Danish Aslam’s Deepika Padukone-Imran Khan rom-com Break Ke Baad, which clocks 14 years this week (November 25), had an interesting song switch at the last minute. Revealed Danish, “Vishal and Shekhar…. I knew them from my days AD-ing at YRF. And I had told them, in fact, that whenever I make my first movie, you have to do the music. They said yes. I started making my first movie. I called Vishal, I think I remember. And I think it was a five second conversation. I’m making a movie. Will you do the music? Yes. That’s it. They didn’t want to know anything else. And then, of course, they did.”
14 Years of Break Ke Baad: Director Danish Aslam says, “The film was fortunate and unfortunate for me”
He added, “And they came up with a soundtrack, which, you know, even now, people who didn’t like the movie as well will tell me how much they liked the music. So, yeah, the music held. And I think it still holds a lot. Especially ‘Dooriyaan bhi hain zaroori’, which I think is a song that has really lasted. And it was actually not even in the original film. It’s part of the movie now. But originally, there was a song, which is on the album, called ‘Main Jiyunga’, which was where ‘Dooriyaan’ is in the movie.”
“And when we were editing it, we realised that ‘Dooriyaan’ would fit better over there,” revealed Danish. “So, we switched the songs. And ‘Dooriyaan’ just happened to have been recorded right at the end. I don’t even know why I asked for that song. Perhaps for the music video. So, we could have a song for the music video. I can’t remember. But yeah, it was a last-minute recording. It turned out beautifully. And then we ended up incorporating it into the film.”
The director feels Break Be Baad was both fortunate and unfortunate for his career. “Break Ke Baad was simultaneously fortunate and unfortunate for me,” he said. When asked what he means by that, he said, “Because it was a rom- com that I feel, and I mean, it’s easy for me to say, but I say it because of years of experience. I feel it was a little ahead of its time. Because a lot of people who saw it then, I have, over the last 10-14 years, had so many people who have come up to me and said that they really liked the movie. And there’s always this little note of surprise in their voice if they didn’t see it when it first came out, if they’ve caught it later. And they’re like, ‘Yaar, achchi picture thi we don’t know why people didn’t like it’. Now, I take that as a compliment, despite that note of incredulity.”
He added, “But on Instagram, once or twice a month, somebody will tag me in a post talking about Break Ke Baad. And that word which I have now come to detest because it’s been used so many times in my movie – underrated. How underrated the movie was. I love the fact that you’re appreciating it now, and the fact that you consider it underrated. But I would really like it if, in the future, you rated it highly when it came out. So, that I could kind of, you know, reap the benefits, so to speak, at that point in time. Having said that, I mean, it did find its audience, even then. I’m aware of that because a lot of people had, you could gauge audience feedback.”
When asked about the reviews the film received, he said, “The reviews, though mixed, some of them were really good. But I feel that it’s grown a kind of following over the years. And Imran as well, when he started re-engaging with social media and started doing podcasts and stuff earlier this year, I remember him telling me that at almost every interview he went to, he was told how people loved Break Ke Baad, and they remember watching it when they were in school or college or whatever age they were then.”
He added, “But they’re not rom coms in the pure sense of the word as they used to be then. I mean, it’s a broad genre. You can obviously adapt it to whatever you like. But I feel these movies were more drama than a rom com. Or they had a very front and centre social messaging aspect to them. And I feel that for a decade or so, those kinds of rom coms went away. The urban, light, fluffy rom coms went away. And I feel that there is now a big demand for them because I’ve heard so many people who, while they’re telling me why my movie is underrated, have also asked me why aren’t those movies being made anymore. Khwaabon Ka Jhamela was a very conscious attempt to make a film like that, for example. And 90% of the feedback I’ve got for that movie has been about how it’s so nice to see a movie in an unabashed rom-com, in the grand old tradition of rom-coms again. And I think Break Ke Baad, unfortunately, was one of the last few at that time.”
