ON A HIT - TRACK 

The beginning of a new love
I am greatly influenced by LV Prasad and Vijay Anand. I admire the earthiness of Prasadji’s films and the stylised presentation of Goldiesahab. I try and combine the conventional with the modern. Ishq may be a lot of fun but it ends on a serious note and attempts to combine the styles of my two idols.

I hit upon the idea of a fun film revolving around two boys, after the release of Dil. I can’t recall the exact source of my inspiration, but it has nothing to do with Andaz Apna Apna for sure. I just wanted to make a films with youngsters again. The subject remained in the recesses of my mind for a long while. I couldn’t work on it immediately because I already had Beta on my hands and then came Raja. I deliberately pushed it aside, till Gordhan Tanwani approached me. I narrated the subject to him. He liked it so much that he urged me to start the film immediately. I then narrated the story-idea to Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan. They were game too. And, we got cracking on Ishq.

Ishq has a lot of dhamaal and masti, it’s a three-hour picnic! But it’s not an out and out comedy. It ends on a serious, dramatic note, as I told you.

No Madhuri and no Aroona Irani
Madhuri Dixit, the heroine of all my previous three films, whom I often refer to as my lucky mascot, had date problems this time and so I had to do without her. I thought of Juhi Chawla and Kajol who have fitted in perfectly.

Aamir is an old associate from the Dil days and we just hit it off. I have also inducted Ajay into my camp now. I wanted to give him a complete change of image -- Ajay without action. I have given him a new look in Ishq. His has an intense role charged with emotion.

Yes, Aroonaji is missing from the cast this time. There just wasn’t a role for her in the script. Shweta Menon’s name was suggested for the item song. I met her and found her to be just the girl I was looking for. So there she is. Looking absolutely gorgeous.

The sound of music
I am glad that the music of Ishq has been widely appreciated. I wanted some groovy music this time, with more beat and less melody. After all, Ishq is a film for the youth. The music has caught the fancy of the college crowd.... and hopefully the young at heart oldies too. The slow, melodious numbers Ishq hua... and Ishq hai... are also catching on.

Anu Malik, my music director, is an exceptionally hard-working man. He’s so charged with his work. Amazing. Normally my obsession for perfection drains everybody around me, but this time he drained me out. He gave me so many options that I was completely overwhelmed. We have drawn inspiration from here,there and everywhere. Mr Lova Lova.. is his song - he must have taken it from somewhere, but he has moulded it very nicely with our requirement.

Item-songs are mandatory in my films. Dil had Khambe jaisi khadi hai.., Beta had Dhak, dhak.., Raja had - Ankhiya milaoon.. and now Ishq has Mr Lova Lova...

In addition to the zingy Mr Lova Lova..., Ishq hai.., the sad, lilting number is my favourite.

Controversies galore
Amitabh Bachchan consented to do the Mr Lova, Lova number and he was really enthusiastic about doing it. I tried to incorporate him in the script and worked out 12 different scenes. But his entry wasn’t jelling in with the narrative. His character looked planted. Moreover, his entry happens at a crucial point in the plot and at that point we realised any deviation from the main story-line could have harmed the film. So with a heavy heart, I decided not to picturise the song on him. I hated making that decision. We even had the song recorded in Sudesh Bhosale’s voice because his voice matches Amitji’s.

Ultimately we shot the song with Johnny Lever who has a significant role in the film and so his wasn’t a guest-appearance as Bachchanji’s would have been.

I assure you, Shweta Menon’s dance number is not a strip tease. The censor board has ordered only a couple of cuts. Shweta looks so gorgeous in the song that the viewers are going to sit up and watch the song.

I had no trouble handling the multi star-cast.There were no ego-hassles. We enjoyed our shoots. And my artistes had full faith in me and obeyed my instructions religiously. Each one has a well-etched role and equal number of songs . I have left no room for complaint.

Fun and frights on the sets...
There is a scene where Ajay is walking on a pipe, eight floors above the ground. Of course, Ajay didn’t do the dare-devil stunt. His duplicate did it and did it perfectly. It is a comic moment in the film, but while shooting it, I had my heart in my mouth. I was praying that nothing should go wrong. And with God’s grace, the shot went off without a mishap. That frightening shot looks so hilarious in the film that I find it hard to believe now that it had me breaking out in cold sweat.

There’s a car-chase in the film. Aamir and Ajay were in the car with a monkey. While in action, the monkey suddenly turned violent and pounced on Aamir. The poor chap didn’t know how to react. He brought the car to a screeching halt and shot out of the car. Aamir and Ajay were running, the monkey hot on their heels. It was a brilliant visual, but unfortunately I couldn’t get it on the camera because at that time we were too busy saving the two heroes.

Romancing the tree
My romance with this tree in Ooty dates back to the Dil days, I liked the way it was composed and we shot the song Na jaane kahan dil kho gaya ... around it. The film was a hit and the tree became my lucky mascot.

During the making of Beta we went to Ooty on a 20-day schedule. The film was scheduled for release and I wanted to shoot Koyal si teri boli... around my lucky tree and I wanted a clip of the song included in the trailers. But it rained cats and dogs for three long days and we couldn’t take a single shot. On the fourth day I woke up and prayed to God, if he wanted the film to be a hit, he should let me just picturise the mukhda of the song. And hey presto, sun shone brilliantly. We rushed to the location and as soon as we canned the mukhda on Anil Kapoor, it again started pouring heavily. We shot the rest of the song in Jaipur. Beta was also a hit and the tree proved lucky for me again.

I picturised a song from Raja around it again because by then the tree had become my confirmed good luck charm. This time for Ishq, I intended to give it a miss as there was so much brouhaha about it. In any case we were headed for Switzerland for the songs. But after we got back from there, we realised that one portion of a song hadn’t been picturised. Dance-director Saroj Khan was simply furious. Nothing like this had happened in her entire career. We had to go back to Ooty to do the patchwork around my tree. I guess, it’s providential that the tree should be a part of my films - there’s no doubt about that. And to think that I don’t even know what tree it is.