Vijay Anand The ties that bind.. After 15 long years, Vijay Anand returns to his home ground, playing with the seasoned grace of a veteran, and displaying his creative genius with his latest proffering, Jaana Na Dil Se Door. Through this father-daughter emotional saga, starring Dev Anand and Indrani Banerji, he proves he still is the master of the game...

Pali Hill is to Mumbai filmdom what Beverley Hills is to Hollywood. The abode of stars. And Vijay Anand aka Goldie Sahab is one of the inhabitants of this galaxy. After all, he’s the technical wizard who brought star status to the post of a director. Commanding a lofty market price for his creative inputs, Goldie Sahab ensured that directors got their due.
Along with his charismatic brother, he made trailblazing movies. Goldie and Dev Anand made a winning director-actor combo. They drew full houses with successive releases — Jewel Thief, Hum Dono, Tere Mere Sapne, Johnny Mera Naam, Teesari Manzil... to name a few. And they missed the Oscar by a whisker for Guide.

With his spiritual inclinations and passion for the finer goals in life, Goldie Sahab was drawn by Osho’s philosophy. He returned to mainstream cinema intermittently. And Ram Balram was his last showing — way back in 1985. Since then, he has tried in vain to put together a project. He managed to pool in creative and technical resources this time with Jaana Na Dil Se Door — a family drama that goes well with the prevalent trend. He explains in his detached, hermit like manner — as to how he remains in tune with the times.

You are back in the thick of it all after 15 years. What kept you off your beat so long?

It took me seven years and 100 shifts to wrap up Rajput and that’s when I started getting disillusioned. I felt I was wasting my life. Thereafter, I did make a couple of abortive attempts at making a movie, but nothing materialised. There were too many constraints. I believe “Easy is right” as the Chinese proverb goes.

The film industry hasn’t prospered because filmmakers have to keep compromising. Whereas for any creative work eternal springs have to flow from within. Stale water doesn’t work.

What made you get back with a vengeance then?
Chetanji’s death left a vacuum in my life and that’s when Dev sahab urged me to make a movie with him. And I was on.

You have never conformed to any genre of filmmaking so far, so what surprise are you springing with your comeback venture Jaana Na Dil Se Door?
Yes, I am not conventional, I enjoy breaking conventions. Like all my movies in the past, this one is by no means a formula flick. I am stressing upon the importance of togetherness in a world full of conflicts pulling us apart, through the film. This is a stirring story about the evolution of a father-daughter relationship. It’s the story of a father who leads a footloose and fancyfree lifestyle, until his grown-up daughter enters his world and shatters his conceit. He discovers the pains and pleasures of fatherhood in her company. It’s about raw human emotions.

Despite his declining market value, you have cast Dev sahab as the hero. Is that some sort of brand loyalty?
When people ask me about Dev sahab’s marketability, I am hurt and pained. I am sure this film will pierce the hearts of the audience — I am sure about making that emotional connection. Dev sahab has given a sterling performance in the film and Indrani Banerji has done justice to her mother-daughter double role.

Notwithstanding the fab rapport you share with your brother, weren’t there occasions when you found Dev sahab tough to handle?

Indeed, there were such occasions. Dev sahab has the image of eternal youth and it takes a while to make him do anything contrary to that. Stars need to remain within their orbit. They have their trappings.
Song picturisation is your speciality, what’s in the offing this time?
I have always maintained that songs are an intrinsic part of my narrative, I cannot divide my movie into scenes and songs. They go hand in hand. Likewise in this film. The music is by Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen and the lyrics are written by Neeraj.

How important is filmmaking to you?
I love making films but I don’t lose out much if I don’t. I am inspired by the philosophy of Buddha and Vivekananda. I am spiritually inclined. In the core of the heart, profession is secondary. I don’t have the drive to fight and win.

What draws you back to acting, time and again — after Kora Kagaz and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki, you returned to the screen as the master sleuth in the tele serial Tehkikat?
If Dev sahab wasn’t my brother, I would have been an actor. Although I never lacked the talent, I chose to go behind the camera and I neglected the externals of life as grooming and image building. As for Tehkikat, it was very funny. Shekhar (Kapur) roped me in to play the lead role and director Karan Razdan worked without a script, he never gave me any written lines — he just gave me an outline and I improvised. So that was done for fun.

You missed the Oscar by a whisker for Guide. Did it seem like history repeating itself when nephew Shekhar Kapur missed it for Elizabeth? Is he the lawful successor to your glorious legacy of filmmaking?
When Shekhar made Elizabeth, I asked him why on earth he made a film on a queen of a distant land? What relevance does it have to him? Now he’s making a film on Mandela — what’s the use? Films should grow from yourself. Mandela and Elizabeth cannot grow from within him. Shekhar has Dev sahab’s drive and push, qualities that bring worldly success. Whereas I am a researcher of deeper mystery. It may not be a result-oriented journey, but it’s still a self-satisfying one. So I won’t leave my legacy to anybody.

What’s next on your agenda?
My secret desire is that my 19-year-old son Vaibhav makes a success of himself. He’s interested in acting like his uncle. The next generation Anand will be launched in his time. Meanwhile, I will continue to write and direct films.

Deepa Karmalkar