Danish continued, “But simultaneously, it also had themes and spoke about things and relationships which are still relevant today. I have this theory about rom coms is that they need to constantly be updated because they’re very relevant to the society that they were made in. If you watch any other genre from, you know, 30, 40, 50 years ago, action, drama, you’ll get the basic beats, you’ll get the gist of the story, even if you don’t know the societal context in which it was made. Rom coms, on the other hand, you need to appreciate the context because the story is so relevant to society as it is then. There are so many cultural and pop culture references in rom coms, especially in Hollywood. You watch a rom com from 20-30 years ago and suddenly there are so many things there which are either obscure or problematic.”
The filmmaker added, “My wife started watching Friends during the pandemic, I remember, and suddenly we realized so many of the episodes were things that we, you know, wouldn’t make today and would have issue with. So, rom coms need to be updated, right? Khwaabon Ka Jhamela was that. But Break Ke Baad, I feel that while it was at the tail end of that era of rom coms, the themes that it had, I feel, still resonates today. If it were to be released on streaming, with a few changes, there are a few scenes here and there that feel a bit dated to me. I mean, obviously, everybody’s critical of their own work, but I feel it would still work, largely, like 70-75% of it would still work today for a streaming audience that wants those kinds of rom coms.”
Danish considers Break Be Baad special on many counts. “It’s a special movie because it was made at a time when the innocence of youth doesn’t allow any of the insecurities or self-doubt that experience, and age bring with them to come in the way,” he said. “We all thought, at least during the writing of it, me and Renuka Kunzru obviously thought that, you know, there was a certain youthful exuberance to it, confidence one might say because it’s the first project. So, unlike the jitters, which obviously crept in later and built up till the release datem when they’re at their maximum. The early days and the process of creating it, I remember as being particularly joyous. Something that decreases with age and future projects because you’re more aware of the uncertainty of that project and the chances of it not being made and so on and so forth.”
He added, “And in Break Ke Baad, it was a young crew, and we were in Mauritius for like two, two and a half months, for a majority of the shoot and we had a blast. It was long hours as all shoots are and especially outdoors. But we also had a lovely time because it was a beautiful country. And like I said, it was a young crew. We were all, I mean, we would pack up and then immediately have fun. So, it was, I think, even now looking back fourteen years later, probably the most fun I’ve had on a film set. As an AD, I used to shout a lot and scream and everybody was expecting that from me when I started directing. But I still remember and my wife (actress Shruti Seth) and quite a few other people were surprised. I shouted exactly twice on the sets of Break ke Baad. So, that’s telling, I think.”
What about the picture of Deepika carrying Imran which went viral? “It essentially happened because we had a shot, which was one of the posters where he carries her into bed at night because she’s drunk,” he said. “And we were obviously making stupid jokes about how would he be able to carry her and so on and so forth. And to prove a point, she said that she could carry him. And we obviously then had to try it. And she did it effortlessly. And I took a photo of that and put it up on social media, which went at that point of time viral. It was a very cute moment. I wish we could have actually used that in maybe, if there’s ever a re-release, like how the trend is these days, perhaps that would make a great poster for the re-release.”
“We had Yudhishtir Urs, Shahana Goswami and Imran and Deepika,” said Danish. “These were the four main people who were with me in Mauritius from the cast. And we had a crew, which was full of young people. We went nuts. We would get the giggles almost every day. Lot of times, thanks to Yudhi, at one point of time, we were on the beach. And I think this is in the behind the scenes, which is part of the DVD and is also available on YouTube. Yudhi just started singing, then Imran obviously had to join in. And if I remember, Deepika and Shahana were background singers. And I was pretending to do drums. And we just did an impromptu band version of the song on the beach, surrounded by a crew, which was really amused. And a lot of foreigners who didn’t know what the fuck was going on and why we were doing what we were doing. So, there are instances like that through the shoot, which I can’t specifically remember a lot of right now.”
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