JP DUTTA

TRY STOPPING JP'S MOVEMENT IF YOU CAN
JP carries on his movement regardless of what people blabber, whether Refugee will say what he wants to say, fulfill his mission or not. He is fully aware that there are people who are unhappy or not so happy with his success (some even call him an arrogant, angry and obstinate man but he doesn’t care because that’s the way he is made and that’s the only way he can work and get work done).

Passion, perseverance and pleasure blended with pain in the pursuit of excellence are his weapons. JPs interest is in his work going on. There is no time to waste in praise. Time is one of those things very precious for this “mad man”, JP. His entire effort is to satisfy the JP within him. His wife, Bindiya, says she can write a book based on the outstanding and the extremely eccentric ways of JP. And I ask her to call it “JPs movement - a mad man’s mission”. Bindiya smiles, JP just shrugs it off, his mind. His heart still beats the beats of Refugee which refuse to beat in harmony till contentment comes his way.

A few days later we meet in his office which is actually Bindiya’s office, sophisticated, elegant. “Apne ko kuch bhi chalta hai. Remember my poky little office in Mahim? I was very happy with that office but Bindiya wanted the office to be an elegant office because she knew it had to be the office of one of India’s most talked-about directors.”

Let’s talk about Refugee I say and JP, the man who rarely loves talking about himself or his work talks, which is a big surprise...

It seems like you are too many men in one man. The general opinion about you is that you care a hang for the world outside, that you are a one-man movement, a crusader who loves accepting the most difficult challenges, challenges filmmakers rarely take the trouble to take, especially at times when the industry is facing a crisis. On the other hand you are this other JP, soft-spoken, loving, caring and above all, religious JP. Who is the real JP?
Frankly, I must tell you, I am just a humble, hard-working man who works harder on the things he has learned. Yes, I am an absolute dictator, even a terror, when it comes to quality work. I am certainly not proud but that’s the way I am, a virtual dictator who spares neither the spot boy nor the office manager, nor the mightiest and the most-pampered stars on the sets. When it comes to perfection and excellence in work I cannot take any nonsense from anyone. I know there are times when my behaviour scares people but those who know me as I am know me only as the good, hard-working, lovable JP. This JP vibes very well and is a very close friend of the Almighty in whom I have all my belief. I firmly believe that I am whatever I am today because of Him and all that I do tomorrow will also be because of Him and His love and affection for me. He has made me, He has moulded me, He has all the power to break me too. I only use the talent and the power that He has given me and leave the rest to Him. I have my office in a building called Sai Baba Towers. I have several statues of lord Ganpati all over my office. I don’t start my work without sending up a sincere prayer. I don’t care for what people say or whether some of my closest friends or relatives believe in God or not but I firmly believe that nothing is possible for man without the blessings of God. The Almighty’s power has been benevolent to me always. I have also taken failure as a part of His benevolent plans for me. I would not be the JP I am today without Him by my side all the time.

I always wonder how it feels for a major filmmaker like you on the eve of the release of a film like Refugee in which so much is at stake both for you and for so many others in the industry.
I am a human being. I am, no doubt, a little worried, but not scared at all. I have done my job to the best of my ability and I have made my entire unit put in their best too. Yes, one thing is very clear. This time the expectations are very high. If there was no Border before Refugee it would have been a different story. But the thumping success of Border has increased the expectations of both my friends and rivals, my admirers and my competitors, almost the entire industry. I am not so anxious about myself but I am very very anxious about my two newcomers Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor. They have proved to be truly khandaani artistes. They are talented, they are sincere, they are hard-working, I have made them work harder than their talent and capacity for hard work allowed them to. I have not cared about whose children they were or how new they were. I have often been harsh with them but I would be the first person to praise them for their co-operation to bring my characters alive. Incidentally, most of the work that I have done with these newcomers has been done with a lot of improvisation. In many ways this is the first time that I have gone in for a lot of improvisation in writing the script of my film. I had to do it because my script demanded change with the times, with the happenings, with the developments and circumstances around . My film is an interesting blend of the heavy and the bright.

Everyone was waiting to see who would get Abhishek and Kareena Kapoor first. You were the first to succeed, how did you manage it?
It all started with the subject. I still didn’t have enough of the sand and the desert and the Rann of Kutch. I travelled all on my own for miles and miles over a vast slab of pure (“shwet”, they call it in Hindi) white sand. It was the land beyond the border, beyond the Rann of Kutch, the border dividing India and Pakistan. A rare thrill ran through all my senses for days. I decided I would make my next film here, in this very place. This was the place where a whole lot of Indians and Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, Bangladeshis especially, who were waiting to go back home were living. They had all become one now. There was so much contentment, so much satisfaction among the people, so much strength I could see on every face. They wore the same kind of clothes. I was fascinated by the way the men wore those rare earrings. These refugees have their own culture and conflicts, their own songs and dances and other ways of celebrating common occasions. They are generally in love with life. Till a tout played by Ashish Vidyarthi, comes in and creates major conflicts which lead to dangerous conflagrations in the very place where there was so much contentment and peace.

