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Deepak
Shivdasani
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Deepak Shivdasani,
38, has grown up with the movies. Son of producer SI Shivdasani,
even when Deepak was in primary school, he’d go without fail
every Monday to book tickets in advance for the next Friday’s
release. "My mother, a great fan of Dev Anand’s, was an
avid film buff and I used to tag along with her to every show,"
he recalls with a smile.
What started
out as a passing interest grew into a passion. On a visit to London,
Deepak happened to watch Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The movie
so fascinated him that he purchased the book The Making of Raiders
Of The Lost Ark and devoured it. That’s when he decided
that one day he was going to make a movie too. "My one regret
in life is that I didn’t enroll at the ILM (Industrial Lights
& Magic) in Los Angeles, the institute owned by George Lucas
and Steven Spielberg," he rues.
Back home he
flunked in his second year of college and dropped out, hanging around
Hotel Sea Rock all day, playing snooker and befriending industry
folks like Rishi Kapoor, Johnny Walker and Rahul Rawail. Rawail
had just started work on Betaab and offered to take him on
as his apprentice. "I was fired on my very first day on the
job because I couldn’t give an end clap on cue," Deepak
laughs.
He then turned
to N Chandra for another break. N Chandra had been Gulzar’s
assistant for 14 years before Bapu offered to take him on as associate
director for Woh Saat Din and Bezubaan. Chandra in
turn offered to take on Deepak. By the time both the films were
complete Deepak was confident enough to branch out on his own despite
the misgivings of his mentor and his father.
His first production,
Bhavani Junction in ’84-’85, bombed badly. That
was a big setback but three years later Deepak bounced back with
his directorial debut, Dadagiri. He then went on to direct
other films like Baaghi, Madam X, Pehchaan,
Gopi Kishen, Laadia and Bhai. It was Sunil
Shetty, the "hero" of Pehchaan and Gopi Kishen
who urged Deepak to get into production again. " Sunil gave
our banner, Yashish Enterprises a fresh lease of life with Bhai,
which I produced and directed," Deepak informs.
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Deepak
Shivdasani with Madhuri Dixit, Preity Zinta and Ajay Devgan
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Yeh Raaste
Hain Pyar Ke is his latest obsession. A film which has been
very close to his heart for 12 long years. It’s the story of
a mentally imbalanced girl and her fight for composure and sanity.
"What’s unique about the movie is that Ajay (Devgan),
Madhuri (Dixit) and Preity (Zinta) agreed to do the film after listening
to a brief outline of the plot. The screenplay was written much
later," Deepak reveals, going on to add that he had promised
Ajay Devgan he would cast him opposite heroines he hadn’t worked
with before. "The chemistry between the three is amazing!"
he exults.
Yeh Raaste
Hain Pyaar Ke was launched in June 1999 but Deepak had to wait
for Ajay Devgan for almost 11 months because the star was busy with
his home production Raju Chacha. "Technically, the film
has been in the making for three years but actually, once Ajay committed
his dates we wrapped up the film in one go, in just six months,"
Deepak says proudly.
Ritu Beri,
an international fashion designer, has done the costumes for the
film."It was great to see Madhuri synchronise with Ritu on
costumes and jewellery," he smiles.
Deepak has
a good work to say about his other heroine, the bubby Preity Zinta
too." She’s worked really hard on her dubbing," he
compliments.
In conclusion
he says, "Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke is a journey, not
a destination. It’s just the beginning for me. I’m here
for the long haul!"
—
Johnny D
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