Director’s Special

Back in circulation

You’re the director who has the privilege of directing the Hrithik Roshan-Amisha Patel jodi right after Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. Do you feel pressurised because of their new-found saleability?
I got them together long before anyone became interested in them. We did the muhurat for Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage on September 15, 1999. Back then Kaho Na... was only half-complete.

The film was earlier entitled Armaan. Why the longer title now?
Everyone thought Armaan didn’t sound youthful enough. And honestly, my story has nothing to do with armaan (hope). The script we were working on earlier had an armaan quality to it. Incidentally Armaan had nothing to do with the Armani label (laughs). Aap Mukhe Achche Lagne Lage is about youth and their encounter with crime in the city. It’s primarily a love story. But the urban menace of violence that has come into being recently, serves as a backdrop to the story.

Were you at all influenced by the success of Kaho Naa... into altering the script of your Hritik-Amisha starrer?
I was too far gone into the screenlay to turn back. We were already shooting for our film by the time Kaho Naa... was declared a hit. And besides there isn’t much that Kaho Naa... can give to any other film. It’s a film on its own trip.

But what about the image it has given Hrithik Roshan?
More than an image, Kaho Naa... has shown us what he’s capable of. The success of Kaho Naa... does put a responsibility on subsequent filmmakers and films. But mine isn’t going to be Hrithik’s next release. So the responsibility is more on Khalid Mohammed’s Fizaa and Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir.

The recent telecast of Ghulam revived interest in the film. How do you look back on it?
It’s a distant memory now. I got it out of my system long ago. I guess I’ll be known as the man who made Ghulam until my next film is released.

What took you so long to put together your next project?
Quite honestly my next project Mulaaqat would have been put together long before if Mukesh Bhatt and Akshay Kumar didn’t have a problem after Sangharsh. Yes, the two had a problem. Since Mulaqat was supposed to be my next project, my career suffered a setback after it was cancelled. I felt a little upset by the whole thing. I had waited quite a long time for Mulaqat to start. It was meant to be a romantic thriller of the kind we hadn’t seen for a while, with Rani and Akshay.

The run-in between Akshay and Mukesh Bhatt should have served as a lesson to you.

No, I’m going to make Mulaqat anyway. I’m not tied down to any production house or any particular star -- if that’s what you’re implying. In any case Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Film is like my own company. It’s a company that made my career. I can never forget that Mr Mukesh Bhatt gave me Fareb when four of my films had flopped.

Loyalty is a fine quality as long as it isn’t carried to ludicrous heights.
Fortunately no one in Vishesh Films has asked me to carry my loyalty to ludicrous heights. I have signed an outside film -- Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage -- and the Bhatts are very happy for me.

Pooja Bhatt has broken away from Vishesh Films. Does that affect your presence in the company?
It doesn’t affect me nor concern me in any way. And let me add, if Pooja asks me to make a film for her company I’d definitely do it. I can never forget that I made my very first film Jaanam for the Bhatts. After it flopped other producers didn’t even look at me. But Mukesh decided to forget about Jaanam. After four flops no star would have worked with me. Mukesh Bhatt got me Aamir Khan.

How did you decide to make a film for Mohan Kumar?
He was one of the first producers to sign me after Fareb clicked. At that point of time Armaan was a film with Mohan Kumar’s son Rohit and another hero in the lead. That project didn’t work out. In the meanwhile I started working on Ghulam, and I didn’t want to work on any other project until it was completed. Perhaps they too had second thoughts about making a film with me, or perhaps they had second thoughts about the subject. After Ghulam they met me again and said the project was still on.

It’s Rohit’s baby most of the way. He’s doing most of the leg work. I think he has a great career as a producer ahead. I have been around for 18 years and an assistant for eleven of those eighteen years. I can see an immense interest, enthusiam, drive and knowledge in Rohit Kumar.

Does production interest you?
Not really. I can’t understand how the monetary aspect of a project works. I can easily be duped.

Your other new project Tumko Meri Kasam has invoked a lot of curiosity in the film industry. What’s so special about it?
Tumko Meri Kasam is a love story fabricated from the pages of history. It’s being done with a lot of gloss and special effects. Of course it’s A fiction-feature. But it is based on a lot of facts that we have researched. Lots of the events that we attribute to the protagonists -- Anil Kapoor and Rani Mukerji -- or the antagonist Ashutosh Rana really happened.

But films with historical backgrounds like Hey! Ram aren’t doing well.
Well, Tumko Meri Kasam isnt’ a docu-drama like Hey! Ram. In any case I haven’t seen Hey! Ram. So can’t comment on it. It’s a love story about how the historical processes during the Partition effected the people in those times. I’d compare it with Mani Ratnam’s Bombay. In that film we saw how the Bombay riots affected the lives of Manisha Koirala and Arvind Swamy. But it wasn’t a film about the Bombay riots. Likewise my Tumko Meri Kasam is about a couple during Partition.

You had earlier selected a television actress to play the lead in Tumko Meri Kasam. What made you change your mind and sign your Ghulam actress Rani Mukerji?
The other actress was very good. But she was good only in isolation. When we did a photo session with Anil Kapoor, the combined chemistry didn’t happen. They looked mismatched.