The story takes a very dramatic turn once this conflagration starts. Till this very young man, Abhishek, rises like a Colossus, fights and inspires others to fight back and succeed. He is the man who sets things right and brings peace back. Kareena is his lady love. She is playing a very difficult role for a newcomer, a Bangladeshi beauty, which means there is a conflict in the love story too which leads to all kinds of emotional upheavals. I wanted characters who looked and behaved like the characters I had seen in the Rann of Kutch. I could have taken any big stars for the youngsters’ roles. I was confident that they would be willing to work with me. But I wanted young artistes who looked exactly like the characters I had seen in the Rann of Kutch. I thought over these characters for days and nights. Then I thought of Abhishek and Kareena.

No, certainly not because of the great expectations of people or because of any commercial or publicity interest but only because I saw in them those two characters I had seen in the Rann of Kutch.

Taking stars who were already established would not have served my purpose. I decided to make bold and approach Mr Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and they surprised me when they said that if I had the confidence in their son then they were willing to give me the green signal. I then spoke to Mr Randhir Kapoor, my first guru (I was his assistant for years) and Babitaji. And they said they had all their faith and trust in me. Abhishek and Kareena have given all that they have to my film. They gave me all the cooperation, all the discipline, all the hard work, all their sweat and even their blood to make Refugee the film I wanted to make. They were sensible youngsters who knew how much this film meant to them, to me and to the entire industry. They had to give their best and nothing but their best. Together we had a fascinating combination willing to go out and try and make a film that would be remembered for years. We have tried nothing but the most difficult things, given every part of our beings to the film. The rest, like I always say, is in the hands of the Almighty. More than me and my company I hope and genuinely and fervently pray that Abhishek and Kareena succeed in a very big way. They deserve, they have earned it because I have very rarely seen two youngsters working so hard to work out something good together towards one goal. After seeing what the two have done in my film I hope my prayers are heard and my hopes are fulfilled. I have never prayed and hoped so much for any of my other stars or any of my other films.

No civilian is allowed to go beyond the Rann of Kutch. You not only went but also shot Refugee with your unit. How come?
It all depended on my script. The highest authorities in the Forces knew my intentions were not ordinary. I feel what I had achieved in Border also helped a great deal. The armed forces on the border, the local people who I gave so many jobs were also all co-operation. My art director, Ratnakar Phadke, who has worked with me in all my films has done a fantastic job in bringing scenes true to life in and around Bhuj where we shot most of the film. I couldn’t get my favourite cinematographer Ishwar Bidri, who has shot all my earlier films, because his dates clashed with Veeruji’s Hindustan Ki Kasam. I had seen the work of a new, young cinematographer, Basheer Ali, working in Muzaffar Ali’s Zooni, which unfortunately, was not completed. I loved his work and signed him without trying or testing him. I believe in everyone who works with me, from the spot boy to the top most star. I do not pressurise or force anyone to do their best. I tell them just what I want and I also tell them I would not be satisfied till I get what I want the way I want it. They understand, they better understand my belief in them, they understand my needs and they put their entire trust and belief in me and that’s how I get good work done. That is if you would like to know one of the secrets of my making such big films, some of which have even been big failures, too, inspite of all my efforts and the efforts of my team. See, when I signed Anu Malik for Border, people said I had gone mad again to sign Anu but I believed in Anu and you saw what wonders he worked in Border. Anu says Border was the film with which he crossed a new border in his life and career. Border, thank God, helped many others change their borders. I hope and pray Refugee does the same.

What is your motto in life?
Very simple, but very tough. To make films just the way I want to make them. No one can stop me from doing what I want to do, however crazy, however dangerous, however dicey, however risky it may turn out to be. If I can’t make films the way I want I’d better stop making films and go back to Mr Randhir Kapoor and start working as his assistant all over again.

Do you keep track of what other filmmakers of your time and the new generation are doing?
Sincerely, I don’t know or even try to know what other filmmakers are doing. I know what I am doing with all my heart and that’s all that matters to me. Isn’t it very strange? Some people call even this JP’s madness and I can’t help it. I am made like that.

How was the experience in Bhuj?
Great. We had some of the greatest people there. It is their love and whole-hearted co-operation during the whole of the one and half years that we shot there that made a big difference to film like Refugee. It would not be possible without those great, nameless and faceless people.

People without the will to work hard and without the dedication to follow me as their leader would never be able to work and complete a film like Refugee in and around Bhuj.

