‘Irrfan Khan loved the script and wanted to do the film’: Honey Trehan opens up about making Raat Akeli Hai, the Chinatown inspiration, and the sequel | Bollywood News

Excerpts edited for clarity and brevity.

So how did Smita Singh’s screenplay find you?

Raat Akeli Hai was actually a script that Smita wrote as her diploma project back at FTII. When I was thinking about making my first film, I was actively speaking to writers and also trying to develop something on my own. Around that time, someone suggested Smita’s name and sent me a 40-page version of the story as a sample. When I read it, I was completely immersed, and I immediately asked to read the full screenplay. Coincidentally, we were just leaving for the shoot of A Death in the Gunj (which he co-produced) in McCluskieganj, Jharkhand. It was there that I read the full script, and by the end of it, I was sure that I had to make this film. Smita and I connected really well when we spoke, and in no time, we reached a principal agreement. After that, we started working together on the script, making a few minor changes here and there.

I also read that you were supposed to make your debut with the Deepika-Irrfan film, based on the story of underworld figure Sapna Didi?

Yeah, that was a script written by Vishal ji (Bhardwaj), and how could I say no to him? He had said that he wanted to launch me. So, simultaneously, I was also working on that project, and that one was quite a big-scale film, as it had both Deepika and Irrfan playing the central characters. But unfortunately, due to the passing of Irrfan saab and later some creative differences over the story with Vishal ji, the project fell apart. Now he is directing it himself with Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri as we speak.

Speaking of Irrfan, you had once mentioned he was almost on board for Raat Akeli Hai?

The script was originally written with Nawaz bhai in mind. I had met him while he was prepping for the Bal Thackeray biopic and told him the basic idea. He really liked it and asked me to leave the script with him so he could read it. But soon after that, he got busy with Manto, right after finishing Thackeray. Naturally, when you’re portraying such complex real-life figures, you’re deeply immersed in preparation and it becomes difficult to commit to anything else. We kept meeting, especially on the sets of Manto, and he’d often tell me, slightly apologetically, that he hadn’t had the chance to read it yet. I told him it was okay, he could take his time.

Meanwhile, I was also thinking about reaching out to Irrfan saab. One day, I happened to be passing by his house, and while my car was stopped at a signal, I texted him asking if he was free to meet. He replied instantly and said we could meet at 10 pm. I told him that was quite late, but he explained he was boarding a flight to Mumbai and would only be home by then. So, I went to meet him that night, told him about the idea, and left the script with him. The next day, he called me saying it was a fantastic script and asked to meet again the following morning. I went, we discussed everything, and we locked him for the film. I even told Ronnie (Screwvala) that Irrfan saab was on board and we were doing the film.

So what did you tell Nawaz then?

I happened to go to Vishal ji’s office for a meeting and saw Nawaz bhai there. He told me that he’d been wanting to talk to me for a while but couldn’t find the chance. He said he finally read the script and loved it and was ready to do it. I was quite surprised and told him, “Nawaz bhai, it’s been a while since we last discussed it, and now Irrfan saab wants to do the role.” And he said, “Arey yaar, Khan saab bhi toh kamaal hi karenge.” I told him, no problem, we’ll definitely work on something together soon. But see how the universe functions. Irrfan saab was diagnosed with cancer, the Sapna Didi film fell through, and Ronnie asked me what we should do with Raat Akeli Hai. So I reached out to Nawaz bhai again and he said, “I’m ready and willing to do it from day one. Let’s do it.” I must tell you, Irrfan saab was so sweet. Before signing Nawaz bhai, I told him everything that had happened. He immediately said, “You should not waste your time. Do the film, it’s already delayed so much. I may not be there physically, but I’ll always be there in spirit.” So with his blessings, we started the project.

How did Radhika Apte respond when you went to her with the script?

So, I called Radhika once and told her about the film, and she said that she was coming to meet me in my office. She came, and without even hearing the script, she came on board just on the fact that it was my first film. Of course, later when we started doing reading sessions and prep, she did read the script, but the fact she came on board without even knowing her character shows the amount of trust she had in me. The same holds true for the rest of the cast members.

Honey Trehan revealed that before Nawazuddin Siddiqui, it was Irrfan Khan who was supposed to do the film.

Also Read | Aamir Khan’s Talaash and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Raat Akeli Hai are classic murder mysteries that reimagine the femme fatale

Where did the title “Raat Akeli Hai” come from?

It’s all Smita. I think the title has been there since the time Smita had written it as her diploma project. A lot of people did tell us to change it, but we were sure that we wanted to keep this. And I’m so grateful to Smita that she trusted me with her story. And now our bond has evolved so much that she has already written part 2 of the film, which we just shot, and now we’re working on another idea as well.

I was watching the film last night, and I still think those frames by Pankaj Kumar deserve to be seen on the big screen.

So, we shot the film in 2019 and by early 2020, it was fully ready. My plan was to do a festival run before the theatrical release, which was planned for sometime in June. However, before any of this could happen, COVID struck. And then eventually Netflix saw the film and they really loved it. So I thought, what better than to release it on a platform like Netflix and stream the film globally across 196 countries.

Speaking of Netflix, Knives Out was released roughly a year before Raat Akeli Hai, and of course both on a preliminary level share a common sensibility just because both the films are somewhat derived or take inspiration from Agatha Christie-type murder mysteries. But did the release of Knives Out ever worry you while you were making Raat Akeli Hai, just because later the Indian audience might think that you copied from there?

Yeah, there were some online conversations about all this. And the writer and director of Knives Out said that they wrote their script in 2016. But graciously enough, both Anurag Kashyap and Varun Grover tweeted about how they had read the story by Smita Singh back in 2012–13, when she had just come out of FTII. And moreover, I feel our film was always very different from Knives Out. In fact, even till now I haven’t seen Knives Out.

But I think Chinatown did serve as a major inspiration for the film?

Yeah, that was always my reference point, even films like L.A. Confidential. I like these kinds of films that have such a moody milieu. In fact, if you watch closely, I have named the Chinese restaurant where Nawaz bhai goes to eat as Chinatown. So yeah, Raat Akeli Hai is my homage to Chinatown and such films I’ve grown up on.

Radhika Apte came on the film even without reading the script.

How was it working with Pankaj Kumar?

So, I first met Pankaj on the sets of Haider, which was directed by Vishal ji. Later, we bonded really well during the making of Talvar, which is a film where I was the creative producer. So when it came down to me making my first film, I wanted him as the DOP and I shared the screenplay with him. And I still very vividly remember the reply he sent to me on text after reading the script,  it was, “No one else is going to shoot this monster.”

Has he also shot part 2?

No, he’s really caught up with Ramayana, so he didn’t. For the sequel, we have Sirsha Ray as the DOP, who had previously shot A Death in the Gunj for us.

Lastly, what can you tell us about part 2?

I’m really excited, the edit is going on as we speak. And my target is, by the 31st of July, we have to lock the edit, because that’s the date on which five years ago the first part came out. So, not sure about the rest of the world, but on 31st July I would be watching Raat Akeli Hai 2.

I’m really fearing it, because we haven’t had a good track record for making sequels, so I’m just fearing it’s not a sequel for the sake of it.

No, not at all. If this was the case, we would have made it just after the first part. Me and Smita took our time. She had come up with a few stories for part 2, and this one really excited both of us, as we felt it had something interesting. So she told me, “You go and shoot your film Punjab 95, and in the meanwhile I’ll write part 2.”