Ace filmmakers Raj & DK open up about creating comedy with drama

Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., collectively known as Raj & DK are the names behind some of the most critically and commercially approved web shows and films. An Indian screenwriter, director and producer duo, Raj & DK’s latest offering is ‘Guns & Gulaabs’, a black comedy crime thriller featuring Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan, Adarsh Gourav and Gulshan Devaiah along with the late veteran actor Satish Kaushik.

With a partnership of over 21 years, the two have earlier directed the Amazon Prime Video series The Family Man (2019), Glitch (2020) and Farzi (2023). They have also entertained audiences on the silver screen with mainstream films such as 99 (2009), Shor In The City (2011), Go Goa Gone (2013), Happy Ending (2014), A Gentleman (2017), Stree (2018), and Cinema Bandi (2021) which won the Jury Special Mention at the 53rd IFFI.

Recently present for a tête-à-tête with Film Companion’s Anupama Chopra, Raj & DK spoke about their partnership, not prepping with actors before the shoot and more.

Talking about creating comedy with drama for their latest release ‘Guns & Gulaabs’, the duo said, “In this show, we went to the morbid side with the humour and the violence especially, we wanted to treat it in a more cartoony way, but in a realistic sense. It was realism meeting cartoon in a way - the way he falls with a spanner, the way slashes are done, these things are quite Asterix. When we think it’s funny on paper, we execute it and because we are there executing it, sometimes if it’s not working out then we get into a corner, huddle, saying why is it not working out? It was funny on paper. Usually, there is the solution and like okay, if there's a problem here in this, we work it out. Some of them are funny on the paper itself and you already know that the entire sequence has fallen into place as soon as it is decided."

Raj & DK next spoke about why they believe in not prepping with actors before shooting and actors not performing after the first take. They shared, “We don’t prep at all with the actors, we prep for everything else. we don’t rehearse with the actors. Even in characters where they were put in for the first time that they haven’t done before the radically different characters, we go with an instinct and their confidence. It’s just a chat, we discuss the character with them, how we think it should play out or how they think it should play out. So conversations happen, but never ever open the scene and read. if training needs to happen, it does, but we all do not sit around and open the pages. It’s unnecessary after a little while. Even on a set, these actors are like this, they figure this out so they don’t give you what they’ll give you in the take so they don’t give you what they’ll give you in the take. They’re like, allow me to surprise you, especially Manoj and anyone who has worked a second time with us. Actors acknowledge it too now.”

The filmmaker duo further shared how's it's like when actors like Shahid Kapoor and Varun Dhawan came on a series set for the first time. They said, “They are coming with this thing, saying oh my God, there is a lot to shoot and then they’re pleasantly surprised at how much they shot in a day comparatively like if they would shoot two or three pages in a day. We have six or nine pages in a day. The takeaway is that after a couple of days, they are looking at the number and thinking are we going to shoot all this? This is too much. After a while, they come to the realisation that this has been effortless or you will shoot three pages and after six hours you will be like, let’s go home, there is nothing else to do. It becomes that right, so they've all understood that now as an idea.”

Lastly, the two got candid about their 21-year-old partnership and fighting with each other on set. Raj & DK told Anupama Chopra, “When we started off, we did not know who does what well so we were all doing everything. Even to this day, we keep doing everything. Performance wise, we are on the same page. It’s pretty much as you are seeing, we are talking to each other and we're done right there. In fact, two lines into a scene and we know this is a golden take. I think we suit with each other like I wanted it and you want it this way, I am just going to go for a walk and you finish the shot. Usually, we just disappear for a few minutes and then it’s fine. It’s 21 years, we know each other.