Will be director only as emperor, not as slave
I have often wondered (and I am still wondering) if Boney Kapoor is a man, machine and a benevolent monster, a rare ‘being’ who is blessed to be good, to do good to others, to do good to his people, his team, to the industry itself. I always call him an ambitious adventurer armed with aims which keep inspiring him to touch the sky when it comes to cinema, his first love - his life. Boney has all the qualities to lead a team. The team many win or fail to win the way Boney wants it to. But Boney doesn’t give up.

He is a man guided by providence, by passion and the power to move on from progress to more progress, from quality to more quality, a man who has refused to give up in the face of fear or failure, a man who has followed his own principles, a man for whom filmmaking is his first and only passion. Boney is about to release Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, directed by Satish Kaushik and with Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya.

I sit in the chair before him and while he is making his 101 calls all over the world and even finding time to talk to his eldest son, Arjun, and daughter Jahnvi and wife Sridevi, I look deeply into his eyes, his head and continue to wonder what the man is, what strange stuff he is made of and I fail for the umpteenth time .

How did you manage? You were working on two very big films at the same time, Pukar and this film, Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai?
Don’t they say where there’s a will there’s a way, they were not fools who came to that conclusion. I have realised during the making of my film. There was a way and there was a will. We had it. Anil and me found out both the will and the way. I had almost completed 70 per cent of Pukar before I started Hamara Dil.... The remaining 30 per cent was the most crucial part of the shooting of Pukar. So I took over the rest of Pukar and almost left the making of Hamara Dil... in the hands of three great people without whose cooperation the film would just not be possible. Anil took charge as the de facto producer of Hamara Dil.... Satish Kaushik was just like another brother right from the time he worked with us as an assistant in the making of Mr India. You should have seen his hard work, his sincerity and how he got some of the most busy and talented artistes give his film their best and the third person to make my film possible and possible without any hassles was Aishwarya Rai who was gradually growing more and more busy fighting with time as my film was being made. She gave me time, she gave me quality work and I could see that she saw to it that my film was completed fast without compromising on quality. Talk to Aishwarya about Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai and she says it was one of her better experience because she both “learned and earned, learned more than earned”. On the sheer basis of her work in my film and my understanding of what makes a great future I can predict a very great future for Aishwarya. What a beauty! What a woman! What a personality! What a human being!

You have not said anything about Sonali Bendre, the actress who has always been neglected till now.
Sorry, I am very sorry. I say with all the sincerity at my command and with all my experiences with all the stars that I have worked with Sonali is one of the best happenings to happen to my film. She is absolutely amazing. There were times when we wondered why filmmakers had wasted such an outstanding actress in mediocre roles. I am willing to lose anything if Sonali doesn’t start her second innings with Hamara Dil... Till now Sonali has just been taken as the glamour doll. Let them see her in my film and they will be forced to change their mind, forget all the other Sonalis in all the other films she has done. Satish has made her do in a film the kind of which she has never done till now. And what can I say about Anil Kapoor, a man who has made playing good roles in the best possible way, a habit, a habit he has vowed never to break till the end.

Have you ever tried to analyse Boney Kapoor?
Where is the time? Time, time, time, where is the time to analyse Boney Kapoor when I don’t have time sometimes to even look at Jahnavi who goes to bed by the time I reaches home. But the truth about Boney is that he is a very strict observer of everything that is going on around him everywhere. That he is a dreamer extraordinary, a dreamer who doesn’t believe in dreaming ordinary dreams. And his greatest and only goal is to excel and succeed.

Anil Kapoor many say is moulded and shaped by you. What do you think about Anil, the actor, frankly even though he is your younger brother?
Frankly, Anil Kapoor is one of the best actors in the country today and I am proud to be his elder brother. And the qualities that have gone into making him what he is today are his sheer sincerity, his consistent enthusiasm, his moment to moment excitement and his absolute professionalism. He is the kind of actor who needs rehearsals even for rehearsals. Anil’s strength as an actor also comes from his acute sense of insecurity which keeps him on his toes all the time. He has done some 70 odd films in 17 years and I don’t think he has let down his audience at any time whatever the kind of film.

Anil is what they call the pucca race ka ghoda. Several years later you will still be talking about an actor called Anil Kapoor and saying better things about his growth as an actor. I am proud to call him a great actor who made it on his own. Anil has done what he has all by himself right from the time he started shooting for Woh Saat Din. Anil’s diligence, a man who doesn’t give up even if his director says he is satisfied. Yes, diligence is his other strong point..

You used Lata Mangeskhar live in Pukar. Now I am told you have used a high-profile politician.
Yes, I have made Amar Singh, the leader of the Samajwadi Party play Amar Singh in my film for the first time. It was my idea to make him play the role and he was more than happy to play it. How he has done it is for you to pass judgement on. Watch him and find out whether he is a better actor or a better politician.

Any other major highlights in the film.
Too many. The performances, the music by Sanjeev and Darshan, young boys who can put some of the veterans of today in the dark. I loved their music in Mann and signed them on spot without thinking of any other great music directors now ruling the field of music. The outdoor locations most of it in America and some of it in India and in locations where no other Hindi films have been shot are the other highlights. And ofcourse, we have Aishwarya Rai at her peak, the right time, a time when she has proved to the world that she is not just a beauty queen but a beautiful actress who can touch both your mind and heart. My film is about her and all that happens to her and all the other characters in the story which is a story which will surprise you no end.

Ali Peter John

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