You can't keep up with Shah Rukh Khan: Kanika Dhillon

Screenwriter Kanika Dhillon, who has co-written Shah Rukh Khan's Ra.one, has now turned author. She's credited with SRK's catchy dialogue from the film - "Other heroes wear a mask, I wear a heart."

Kanika started out working as an assistant director to Farah Khan, on Om Shanti Om, and then moved on to Red Chillies's Billu Barber, which was directed by Priyadarshan. So, how's it having King Khan as a boss? "Well, Shah Rukh Khan is like an encyclopedia. His knowledge and sharp mind keeps everyone on their toes. You cannot keep up with his pace, but he is patient and gracious enough to help, gives you a chance and a platform to flourish and, most importantly, if he believes in you, he will stand by you, no matter what others have to say."

The association with films began five years ago. Kanika reminisces, "After I finished my Masters from the London School of Economics, around five years ago, I came to Mumbai with a couple of short stories I had written. I was offered the role of an assistant director in the company. The first director I worked with was Farah Khan and she went on to become a big support and inspiration."

Most authors turn scriptwriters, but in Kanika's case, it has been the opposite. She explains, "While growing up, the only way to experience the delights of an unknown world was by turning the pages of a novel. I had seen magical sights, lived many a lives, right there in my little room, in a small sleepy town - Amritsar. After reading every story, I would turn the cover and read about the author, stare at their picture. I was envious. They had a story to tell, and they took us on a roller coaster ride. I wanted to be 'them'. With God's grace, I found a different medium, the big screen, to tell my stories, but the fascination and the desire remained. I had to go back and tell a story that ends between the covers... and now finally I get a chance to do that."

Her book is a satire on Mumbai and by extension, the quintessential 'Bollywood dream'. She explains, "Itis an outsider's perspective of living the Mumbai dream and discovering that the city in reality stinks, and floods...but Mumbai also makes many dreams come true. It is a funny account of one such character, who is discovering many versions of Mumbai, many definitions of a dream and struggling to comprehend many realities. The protagonist loses and finds herself many times over but in the end the question is what you take from this city is yours, but what the city takes from you can never be questioned."

It took her almost two years to pen this story now, but it has been in the making for the last five years. The book's title summarises the dilemma of the protagonist, that as an outsider in this city, when she sees Bombay Duck on the menu, it seems like a duck but it turns out to be a fish. "That's the essence of this journey - that neither a duck nor a fish can be taken for granted here.

Her favourite actor is, obviously Shah Rukh, specially if her book makes it to celluloid. She says, "The thought has crossed my mind, and if I feel the screen adaptation can be as entertaining and capture the essence of the story, then yes, why not?"

And, while screenplays and novels will continue, it's eventually the director's chair that Kanika has her eyes on. She states, "I will start finalising a romantic comedy I have written. I know more than half the industry is working on one, too, but we all indulge in them because we cannot resist a 'happy ever after'."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/You-cant-keep-up-with-Shah-Rukh-Khan-Kanika-Dhillon/articleshow/9408775.cms

Her next novel is a dark satire and will be based on a true story, with the protagonist based in Karachi and London. She's just getting started, Kanika promises!