Master Class

Your partnership with co-writer Abhijat Joshi also continues in this film…

I am happy to have a partner like him who is constantly there behind you.The only film Abhijat and I have not written together is Munnabhai MBBS, but after that all the scripts have been jointly written by us.

Collaboration or going it alone—what works better for creative talent in the film-making context?

Till I directed my first film, I always thought that as a writer it is better to function independently, otherwise you end up fighting with each other. I was fortunate that I bumped into Abhijat—I met him for the first time at Vinod’s house when I had gone to narrate the first draft of Lage Raho Munnabhai. He wanted to sit in on the story narration, so I agreed. He then got excited and wanted to work on the film. Initially, I was reluctant because I felt, ki yeh America mein rehta hai, kaise kaam karega?’ But he started sending me scenes over emails aur uske saath kaam karke laga ki, actually we work very well.
We have very similar small town, middle class backgrounds. We also think alike. In a creative partnership there is a problem if you think very differently. Even with one story, two people can think in completely different ways. But the two of us end up thinking in a very similar way, so it’s very easy to work with him. Aur ab toh aisa hai ki ek doosre ke bina kuch hota hi nahin hain. Woh kuch likhega toh mere ko phat se bolega and vice-versa. I spend more time with him than anyone else in my life. It’s a complete joy to work with him.

What are the similarities between you and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, your chief collaborator and mentor? What is the process like with him?

With Vinod there are complete dissimilarities (laughs). After we write something, we bounce it off to Vinod. Since he’s not completely associated with it, he can come and objectively see ki yaar yeh theek nahin lag raha, woh theek nahin lag raha. We then go back to the drawing board to rework it. Vinod works in the capacity of a guy who’s detached from it, so he can objectively see what’s wrong with the story.

When you look back on your films, do you detect flaws in them?

When you are making a film you think you are doing it in the best possible way; it is only after a while that you notice the flaws in them. When I watch Munnabhai MBBS, I can see the mistakes and wonder how I let those things go. The song (Chan chan) between Gracie and Sanju is one such. Even at that time I was against it because I felt that the song doesn’t belong to that film. We would hear things like ‘ek love track toh hona chahiye album mein’ toh maine dal diya, but in retrospect I feel I shouldn’t have.

As Bollywood’s undisputed director No.1, what would you say is your forte?

I would say patience.

Not writing?

Writing too comes from patience and the desire to not give up. Nobody is a magician. When you see great work, a good song or a film anything—it’s just ki that person had the patience to keep at it till it was prefect. Nobody creates a masterpiece overnight. For both Abhijat and me, our biggest plus point is that we don’t give it up till we get it right. There are many dark days while writing. Lagta hai kuch ideas nahin aa rahein hain and many times you feel like abandoning it, but you have to keep digging till you find something you are happy with.

Would you ever make a film without a message?

I am not wedded to the idea ki social message hona chaiye. What you believe in comes into the story. 3 Idiots started as a story about three students in a college. That’s my feeling, education ke baare mein, ki jis tarah se hum logon ko padhne ke liye force kar rahe hain, woh system hi galat hai. Instead of encouraging students to become what they want to, we compel them to chase success, so obviously they end up being unhappy. We never stepped out to say that, it just happened in the natural course of things. If at all, PK is one film which started with the idea ki ‘iske’ baare mein kuch bolna chahiye, par the challenge was ki ab usko kaise bolein? That became the path. And now I am doing Sanjay Dutt’s biopic and there is no larger message there (laughs). It’s just a great story.

With the biggest stars vying to work with you, does a newcomer stand a chance of being cast in your film?

When I started work on 3 Idiots, I was not looking at big stars at all, because it was supposed to be a story of 20 year olds. In 2006, Ranbir (Kapoor) and Imran (Khan) were not on the horizon—Saawariya or Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na had not released so I had not seen their work. I was looking for new actors and after extensive search we got three people. But unko saath mein jab khada karke shoot karte the, their chemistry somehow was not working. It was sheer chance that I met Aamir and he enquired about what I was working on. So I told him ki students ki film hai and he said mujhe kyon nahin lete? I told him that he might not fit as it was a film about students. But, Aamir took it up` as a challenge and said that he could look the part. And that’s when we changed everything, and roped in the rest of the characters from a slightly older age group. Like if I had taken Aamir and cast college goers as his friends toh phir woh difference dikhai deta. If you notice, all the junior artistes are slightly older than the expected age group. But I would love to do a smaller film with new actors.

Why did you opt for Bhojpuri, as PK was shot mostly in Rajasthan?

I shot it in Rajasthan and wanted Aamir to speak the local language, but he said, “Main Bhojpuri mein bolta hoon kyunki bahut time se aisi koi film nahin aaye hai.” He was very impressed by Ganga Jamuna, so he stuck to Bhojpuri. I didn’t mind the choice of dialect because the story is not region specific. Bhojpuri is a lovable language and you enjoy the way people speak it. There’s Sanju speaking in Rajasthani though.

If you were to remake an old Hindi classic, which would it be? Also, who are the Hind film directors that you admire?

I love Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films. I would love to remake Anand as it is my favourite film. Among the other directors, I admire Guru Dutt and Gulzar sa’ab.

An older actor that you would like to direct.

Dilip Kumar undoubtedlty, I am a huge fan of his. When you watch films like Leader that was directed by Rani Mukerji’s father, (Ram Mukerji) you are mesmerised by his eyes. An actor’s eyes speak volumes about him. Or Dilip Kumar in Ram Aur Shyam—he’s a charmer and a great performer. I think he can carry off any role. In Gunga Jumna he apparently didn’t know Bhojpuri, but he mastered the dialect. Nobody can tell, ki unki zubaan Urdu hai.

The heroine’s role in your films are not very strong, so is it any different for PK?

While doing Lage Raho... I would keep telling Abhijat, ki Munnabhai mein Gracie ka role weak tha and we have to correct that. We would even write the scene, but in the narration of the complete story, we would always stop at that point. We were struggling with it for months, then Abhijaat told me something very interesting. He said, “Yaar tu jab Charlie Chaplin ki film dekhne jaata tha toh sirf Chaplin yaad rehta hai. We are writing films that are character centric. So the character will be important, and not the supporting cast. If we try to give equal importance, then we would be diluting the film, so we should not attempt to do that.” In this film, fortunately there’s a lot of scope for Anushka’s (Sharma) character, so I think we have addressed that to a large extent.

Is it true that the much awaited Munnabhai Chale Amrika was stalled because Munnabhai is supposed to meet the President in America and there was a similar plot in My Name is Khan?

Yes, Munnabhai wanted to meet George Bush. Somebody tells him ki George Bush kuch bol raha hai Muslims ke baare mein. So he says ki usko le ke aao. And he has no idea that Goerge Bush is the President. So, yeah, …Khan came and then we were like, ye toh ho gaya. But ab aisi halat ho gayi hai ki kuch bhi karein to logon ko lagta hai uthaya hua hai and I didn’t want to go down that path.

Did you anticipate the uproar over the PK poster?

Once you see the film, you will realise that it is the most relevant poster that we have made. To me it’s not at all vulgar in any way. He’s a man who is covered with the transistor. Kamasutra ka desh hai hamara— if you go to akhadas the pehlwans have a chota sa langot, while in Kumbh mela sadhus are running naked; Jain munis travel naked, kya aap obscene bol rahe ho? And this is not even nude. I was surprised, because I think what I believe is what the world believes. Toh mujhe woh dar kabhi nahin tha, both Aamir and Vinod had a feeling ki thoda halla hoga, but you have to go with your convictions.