Kunal Kohli

Its been a while since my last blog, meanwhile I've been in touch with some of you on Twitter (kunalkohli), what I like to call micro-mini blogging !

Anyway, so much has happened since my last blog, I changed the film I was planning to make, which trust me was a decision that took a long time and cost me a lot of months and a lot of good money too, which I very well can't afford at this stage, but nonetheless, better to make a film that's more current, topical, relevant and most importantly that's got you all charged up, rather than work on something just because you've spent a fair amount of time and money on it.

In The long run, what you the audience sees is just what's on screen, and not the time energy or effort that went to it, that's what you gotta like and that's what we strive for.

In the last few weeks or days I think the two most important things that happened were that Love Aajkal became such a big hit and that My Name is Khan was picked up by a Hollywood studio to distribute and market to an audience that's not just Indians. Both these are important for various reasons.

Saif Ali khan getting an opening that's as bigger or bigger than what Aamir, SRK or Akshay Kumar get is something that he not only deserves but something's that been long overdue to him and his talent.

He's played diverse roles be it Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, Hum Tum, Omkara, Pareenita, Race and ofcourse the lovely performance of Veer Singh in LAK.

The audience sees more than the trade and ultimately Saif's hardwork of all these years has paid off in a big way by the audiences flocking to see his film in a way they reserve for ‘superstars'. So lets not shy away and just call a spade a spade Saif Ali Khan is a SuperStar today !

My Name is Khan, being sold to fox is important in many ways. The first being that till now we were very happy that our films were shown in times square or Leicester Square, but what we never acknowledged was that our audiences were just the Indian Diaspora, all our overseas figures comprised of only Indians, so we weren't actually being watched by a global / world audience, except a handful at festivals, or a few walk ins who came to see what this ‘unusual' Bollywood cinema of song n dance is all about.

This will all hopefully change with My Name is Khan. A major Hollywood studio has got the seemingly right film, that has an international appeal, an international subject, which they can take and market to a world audience.

Shah Rukh is one of those rare names from Indian Cinema that is known the world over, this will be a major marketing tool for the studio and done the right way, this could very well be that ‘crossover' film that Indian cinema has been looking for.

It would also serve well for all those critics of 'commercial bollywood' cinema, that its poster boy Karan Johar could well be responsible for the first crossover film.

Like I said so much is happening in our films today, and on my front, I'm just finishing my script and looking forward to casting and shooting it soon, am so looking forward to going back on the set.

The only thing that gives me pure joy is waking up in the morning and going to the set / location for a shoot, that's when I truly feel alive, waiting to wake up and be alive again !