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Director Mani Shankar’s Knock Out completed 15 years today. Starring Irrfan Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Kangana Ranaut, the movie tackled the issue of India’s black money stacked in foreign banks. Shankar looked back at the film in an interview with us.
15 years of Knock Out: Director Mani Shankar says, “Our nation’s money is still parked outside: an estimated 2 trillion dollars”
What made you plunge into this project?
Knockout was purely ideological. Third film of my trilogy on the state of the nation. In 16 December, the idea was to show that the enemy isn’t outside us, it’s within us and the real danger is always from within. In Tango Charlie, it was that the war which rages inside our own borders is the real battle we need to win. In Knockout, it was that our wealth looted in 60 years by our own people and carried beyond our shores far exceeds what the British did in 2 ½ centuries- and it can come back- if people are determined enough.
Was that the trigger for Knockout?
With that idea in mind, I set out to create a compelling thriller. Yes, the idea of Phonebooth inspired me, but more than that, the film Liberty Stands Still with Wesley Snipes was more inspiring. I liked the notion of a sniper holding someone hostage and adapted that to Knockout.
The casting Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan Khan was interesting
Sanjay Dutt performed masterfully. He, sort of, slipped into his character effortlessly. He, for the first time, played a person whose character kept morphing and shifting - with each iteration more spellbinding than the earlier one.
Irrfan? You had problems with him, he wanted the climax changed?
When at the end his character showed his true self, he had floored the audience, and his final demand as a gunman, hostage taker simply drew their breath away. Irrfan was a genius of an actor. Yes he wanted the climax changed.
Why?
Shall I tell the truth? He didn’t want the movie to end the way it did. He wanted to do the dirty job - betray his boss with a change of heart. But he wanted to die not live. He felt ethically crossed over. He wanted to do the job, get the money and wanted his death to tell a story by itself. We looked at his suggestion. It had its strong points. But in the end, I told him that the audience wouldn’t have wanted that. I convinced him and he went with it. Through the film he never meets Sanjay Dutt though they engage in all kinds of dialogue and action. He didn’t want to meet him even in the end, and he had his way.
The earlier ending was where the two men glance at each other in the last shot- a sort of recognition- “So it was you after all!” But Irrfan had his way with that. I must say it was a good ending. When two strong wilful actors meet, and the script pairs them equally, sparks happen I suppose. I think Knockout was a thriller and a great performance film. Kangana didn’t have much role. Between Dutt and Khan, they knocked away 85 percent of the footage. But she still did a super professional job and gave it her best. As did others, Sushant Singh, Gulshan Grover. I think the theme of Knockout will far outlive the film. Our nation’s money is still parked outside: an estimated 2 trillion dollars.
More Pages: Knock Out Box Office Collection , Knock Out Movie Review
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