Some people call you the retiwala director. The director who specialises in making films in the deserts, in the killing sands. How long will you go on making such films? How long will you go on making films about the problems between India and Pakistan?
First of all, I must tell you that I love, I am madly in love with those vast stretches of sand where there is nothing but sand. And besides I have this strange fascination for emptiness and loneliness. They inspire me, they encourage me and even take me closer to God. And, yes, about my passionate interest in the endless India-Pak conflict, I am sure I will not stop making films on this conflict which if not stopped now, by now, I mean NOW, will blow up two entire peoples for no real fault of their own. I am only a filmmaker, not a soldier, but I am a soldier with cinema as the strongest weapon with me. This weapon, I feel, will one day bring the people of Pakistan and India together. I strongly feel that cinema is a stronger weapon than all those latest weapons, a weapon which can bring the two people together again, without any war or bloodshed. I have always believed in blending entertainment with enlightenment which can change lives. I will be very happy if I fufill my mission. I want to live to see the day when these two great countries come together and become one strong power, one of the strongest powers in the world. I love dreams, I love God more than dreams, I wish God makes my dream come true.

I don’t know what the politicians and the armed forces are doing but I am sure that cinema can really bring about love and all the other best emotions that have been slowly drying up and brotherhood among us. I, JP, will keep on trying solving this problem in whatever little way I can till the last day of my working day. I see glimpses and glimmers of hope. I hate war, especially after I lost my brother in one of the Indo-Pakistan wars. I consistently try to use entertainment as a weapon to bring in happiness in life which to my utter surprise is slowly falling in love with hatred rather than growing in love, to build a better future, to show the people new light, a new life. I know it is very difficult, especially for one filmmaker to fight such a big “war” but my attempt is to try and see those great days when we were all one, come back again and surprise the world, even make the people change their attitude towards hatred, to care more for love and peace among our people. O, the futility of war and hatred of one human for another!

Tell me something about some strange experience you were talking about as a filmmaker one day.
Yes, it’s very strange but there are times when I feel I am sitting all alone in a theatre and there is some unknown, invisible projectionist who is showing me a film scene by scene and I am watching what is being shown and getting inspired by the scenes projected on the screen. And then shooting the same scenes projected on the screen and showing the scenes shown to me by the unknown projectionist to my audience. I see these scenes quite often. It’s weird, very weird. Let me not go any further, lest people, who already call me mad, start literally throwing stones at me.

As a man so concerned with the relationship between India and Pakistan what do you think is the position today?
Very dicey, very delicate, very dangerous. There are people among our own people who take vicarious pleasure in instigating innocents. These wars must end, the growing number of terrorists must return to a peaceful life. The people on both sides must be lovingly told and made to understand that we are one people and that we can still be one people. I love that beautiful line written by Javed Akhtar in Border, Mere dushman, mere bhai, mere humsafar... That one line says all there is to say and Javed Sahab continues writing with the same feeling in Refugee. He is literally fighting a war with words, a war which will also win one day. In fact, the songs in Refugee are so strong that they will touch the toughest hearts on both sides and melt them, if they have hearts at all.

JP’s next movement...
I am trying to plan a trilogy after Border and Refugee. There are only three directors in the world who have attempted a trilogy, Andrez Wajda, Alberto Rossellini and Satyajit Ray. I know it is not so easy but I don’t believe in taking things easy too. I always go for the most difficult things. I will see that I succeed in making this trilogy. I have done a lot of work till now but I strongly feel that I have still to cross that long, endless white sheet of sand beyond the border. My movement will go on. My mission has to be fulfilled. I can not stop trying.

Why don’t you go in for a change, make love stories, entertainers, emotional stories?
Woh din bhi aayenge. I want to be known as a complete filmmaker. Not so soon. Let me finish this mission. I have undertaken a vow to come up with very different subjects made by a strange director called JP Dutta.

Your father, Mr OP Dutta and your wife Bindiya...?
Oh, theya re God’s gifts to me. My father has written the dialogue for all my films. Simple dialogue to be understood by simple people but very lofty philosophy. He is simply great, one of the greatest writers for me. And Bindiyaji, my wife, what do I say about her? She is the great all-rounder of the team. Costumes are her speciality but she helps in every department. Bindiya chamkegi toh mai chamkonga nahin toh mai kya karoonga?

PS: JP has to rush to Raj Kamal Studios. His film has reached the most solemn stage. He seeks the blessings of Lord Ganpati again. Takes leave of his wife, Bindiya. I still remember Bindiya Goswami, the budding actress, when she first came to my office many years ago. JP speeds along in his car. I visualise him as a strange one-man soldier leading a war which only he’s going to fight, his own way, a soldier who will never give up like some of our best real-life soldiers fighting on various fronts all for Mother India.
And moreover this soldier has a Friend with him all the time - the Almighty who will never let him down, who will never let him lose, who will never let him give up his life but not bow before any enemy, any evil force, any severe sandstorm.

A few days more and judgment will be passed on one of the bravest soldiers of Indian cinema. I salute him for his past achievements and wait to salute him again soon.

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