan didn't like the word 'Ghaat' in 'Pyaar ke Ghaat'.
But he didn't like 'Chamkile Din' in the title track - it reminded him of a detergent.
The whole album recording was a lot of fun.. Jokes were thrown here and there.
Woh ladki hain kahaan became woh darzi hain kahaan for a gucci suit.
Javed Akhtar joked with Kavitha Krishnamurthy that the lyrics Yeh Haseen Murathi pyar ki - should Yeh Krishna Murthy pyaar ki..
The famous 'Birdie step' has been credited to Geeta Kapoor, who then was as assistant to Farah Khan.
“I remember I had told Geeta (Kapur) that I will play the song and you do some steps. She started doing some birdy step and that is how we made that our hook step,”
Remember this girl? She was the friend of the costume designer's assistant. And she was selected because she resembled Dimple Kapadia.
"A man like Sid had to get someone who reminded him of Tara to be interested in her."
Remember this scene where Sid comforts Deepa by telling her his philosophy about "it being impossible to grasp the grains of sand with a tighter clasp" - its a homage to to the poem 'A Dream Within A Dream' by Edgar Allan Poe.
The line "Kuch rishtey hote hai jinka koi naam nahi hota." This was not in the original script, but added much later when people kept commenting on what is the relationship between Sid and Tara..
The man who created these paintings was Tushar Joag. But he doesn't considered them his works - “They were commissioned works hence I don't call them my works.”
In the 2017 film Chef, Saif Ali Khan reminisces a trip to Goa with 2 friends where he met a beautiful foreigner.
This was discovered by @sachdeva_pankaj - Follow him for more such amazing discoveries in movies.
The above thread has been compiled by going through multiple videos and articles available on the interwebz.
Back in 1971 when the nation was formed, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, considered the leader of the freedom movement, was not in the country - he was in jail in Pakistan.
And it was a former lover of Bhutto who was able to secure his release.
A love story 🧵
In 1971 Pakistan's armed forces laid down their arms at a ceremony in Dhaka before the joint command of the Indian armed forces and Bangladesh's Mukti Bahini.
As the two armed forces were celebrating their victory, Mrs Indira Gandhi had other things to worry about.
1. The enormous cost of the war 2. The cost of dealing with over 10M refugees 3. The un-budgeted responsibility of having to look after the 93,000 Pakistani soldiers taken as POWs.
India wanted to keep the POW's in conditions that went above and beyond Geneva norms.
A school-going kid once visited the Congress party office, where Tamil lyricist Kavirajar Kannadasan asked, "Would you like to work in films, child?" The kid said, "Ask my father."
This child was destined to become one of India's greatest superstars!
A thread on Sridevi! 🧵
It is said that when Sridevi was born, there was a bright red mark on her forehead, and hence people started that a devi had born in the house.
Thus she was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan.
Before ruling the box office as a leading star, Sridevi was a phenomenally accomplished child artist.
Here she is, sharing the screen with MG Ramachandran, playing his nephew in a film that also starred J. Jayalalitha!
This film, starring Supriya Pathak & Hugh Grant, is based on a novel by Mircea Eliade.
Its the story of a 23-year-old Mircea who came to Calcutta to study under philosopher Surendranath Dasgupta.
There, he fell in love with Maitreyi - teacher's daughter.
Sounds familiar? A 🧵
In this novel, Mircea fictionalizes how his love story was cut short because Surendranath Dasgupta was unhappy about the relationship. The relationship was "exposed" by Maitreyi Devi's sister.
The novel was published in 1933, a couple of years after Mircea's time in Calcutta.
For some additional context, Maitreyi was a savant! Maitreyi was mentored by Rabindranath Tagore, and she even wrote a book Mongpute Rabindranath (Tagore by The Fire Side) about the time spent with the great poet.
20 years ago, we were reminded that good films need not make money, & films that make good money need not be great!
On June 18, 2004, Lakshya was released, telling the story of an aimless rich youngster who joins the Indian Army & discovers his true goal.
A thread🧵
Lakshya was written by @Javedakhtarjadu: He was told by senior army officers about the declining enrollments to the Indian army each year, prompting him to promise to write a film addressing the issue!
The script marked Akthar's comeback as a scriptwriter after ages!
Lakshya was a departure from the kinds of war movies made at the time like Border, LOC Kargil etc.
In fact, director @FarOutAkhtar's goal was to tell a story about a boy who finds himself in the backdrop of Kargil War.
On June 15, 2001, the world saw the release of a monumental film in scale & vision, with its main plot revolving around a cricket match between India & the British Empire!
A thread 🧵on Lagaan, the film that convinced Aamir Khan to pursue the kind of films he believed in.
After two failed attempts at films, @AshGowariker's confidence was low.
He then conceived a story where a key battle is resolved by a cricket match. He pitched this to Aamir in 4 lines, who told him not to waste time on this.
Lagaan was @AshGowariker’s third foray into direction after his earlier two movies – Pehla Nasha and Baazi.
Baazi is famous for the “Item number” by Aamir Khan. Pehla Nasha had Aamir and SRK in the same movie with some cringe worthy puns
This is freedom fighter Raj Narain, who achieved the greatest electoral upset in India's history.
In the 1977 elections held after the lifting of the Emergency, Raj Narain defeated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
A thread 🧵
The story begins with the 1971 election.
Originally scheduled for 1972, Indira Gandhi called for early elections, catching opposition by surprise.
The opposition quickly recovered and nominated Raj Narain to contest against Mrs. Gandhi in Rae Bareli.
📸 @htTweets
Indira Gandhi was probably displeased with the nomination.
At a campaign rally she said, "Mr. Narain had been chosen by the opposition parties to contest from Rae Bareli because he was a well-known Nehru hater and baiter."