Friendship and male-bonding are a recurring theme in his films but director Abhishek Kapoor says in his upcoming release 'Kai Po Che', he has explored the aspirations of Indian youth.
Set in Gujarat, the film is an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's third novel 'The 3 Mistakes of My Life'. "It's a film about friendship and just a coincidence that both my films are about friends. But if you compare beyond that, both the films are dramatically different films.
"Here, the character are relatable. It's a very deep rooted Indian film about middle class India and youth. It's about youth's desire of making money, becoming successful and having a girlfriend," Abhishek told PTI.
The director, who helmed musical "Rock On!!" last, said 'Kai Po Che' is three times bigger than his previous film. "It's much a bigger film than 'Rock On' because the film has got so many things in the backdrop apart from friendship being the central theme. It goes into the earthquake, religion, cricket, politics and riots also. The scale is much bigger. If I have to compare 'Kai Po Che' with my last film, it would be like making three 'Rock Ons'," he said.
Abhishek got the idea of making the film when he met Chetan in 2009 and he gave him his book to read. Abhishek was so much intrigued by the three characters that he decided to adapt the book into a film.
"After the release of 'Rock On', I met Chetan. He offered me the book and asked me if I was interested in making a film on it. When I read it, I found that the book understood the real India very well. We took it on and made our own changes according to the screenplay."
'Kai Po Che' stars fresh faces like Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkumar Yadav and Amit Sadh in the lead. The filmmaker says it was a deliberate decision to cast new faces in the film because all the major stars of our industry are 40 plus.
"Some films require fresh faces. This film is particularly about three young people. Most of our stars are 40 plus and so, I was not convinced by the idea of casting them.
"It was pleasure to shoot the film with these three. They are powerhouse of talent. My energy didn't get wasted on chasing the stars or fix their dates and chose their garments," Abhishek said.
The film, which was scheduled to hit theatres on January, will now release on February 22 as the director is still left with some post-production work. The film has also featured the sensitive 2002 Gujarat violence but the director says he has not used it to instigate the audience.
"With that scene in the film, our intention is not to titillate my audience. My film is about friendship. I have not used it to hurt anybody's sentiments. It will not create any unpleasant scene. I don't think I have done anything that is going to be raised up by anybody," he added.