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| Isi Life Mein |
Grounded and anchored by his core beliefs, filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya never bends with the tide of fortune. Be it Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaunor Vivah, each has set its own distinct record of popularity. Over a leisurely chat with Rinku Ghosh, he explains how it is difficult to keep the grace and why Godfather remains his inspiration. Excerpts
Now that you are emerging from a break as a director, can we expect a blockbuster Barjatya film? As a producer, you are working with new ideas and filmmakers and have just released your latest youth film, Isi Life Mein, on the Internet. Will this impact your creativity?
It’s a misconception that I have given up making films. I had just gotten involved in furthering the legacy of Rajshri Productions and am making a film in the coming year. It takes me about four years to get on the floors because I conceptualise and write the story first. And I definitely don’t find myself out of sync as everybody has to move ahead with the times. But a Barjatya film will still have warmth and keep its core vision and values intact. So the young people in today’s Barjatya film, directed by my niece, have as much spunk and attitude, are as cool and hip, speak today’s language but haven’t lost their respect for elders. They just have a different way of showing it instead of picture-book reverence.
I have also adjusted to the fact that it is perhaps impossible to celebrate the great Indian family the way it was in my earlier works. But family to me is rootedness, a fallback support and as a responsible father, I believe in retaining some aspects of that relationship in the background. And though we tend to be harshly dismissive of young people at times, fact is their values remain at the back of their minds and they respect each other as individuals. My way of respecting my father is different from my son’s. He may not be as vocal and demonstrative but that doesn’t mean he is negating us.
Give respect to get respect and how successfully I can get that message across without sounding preachy is my struggle with cinema. Health and wealth will come and go but your character goes nowhere. Remember Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg may have made sci-fi films but the stories have almost always revolved around a family.Godfather is the greatest family film there is and you still watch it, don’t you?
What makes you so confident that you will manage to get across?
I am confident about a good story told with sincerity and sensibility. A lot of films are being made with new techniques but it’s still the story that hits the bull’s eye. I have learnt from my mistake called Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon and realised without the atma, I am nowhere. If I do something that I am not, then nobody will like me. There is no reason why a movie channel still plays Hum Aapke Hain Kaun every week. I reach out beyond the metro audience, to an India that is huge and a melting pot of cultures, to an India that is adjusting to change and meeting new challenges. Besides, I intend to engage every age group. If you remember, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun picked up gradually among youngsters. And a film like Vivah wouldn’t have been a hit in recent times. When I made Vivah, one journalist came up to me and asked how could the film work in the time of live-in relationships. So, I asked her to give me a rough percentage of live-in couples in India. She told me she didn’t know of many but had been asked to frame the question. Truth is Vivah was not just about an arranged marriage but about regular families accepting that misfortune can happen regardless of the best of intentions and that two people can rise above superstitions and prejudices, confront realities and build understanding and trust.
Any idea where your new story is headed?
It will be a real story and if you look into every house and window around you, there is a story sitting everywhere. Most issues are based on relationships. There are conflicts all around but I am a positive person and want to show solutions. I cannot rest on throwing the issue out in the open and not do something about it.
Were you as thoughtful when you made your first film, Maine Pyar Kiya?
Oh, it began as a crazy idea of a 22-year-old. I had by then worked with Mahesh Bhatt and Hiren Nag and coming from a film family, wanted to make a movie myself. My father told me that I should be comfortable and write whatever I felt would make a good film at my age. A love story came easily to me and I wrote the film out of sheer playfulness. Of course, my father kept chiselling the script. Then my actors — Salman Khan and Bhagyashree — joined the crew. All of us had everything to prove and nothing to lose. We had great fun shooting. I remember we had a technically sound cameraman who used to get worried and keep shouting, “How are you working guys?”
But there was passion. I remember in one shot, Salman and I were ready to give our lives to get it right. We weren’t expecting too much, we just wanted to recover the cost. Both Salman and I had reconciled to the idea that if Maine Pyar Kiya failed at the box office, we would work somewhere else. So we gave it our all.
At the end of it, Maine Pyar Kiya opened to a full house, my only film to do so till date. My family went to the Metro cinema for the first show; I could hardly hear any song as people were whistling and shouting. By the interval, I had lost my hero to the crowd and realised what I had achieved.
Did that in any way condition your future projects?
On the contrary, Maine Pyar Kiya’s success humbled me because I realised I was getting credit for other people’s work as well. I boned up on my techniques and writings but when it came to stories, I followed my heart and drew heavily from personal experiences. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun happened after I got married and had kids. After this film, I lost my mother and realised I should have spent more time with her. So I played on this bonding in Hum Saath Saath Hain. I made Vivah at 40 by which time I had a better understanding of marital bonding and could look at the man-woman relationship with some detachment. That’s why I could elaborate on the relevance of courtship, of growing together between engagement and marriage rather than instant romance.
Why couldn’t you repeat the graph thereafter?
Every film has to be seen in its context. And every project dictates its own vision. There’s a reason why Hum Aapke Hain Kaun had a 100-week run in the UK. That was a time when people were tired of the overdose of thrillers and action films. They wanted drama and emotions. It was the early years of post-liberalised India, there was hope on the horizon, people were becoming conscious of their identity in a globalised world and there was a new wave of cultural awareness. Salman and Madhuri were stars who helped Bollywood become an NRI favourite.
