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Empathy Is The Ability To See Different Perspectives: Kabir Khan
Director, screenwriter and cinematographer Kabir Khan is known for powerful films like Kabul Express, Ek Tha Tiger, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and '83. Speaking to Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld, at the BW Future of Design Summit, Khan gives us an insight into his process of filmmaking
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On choosing filmmaking as a career
Sharing his journey in filmmaking, Khan said, "In my initial years, I was associated with journalist Saeed Naqvi. He would tell stories and report on international affairs from an Indian perspective. He felt that we are consuming what the Western media gives us and there must be an Indian perspective. For the next five years, I travelled to around 70 countries with him. From there, I went into documentaries. My initial years with Saeed bhai totally shaped me. As far as Western media is concerned, there is always a perspective that is unheard of, which is not told to us. I learned to find those gaps. The ability to see what’s behind the headlines came from Saeed bhai.
On the process of filmmaking
While discussing the processes of making a movie, he explained, "There is no typical approach to making a film. I always try to do as much research as I can about the subject. In the case of '83 (movie), I did about two years of research. Since India does not have an archiving culture, it was really difficult to research it. I would meet journalists and talk to people who knew about the subject. Fortunately, I found the archive material at the Lord's archives.
On making good movies
Pulling off good movies back-to-back needs more than mere luck. “There will always be hurdles; it’s only a dream scenario that when you embark on a journey, there will be no hurdles in your path. Sometimes they are much bigger; the biggest hurdle I faced was in my first film; within 10 days of landing in Afghanistan, I got death threats from the Taliban,” he added.
In Bollywood, highs are really high and lows can be quite low. "The good part is, if you don't take the successes seriously, you won’t be affected too badly by the failures," Khan shares his success mantra.
On empathy
Can empathy be cultivated for those who don’t have empathy? To me empathy is the ability to be able to see different perspectives and to be able to respect them. Khan said that empathy is about emotions, including establishing an emotional connection.