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 (Filmfare - April 1996) (on winning the Filmfare Award for 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge') |
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Have you ever written any short stories?
 Not really. Occasionally, I' ve just jotted down some points. Often, ideas just float around in my head. Physically, the first time I actually got down to writing was with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. I never thought I could actually sit down and write but I did. Earlier, I'd merely suggest a story idea to dad. The germ of Darr came from Dead alm,an Australian film about an obsessed lover. I thought such an idea would end |
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| itself to an interesting film... the kind of film which hadn't
been made by dad before. Only the climax which was set on the
sea in Dead Calm was similar in Darr... apart
from that, everything else was different.
Your father has seen extreme highs and lows with success and failure. Were you affected when the Yash Chopra banner was going through a low phase? I was too much of a kid when Silsila, Mashaal and Faasle didn't do well. As a child, I was cushioned against the hard blows. Our lifestyle didn't change - we'd still go out on vacations, we'd eat the same kind of food and wear the same kind of clothes. I knew that dad was in a depressed frame of mind but he didn't let Uday and me get affected by what he was going through. Mum handled the situation beautifully. However, I was directly affected when Lamhe didn't do well commercially. It was the first film I'd worked on... assisted on from scratch. Before that, I'd come into Chandni only halfway through. Those days, Lamhe was the film closest to my heart. When it bombed, it shook us up a lot. Perhaps that's why the success of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge did not send me on a great big high... I did not get swayed because I know that even today a Lamhe is possible. Have you become aware of the negative aspects of the film industry... of the fakeness and the put-on attitudes? A while ago, I didn't believe this was true of the film industry at ll. I thought film people were essentially good. But when I came in contact ith the film industry, I did sense its negative aspects... which is true of every field. Fortunately, I've worked only with good, positive people. I've consciously tried to keep away from the negative side. I don't socialise much. If I don't come to know the industry too closely, it's just as well. Most of my close friends are from outside the industry... and I think it works better that way. Directors often get emotionally involved with their artistes. Have you found this a problem? It helps if you don't get emotionally involved. If you get too close to your artistes... to anyone as a matter of fact in your day-to-day work... you may realise that you don't like them. And I can't work with people I don't like. That's why I've chosen not to get too close. Aren't you pretty close to Shah Rukh Khan? I can't claim to be his best friend. But I can sense that there is a mutual respect for each other's work... which is a good thing. |
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Tell me, did you or your parents have any other career options for you? No, my decision to be associated with the movies was taken very, very early. I didn't have even half-a-doubt that I would become a film-maker. Mum was keen that I should go abroad for further studies... in business management or whatever. But since I was sure that it was Hindi films for me, I felt the years abroad would have made me somewhat westernised. That stint would have removed me from the Indian way of thinking which I wanted to hold on to at any cost. But aren't you a bit westernised? Not at all... well maybe I'm a blend. Like my film... or the character of Raj... my exterior may seem westernised, but my inner thoughts and beliefs are absolutely Indian. |
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Would you say that you cut your teeth by assisting on Lamhe and Darr?
As I said, I came in half-way through Chandni. Gradually, I became well-versed with what goes on. I was also involved in one major schedule of Aaina. I didn't concentrate on the technical side of things though. Direction can't be taught, you have to acquire whatever you can by observing the entire process of film-making on the sets. So far, I' ve paid more attention on character development and performances. I have to become more proficient in camera angles and the lenses which must be used for particular shots. After the apprenticeship, were you ready or did you have to be goaded to direct a film independently? I had to be goaded. Because I'm lazy, I don't like working. I have to be pushed. I guess the fact that I'd nurtured the idea of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge for two to three years, set me off on the road. The original intention was to do a love story as an English language film. I wanted to show the international audience that India isn't a country of snake-charmers. Rather I wanted to acquaint them with how we Indians live, love, think and react today. Maybe I could still do this kind of international project some day. After Darr, I was trying to find a story idea for dad. When I told him the basic premise of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, he didn't react immediately. But while I was narrating it to him, the visuals started evolving in my mind... so I thought, okay I'll give the story a shot myself. Something about it excited me. I felt it could be an absorbing love story through which I could say a few things that I wanted to. What are the few things that you wanted to say? The primary aim was to make a very honest love story... a love story that would make it at the box office. I wanted to make a film which I would to make a film which I would enjoy seeing. In that way I was being selfish - I was making a film for myself. A wholesome film which I wouldn't mind seeing again and again. On a broader level, I was also trying to get something out of my system. I'd be quite troubled while watching those love stories in which the boy and the girl elope. I'd wonder how can they just cut themselves off from their parents who've done so much for them? How can they be so callous? They have no right to break the hearts of their parents. I wanted to say that if your love is strong enough, then you will come together... your parents will be convinced about your love ultimately. I also wanted to comment on the position of the girl in Indian households. In fact, I'm especially proud of the scene between the girl and her mother. I think it describes the situation that Indian women are caught in very clearly. We may be in the 1990s but there are certain things about the Indian family structure that haven't changed at all. I believe to start with, your dad felt that the mother-and-daughter scene slackened the pace of the film. It was like this. When I wrote the complete scene and narrated it to my parents and some of the unit members, it was felt that it was a little long and that it would drag. But I shot it the way it was conceived... if it had slowed down the pace, maybe I would have cut out a few lines of dialogue. In fact, quite a few of the scenes were long... I was scared that they might bore the audience. They could have become restless... they could have hooted. Yes...go on. Like it was touch-and-go in the case of Shah Rukh's monologue towards the end which I felt was the base of the film. In the last reel, there's just this one man talking. If anyone in the audience had made a noise, the entire scene would have crumbled. But at the first show in the theatre, it was watched in pin-drop silence. And I knew we were through, I knew we had a winner.
How much difference was there in the film's conceptualisation and final execution?
It turned out to be exactly the way it had been conceptualised... be it the scenes set in London's Trafalgar Square or in Punjab's sarson ke khet. Normally, things can change when you get down to the nitty gritty of shooting. Yet, everything seemed to fall into place at the locations and at the studio. Somebody up there was making it go all-right for me. | ||||||||||||
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