Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani writer Ishita Moitra: Narratives of nepotism are unfair to Karan Johar

Rockstar of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Ishita Moitra sat down for a chat with Hindustan Times to discuss everything about the Karan Johar film. Released on Friday, the film stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi. Ishita who has co-written the dialogues and screenplay alongside Shashank Khaitan, revealed what it feels like to work for Karan Johar and how different he is from people’s perception.

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani started off well at the box office. There are so many positive reviews from celebs.

Ishita Moitra: Anurag Kashyap tagged me to a post and followed me on Instagram. I didn’t know him at all. It was such a pleasant surprise in the morning.

The box office numbers have taken such a huge jump on Saturday. I am very happy. This is from real people who watched the film with their family. Some have managed to see it twice. A lot of people have related to topics we have touched upon, such as forced arranged marriage, cancel culture, patriarchy, gender roles and of course, the beautiful love story.

Being a Bengali yourself, What did you keep in mind while writing the story and its dialogues?

Ishita Moitra: I am a Bengali from Delhi. I can speak Punjabi and Bengali. I think this is why Karan called me in the first place because he knew that I understand both worlds. I don’t want to generalise anyone but particularly in my family, the language we speak easily flows into another language, like three sentences in Bangla and then something in Hindi and English. This is something you will see in Delhi Bengalis and you see it in Rani’s (Alia Bhatt) family as well. It doesn’t sound like anything you haven’t heard before but I was trying to be as authentic as possible. We cannot completely talk in Bangla but we wanted it to be real.

We see new things never seen before in a Karan Johar film. We also see the clash of communities. How did you maintain the balance? In these cases either you hit the jackpot or you fail terribly.

Ishita Moitra: We had to build the stereotypes to break them. All the characters judged each other in the beginning. Rani judged Rocky. When Rani met Poonam she couldn’t imagine her putting a dupatta on her head all the time. But when she got to know Poonam and vice versa they formed a beautiful bond. They discovered who they are and not what they thought them to be. That is what we are trying to do in the film.

Right now people see a hair flip and make an entire opinion about the film– ‘Koi chemistry nahi hai, yeh nahi hai, woh nahi hai (there’s no chemistry between Alia and Ranveer)’. We have become very quick to judge, something just about the face value. That is what the film is trying to challenge.

Right now people see a hair flip and make an entire opinion about the film– ‘Koi chemistry nahi hai’. We have become very quick to judge. That is what the film is trying to challenge.

When you start to know people as who they are, you start to celebrate their differences. It’s not about tolerating each other, it’s about accepting and celebrating through love. It’s about two families. It was deliberate. All these challenges were in the first half. The real people are unveiled after that.

Did Karan share any input during script writing?

Ishita Moitra: Not just input, Karan has managed to hold the film together in every department.

Any specific instruction from him?

Ishita Moitra: After writing every scene, we used to have discussions. He used to tell me what he liked and disliked, it was very democratic. It was like a master class.

People have a perception of Karan Johar. How would you describe him as a person?

Ishita Moitra: Personally I want to address this nepo (nepotism) topic. I know people who work in and for Dharma and it has nothing to do with nepotism. I come from an Army family. Nobody in my family could ever think about what I do for a living. If I have managed to write a Karan Johar film then why do you think that has happened? This is because he liked my work and gave me an opportunity based on my talent. There is nothing nepo about it. The office is full of such people.

I feel very bad when nepo narratives about Karan Johar keep on surfacing. There’s a spin on it. It is very unfair to him. As a person, he is very generous and warm.

I feel very bad when these narratives about him keep on surfacing. Overall if you see, how many actors, directors, and writers he has given the opportunity to, and how many of them are from film families then you will find your answer. It’s just that there’s a spin on it. It is very unfair to him. As a person, he is very generous and warm. Anybody who knows him, will tell you this. The story idea comes from his heart but he won’t be like ‘Oh I want story credit’.

Ranveer looked very natural as Rocky. What do you have to say about him?

Ishita Moitra: He is a chameleon. He got under the skin of Rocky and did some improv. Unlike Rocky, he is a very articulate man. He speaks very well.

Ishita Moitra has several more projects lined up for next year. This includes Ananya Panday-starrer Call Me Bae and Vicky Kaushal, Tripti Dimri and Ammy Virk’s untitled next with Anand Tiwari.