 (Filmfare - April 1996) |
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(on winning the Filmfare Award for 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge') |
The movies have been his school, his playground. As far back as
you can remember, Aditya Chopra, has been a watcher, scurrying to
the cinema halls to see every new release, preferably on the first
day itself. Any image that moves on the screen tickles his appetite
for more. When he was a kid, like Oliver Twist, Aditya Chopra, has
been a watcher, he would ask for more.
 Ehave shifted, bag and baggage, into the Siri Fort auditorium, zipping in and out of movies, be it from Hungary, the Honduras or the Hebrides. |
The first-born son of Yash and Pam Chopra is also a stickler when it comes to following the principles he believes in.He refuses to compromise his convictions.Perhaps that accounts for the honesty of thought in his debut feature, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which evidently sprung from his stead-fast regard for unsullied family values
Although you have known Aditya aka Adi even since he was a sprightly teenager, the 24-year-old has avoided sitting himself down for a formal interview. Even if you've threatened him, periodically, that you'll quote his everyday statements anyway, he's been as elusive as the neighbourhood kid who rings the doorbell and bolts from the spot. On the FilmfareAwards night - following his triple triumph with trophies for the Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Dialogue - he senses that you'd feel disappointed if he doesn't show up for the post-function photo shoot. Just for that, he turns up, whizzes before the eye of the still camera.And a few days later, agrees to a conversation conducted in a mattress-lined ante-room of the Chopras' Juhu bungalow.
Here then is a replay of the Q and A with the director who, without doubt, is the hottest property in showtown:
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First of all, let me ask you why have you shied away from interviews?
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What is your first distinct memory of the movies?
That's very difficult for me to pin-point today. I'm told that I would hang out on the sets of Kabhi Kabhie... I must have been four then... with a viewfinder.Usually, shootings are considered to be quite boring but I would love every minute of the experience... subconsciously maybe those days have stayed with me.
This may sound weird but till I was 10-years-old, I thought that everyone... the entire world... did nothing but make films. I was sure that film-making was the only profession in the world.I was quite startled that some of my friend's fathers were into business... into making iron and steel etc. etc.I must have been quite heavily into films to think that way.My brother, Uday, who's one-and-a-half-years younger than me was brought up in the same environment... but he wasn't as obsessive about the movies as I was.
I don't remember seeing the camera for the first time or anything like that.I just remember the movies.It didn't matter who was acting in a movie or who had directed it. The Hindi feature film per se was the biggest high for me.
At times, haven't you felt that some of the films are senseless... that they're foolish?
No, no, not at all.Frankly till a certain age, I liked every film.I couldn't tell the good from the bad. It was only when I was 14 or 15 hat I could pass any sort of judgement.I actually hated one film I saw.And the first time I realised that a film could be good was when I saw Deewar. After that I became somewhat more discerning, I started noticing films more closely.
What were you like as a schoolkid?
I was a sports fanatic. I'd play football and every game I could handle. I wasn't a bad student though, I always ranked among the top 10. I think I was a balanced kid - when I had to study, I would concentrate on my text books with all my heart.And during the vacant hours I'd read books... fiction books which narrated stories with some craft and style... like the books of Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon and Ayn Rand.Earlier, of course, I was crazy about Enid Blyton's Famous Five and the Hardy Boys series.
I believe you wrote a script revolving around a bank robbery when you were in the fourth standard in school?
Oh that! I wasn't in the fourth standard... I think I was in the seventh standard.I must have been 11 or 12 then.It wasn't a full-blooded script as such, it was an attempt at a thriller about a man who kills someone and loses his memory.And then he becomes a police officer and is assigned to investigate the murder he has committed himself.(Laughs) It was just an attempt to form some sort of a storyline.And who knows? Perhaps, I could still make it into a film some day...
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