Subhash Ghai reveals he has ‘stopped making films’, says people write scripts and dialogues on Whatsapp

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, who delivered some of Bollywood’s most iconic films in the 80s and 90s, including Khalnayak, Pardes, Taal, and Ram Lakhan, recently spoke about the declining passion for cinema in the Hindi film industry. He expressed his disappointment over how filmmaking has become just another job for many, rather than an artistic pursuit. Citing personal experiences, Ghai also revealed why he stopped making films.

Speaking on the YouTube channel Game Changers, Ghai said, “I stopped making films because I don’t see the love for cinema anymore—not in people, not even in my own team. They are all just working.” He shared an incident about a writer he approached for a script, highlighting how the process had become purely transactional rather than creative. “I gave an idea to a writer and asked him to develop a story. He told me he would finish it in 15 days, deliver the first draft in three days, and even demanded his full fee upfront. He gave me exact dates—when the story would be ready. I asked him, ‘Tu rotiyan paka raha hai? (Are you making chapatis?)’ How can I work with someone like that? The industry itself has trained him to think this way,” Ghai lamented.

He further criticised the current approach to filmmaking, stating that while skills are being purchased, true creative collaboration is fading. “They say, ‘You send me on email, that is enough.’ Whatsapp mein toh script aur dialogue likhe hai aaj kal (People write script and dialogues on Whatsapp these days),” he said.

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In the same interaction, Ghai also commented on how actors today have started viewing themselves as brands, prioritising financial gains over the craft of acting. He attributed this mindset to the Hindi film industry’s failure to produce true superstars in the past decade. He said, “That’s why the 80s actors are still superstars like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, and others. It is because they have come from that culture. In 10 years, who all became stars? No one except Ranbir Kapoor.”