Vidhu Vinod Chopra recently spoke about his zero moments (low points) that became turning points in his career. During a conversation with Shantanu Moitra at the ongoing 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, he said that he was a very, very angry young man. Chopra described his relationship with stars as “not good.” When asked how, as a director, he trusts other directors when he becomes a producer, he explained, “I don’t trust directors. I only trust a human being.”

Recounting the time when he decided to make films, he said, “Of course, I couldn’t tell my father because when I did, he was very angry. His whole idea was, ‘Tu doctor banega toh Kashmir mein sab tere ko Doctor Chopra bolenge’. But the only dream I had was to assist Vijay Anand and to somehow reach him.”

Chopra says, “A relative promised me that he will send me a letter from Vijay Anand. Every day after school, I used to run to the little letterbox we had at 35-A Wazir Bagh, waiting for that letter that never came. That was my zero moment — I never got the letter.”

Chopra shared that everybody loved Khamosh (1986), but nobody bought it. He said, “NFDC had financed it and given me Rs. 8 lakhs. In 8 lakhs, we made that film, and the rule with NFDC, which is a fair rule, was that unless you paid back the loan, you wouldn’t get another loan. So unless I paid that, my career as a filmmaker was dead.”

He shared that everyone praised the film, but nobody bought it. He then showed it to the owner of Regal Cinema, who liked it. “He gave me his theatre for two weeks at a 50% profit-sharing agreement,” Chopra revealed.

“On the first day, for the 3 pm show, the theatre was empty! After the show ended, a man (who turned out to be a black marketeer) told me, ‘Tension kyun leta hai? Tera night show housefull hai.’ They had bought the whole hall and started selling tickets in black after putting up a housefull board. The hall was empty, but with a housefull board. That was the marketing of that time. That’s a zero se restart moment,” he said.

Talking about his film Parinda (1989), he shared, “In the film, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit die, and distributors had told me, ‘Sir, aisa mat kijiye. Jackie Shroff ko maar dijiye, hero-heroine ko maarenge toh picture nahi chalegi.’ They offered me Rs. 10 lakh to change the ending. But I said, what I’m trying to say in the film is that violence begets violence. It was also self-therapy because, at that time, I was a violent man, too. I didn’t change the ending.”

Narrating Jackie Shroff’s zero to restart moment, he said, “Everybody called him a wooden actor. Naseeruddin Shah was supposed to be in Parinda, but we had a fight. He said, ‘I won’t do it’ and I said, ‘Okay.’ He said, ‘If you’re a great director, then make Jackie Shroff act.’ I was young and angry, and I said, ‘You watch, I will make him do it.’ Jackie read the script and told me, ‘Bhidu, tu sambhal lena. Mere ko acting nahi aata hai.’”

Chopra shared that Jackie’s biggest problem was hitting his mark (the spots where actors are supposed to stand in a scene). So he decided to remove the marks entirely. Jackie got angry, said a few things, and left the set when he found out there were no marks. He returned 20 minutes later.

Chopra said, “Jackie thought for a moment and then told me, ‘Main yeh scene window se shuru karega kyunki yeh mera dream hai, toh main dream dekh raha hoon bhai ka. This was the beginning of Jackie Shroff, who went on to win the best actor award for Parinda.”