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Journalism of Courage
With only a few weeks to go before his newest offering opens at cinema halls across the country, J P Dutta is clearly an anxious man. Revealing that although he has tasted both success (Border) and failure (Ghulami, Yateem, Hathyaar, Kshatriya) from close quarters, he still gets all edgy before a new release, Dutta says he is also keen to see how Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor — both of whom will be introduced in Refugee — fare with the audiences.
Since you’ve maintained that your purpose for making Refugee was not to give Abhishek and Kareena a launch pad, are you concerned that from the audience point of view the focus might be more on the newcomers than the story you want to tell?
No, no. I’m sure that the audiences today are exposed to a lot of quality cinema in relation to Hollywood films coming in. Another example would be the fate of a lot of films at the box-office. I think they are looking for quality, and value for money. I certainly hope my audiences do expect, first, a film from me, and then, of course, whatever comes with it. I don’t think the two will take the focus away from the story. I think audiences are quite keen to see a film from me after Border because there’s always been a certain amount of dignity and respect in my work.
However, your responsibility does not end at making a good, successful film. Refugee is also expected to showcase the talent of both star-kids. Do you feel burdened with the additional responsibility?
But it’s not a showcase. It’s just a film. It’s a subject, and Abhishek and Kareena are merely characters in the overall scenario of the film.
For a veteran film-maker like yourself who has worked with several established actors in the past, was it easier, or more difficult to be handling newcomers this time round?
I have always had a very easy relationship with all my actors. They’ve never really bothered me. On the contrary, I’ve always said that my actors have been my strength. Although my films didn’t do well at the box-office earlier, my actors stood by me, and trusted me, and had faith in me. It has always been good working with all my actors, right from Dharam (Dharmendra) to Abhishek. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to work very hard on Abhishek and Kareena because I felt they were very comfortable with their job. They didn’t make me feel like they needed to be whipped into shape, and that could be because of the conditioning they’ve had, coming from film families.
you feel a little bad about the pressure on them..?
Ya, particularly for Abhishek. It’s a little too much on him, but I guess he just has to treat it like a challenge, and do his best.
You’re known to be a tough taskmaster. Did you have to go out of your way to be gentle to these first-timers?
(Laughs)… No, when they were good I was okay with them. When they took me slightly for granted, I had to keep them in check.
Though your intentions behind making Border — a film with a clear Indo-Pak brotherhood theme — may have been noble, lots of people were angry. Do you think Refugee might also end up ruffling some feathers?
I’ve said this before, and I’m saying it again: Border was a war cry, while Refugee is a cry for peace. My whole effort behind this film is to finally say that what every human being wants is a better way of life. Nobody really wants a war, nobody wants conflict. I think everybody’s quite fed up of death and destruction all the time. I don’t think it’s a subject people can disagree with me about.
Having turned producer with both Border and Refugee, does this allow you more freedom in film-making?
Oh yes. I feel like I’ve actually started making films only now. I’m doing things totally on my terms now. I can select the subjects that I want to, which I wouldn’t have dared to do with another producer’s money.
So are these riskier films than before?
Of course. For 25 years we didn’t have a war film, but I made Border because I felt strongly about it. And now I’ve made Refugee, which is something about Bangladeshi refugees going across to Pakistan. It’s about refugees who are stranded in Bangladesh who are actually from West Pakistan. So the immediate reaction from Bangladeshis towards these refugees was very negative. But I feel that refugees are also human beings. And that’s what I’m trying to say — that they’re humans too, they also want a better life. You cannot turn your back on these people. Man cannot turn his back on man.
Do you think cinema as an art form influences society in any way?
Well, I made a film in 1988 called Hathyaar, about children being exposed to weapons. Althouth the film didn’t do well, I got letters from parents saying that because of this film their sons had stopped playing with air-guns. I also got reactions from parents saying thier sons, who had joined the underworld, had pulled out of that life — that my film had had such an impact on their children. I guess, even if I’ve touched four or five lives, it was worth it.
You lost your brother to a flying accident in the Air Force, and you’ve always said that you’ve had a lot of pain within you. Has that pain subsided over the years, and with every film you have made?
On the contrary it’s only growing. Maybe as you get on with the years, it comes back to you… I thought I would get over my catharsis by immersing myself in film-making, but that hasn’t happened.
Once again you have used deserts in Refugee. How do you explain your fascination for these barren lands?
I like the emptiness, the colours of deserts. I like human beings against that landscape. I like them to look very tiny against nature.
Is film-making a tiring process?
Very tiring. Easily one of the most difficult individual jobs the world has to offer. It takes its toll on your mind and body. And especially on directors like me, who make different films, who like cinema to be cinema, who have seen cinema from William Wyler to David Lean, from K Asif to Ramesh Sippy.
Are you proud of, or do you resent this tag of "serious film-maker" that you seem to have acquired over the years?
I don’t think I’ve acquired such a tag, I guess I’ve worked towards it — worked towards being known not as a "serious" film-maker, but as a "respectable" one. That’s what I’m looking for. I work very hard, and I’d like to be respected for it. And I want my work to be respected, not me as a human being.
Do you feel you’ve got your due?
(Laughs)… Ha! I’ll leave it at that.