After that Karan Johar perfected your formula with candyfloss, while Ekta Kapoor mass-marketed it through her TV serials. Do you think you have been credited enough as a pioneer?
They are my friends and we take ideas from each other. Even Adi (Aditya Chopra) made Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge on a similar matrix. I have myself taken inspiration from RK Studios, so how can I grudge others?
You once said that Hrishikesh Mukherjee films are not made anymore. Why do you think that genre has declined?
It hasn’t; it’s just that filmmakers aren’t exploring the possibility that life is hopeful and good. I remember a scene from Bawarchi where Rajesh Khanna shouts at the family,“Tum log ek jaisa khaana khaate ho aur kaise jhagarte ho.(You stay and eat together and still fight with each other).” This is one thought that typifies the dynamics of the Indian family and had a great impact on me. It is difficult to uphold goodness when there’s so much laalach (greed) around.
You have now ventured into television. Do you find it a better medium to work with considering the appeal of your kind of work?
There’s is no denying that the appeal of television is huge, reaching far-flung villages. The turnover is much bigger than films. The only worrying point is self-censorship. Some programming is going to ridiculous extremes for the sake of TRPs and dangerously poised over the edge of what is family hour or not. That is why we have restricted ourselves to only six or seven shows in the last few years. But like everything else, there will be a shakeout and people will throw out crass sensationalism.
I have hope in the television medium because all shows with good TRPs have genuine stories. I have noticed an interesting trend. Gimmicky cliches like a key character dying, losing memory or lookalikes returning to spice up events have lost their appeal. Almost all daily soaps these days revolve around the evolution of the man-woman relationship and tackling social issues around them.
At one time, Barjatya films were known for delivering silver jubilee hits. Now the multiplex scenario and independent filmmakers have changed the rules of the game. Will your next film rise to the challenge?
First of all, let me clarify that Rajshri has had 17 hits and 33 flops. It is difficult to get a jubilee run, although Vivah managed to celebrate success in 20-odd cities. But that was 2006. Earlier one film was shown in Minerva, today we release more prints to cover a wider area and stop piracy. Earlier, the movie business was about rentals, today multiplexes are our partners. Also, we recover our costs faster. With a bigger starcast you recover costs almost immediately. So, a longer run is not that imperative.
What was it for you growing up in a film family?
We never had the typical parties, stars never dropped in and no drink or non-vegetarian food was allowed in the house. As a 12-year-old, I started accompanying my father to film shoots and learnt editing. It is then I realised how the filmmaker creates a world of his own. He can play God and change the look and feel instantaneously on the sets. Then I watched Sound Of Music at 18. It blew me off completely and I wrote a letter to my grandfather, saying I wanted to be a director. He sent this letter to my uncles and father who put me through the ropes. I got a chance to work with Mahesh Bhatt during the making of Saaransh. Working with Bhatt sa’ab at the peak of his creativity was the best exposure I’ve had. I would stand next to him and feel the energy. The camera is nothing, the vision is yours. I worked as his assistant director for some time and then took a break because I had to appear for my university exams.
You have seen the industry up close. Which one would you rate as the golden era?
I guess you have to judge the content from the different platforms they are made on. In that sense, each period is special. When we graduated from black and white to colour, or progressed from video to digital, each medium has added a path-breaking appeal in some way or the other. Rajshri is involved in all the four media, be it Internet, mobile, television and films.
You released Vivah on the Internet. You intend releasing your future projects almost simultaneously, after the first few weeks. How do you rate this medium for film craft?
Honestly, my brothers take care of this side of the business. It is a powerful platform that can surmount the inconsistencies of the theatre, satellite and DVD businesses. Imagine, a person can watch my film in Finland and Belgium, which are not part of the brisk overseas radar.
Are your sons keen about continuing family tradition?
My 20-year-old has to decide and the younger one is still studying. Too early to take a call.Many among the current crop of directors are setting up their own production houses and providing opportunities for new talent. Rajshri has given breaks to actors but what about filmmakers?
I welcome this trend because every generation brings fresh ideas and newcomers need a funding platform for free expression. When they bring their own vision to the banner, it’s a win-win situation for all.
Rajshri’s next release in May will be interesting. Called Love You... Mister Kalakar, it has been directed by FTII graduate S Manasvi and stars Tusshar Kapoor and Amrita Rao. It follows the Hrishida genre and the hero is a cartoonist. Another film on the floors is Jana Pehchana by Sachin, which goes back and forth and continues from his earlier work with us, Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se.
Despite the changing phases of your life, are you a happy man?
I am very happy and I want to keep the grace. I am still searching my middle path and will hold out on commercialisation as long as I can.
When I watch a film with my nephew and see him munching on popcorn, I wonder what we are telling him that will last. Hats off to Rajkumar Hirani for helping kids rediscover Gandhian principles through Munnabhai and bringing everybody out to the theatre from zero to 80. I believe a good film will always get you the box office.
In fact, her closeness to Siddharth over the past year or so has resulted in Deepika's arch rival Katrina Kaif distancing herself from the Royal Challengers.
