MUMBAI: Kookie Gulati started his career in the early 2000s. He mainly made music videos at the time and was closely associated with a company called Tips Films. He launched artists like Jazzy B, Atif Aslam & worked with various names such as Mika Singh, Daler Mehndi, Stereo Nation, etc. He also launched a few models/actresses including Priyanka Chopra, Amrita Rao, Urvashi Sharma, Tanushree Dutta, etc. He has shot over 300 music videos by now, including a few film songs and promotional trailers.
He has also worked as an Associate Director on films like Ishq Vishk & Fida. After that, he directed his own feature film Prince produced by Tips starring Vivek Oberoi.
Further, he took a break from direction and got into producing. He created and produced content for television.
He also worked as a Creative Director on a film called Total Dhamaal.
He most recently directed the film Dhokha starring R Madhavan, Aparshakti Khurana, Darshan Kumar and Khushali Kumar.
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Tellychakkar got in touch with the director and got to know some interesting insights.
As a director, do you have a checklist as to what all you look for in a script or a cast?
“There is no such checklist. It all boils down to the script. For me, while reading a script, I first see how fast I go through the script and the flow of it. That tells me how much it is engaging me, for me not to leave the script. We should not have a checklist. We are not in a factory. That does not remain a film, it becomes a project. I hope people don’t have a checklist and go with creativity and their inner feelings instead. There are people who go by a checklist and have been very successful but that is not how I work.”
You even got into producing shows in between. What was that like and would you wish to return to it?
“After Prince didn’t work at the box office, I was jobless. I was looking for what I can do and I did not wish to return to films because I thought I was not completely ready to pull that off. I wanted to give myself some time. I didn’t know how to do something else. I found the job of producing and thought it was something I could do, learn a new aspect of filmmaking. I did television but it was not a regular series. I did a debate related show which aired globally. I did a show like Mission Sapne which helped people. So, I did produce content that was new and out of the box, that had a social impact. We did really well but the director in me woke up and wished to get back to it.”
What is in the pipeline for the future?
“I have already shot a short film called Visphot and it’s a comeback for Fardeen Khan. It has Riteish Deshmukh, Priya Bapat and Krystle D'Souza. It is produced by Sanjay Gupta and T Series. It is now in post production and will be released soon.”
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