There are going to be a lot of special effects in Tumko Meri Kasam, aren’t there?
Yes, but they will be used to enhance the real-life drama. They won’t be used to show off. Hopefully viewers won’t notice the special effects. They are not meant to stand out.

How do you plan to juggle two big films like Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage and Tumko Meri Kasam?
Fortunately both films have been written down to the minutest detail. I don’t believe in scenes being written on location. So for me the only thing that remains to be done is the execution of the screenplay. Besides the two films’ shooting aren’t really overlapping. The real chunky shooting schedule for Tumko Meri Kasam starts only in July-August. By then quite a few schedules of Hritik’s film will be over.

You spent two years making one film Ghulam. Now you’re making two films in one year. Isn’t that going to take its toll on the quality of your product?
But why are you forgetting that I haven’t done any work for two years after Ghulam? I agree doing more than two films at the same time would have been criminal. I have both the projects worked out in my mind. In 1999 I did nothing except write Tumko Meri Kasam. I have internalised both the scripts completely. First, during the writing stage and then later when I went through the script with the special effects people. As far as I’m concerned Tumko Meri Kasam has already been shot in my mind.

And you have a couple of other projects on the anvil, don’t you?
Yeah. But none of them is going to start this year. I have one film with Sanjay Dutt for Vishesh Films which is based on a true incident. I have also been signed by Gattu, that is Abhishek Kapoor, for a film with Sunny Deol for a long long time. That too cannot start this year.

You were supposed to be doing a film with Govinda?
I am no longer doing that. I wasn’t getting the relevant dates from Govinda.

You aren’t going to have a release until 2001. Does this 3-year hiatus from the theatres bother you?
I guess audiences and producers are looking for new directorial emperors every week. That’s cool by me. There’s no point in making a film unless one is a hundred per cent involved with it. What’s wrong in taking one’s time over a project?

Rajesh Roshan is doing the music for the Hrithik starrer. Was that a decision taken after Kaho Naa...?
Yes, it was. But Rajesh Roshan has always been one of my favourite music directors.

So why didn’t you use his music in your earlier films?
I didn’t. But he has done music for our production Dastak. He’s a good guy and really easy to work with. He deserves the success he has got after Kaho Naa.... Incidentally for Tumko Meri Kasam, I’ve got Sajid Wajid to do the music. The music is really good. We’ve already finalised the tunes although we haven’t recorded them as yet.

Are you happy about the fact that Ghulam became associated with Aati kya Khandala for all times?
I think somewhere down the line Ghulam became a hit for the wrong reasons. It didn’t do well for the reasons that I thought it would.

What according to you were the reasons why Ghulam should have been a hit?
I thought the script was very good, I thought Anjum Rajabali had written a marvellous film. People went for the gimmicks instead.

Like Aamir Khan running towards the speeding train?
Not, that was the right reason for people to see Ghulam. We had spent a lot of money on that sequence. One needs highlights in a film. The audience needs something to be thrilled about, something to clap over. No one is interested in a purely serious and dramatic film. The gimmicks are what the film industry calls entertainment.

So are you going to strike a balance between the gimmicks and your creative impulses?
I don’t want to make the films that the film industry wants me to make. That I’m very clear about that. I definitely want to make the films that audiences want to see. But I have to be sure about what it is. I’m not here to make films for my own viewing pleasure. If that were the case I’d write my scripts and make movies in my mind, and save producers from spending crores. I feel films are made primarily to entertain people.

How far would you be willing to compromise on your creativity to accommodate the producer’s compunctions?
I’m open to discussion within sensible parameters. I’ll tell you something. There’s a kind of ongoing sparring match between the producer and director during a film’s making. That can’t be avoided. A producer feels like a parent who hires someone to take his kid to school (laughs). Initially he has no choice but to trust the guy. But that doesn’t stop him from being suspicious and guarded. Gradually, he begins to trust the person. I feel the time has come for directors to stop adopting a feudal attitude to filmmaking. They have to keep an open mind.

By doing so a producer is likely to become more and more aggressive towards a film’s various departments.
But they should. I don’t mind that as long as the producer doesn’t interfere in the creative aspects of a film. In any case I’m unlikely to work with a producer who’s diametrically opposed to my views. Whether a director can work with a producer can be determined at the script stage. Beyond the point, any man who puts in crores of rupees and who can lose it all through one wrong move should be given the right to decide whether he likes a song, lyric performance or an actor that’s going into a film. I think it’s crappy for any director to cut down the dissenting voice. At the same time there are certain things which I’d never do.

Like what?
Like put in a vulgar song.

Many people thought Khandala was a vulgar song.
I certainly don’t think so. I’d never do anything vulgar. I mean, come on we all come from cultured families! I’d never do gaghra-choli songs. If a producer asks me to expose the heroine I’d walk out of the film. I’d walk out of the film. I wouldn’t name the producer. But I almost walked out of a project when he asked me to expose the heroine. We are talking about decent girls.

Subhash K Jha