Ronnie Screwvala, who has 12 films in pipeline, predicts cinema halls won’t run to full capacity till there’s a vaccine; says industry looking at tough 18 months ahead
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 19, 2020)

Do you think the appetite for films will change in the post-Coronavirus era, with a clear demarcation between the big screen and small screen cinema?
I think it’s all about the storytelling and not screen size. At the moment, we’re battling the virus and 18 months away from the post-Covid era. For the next year or year-and-a-half, people will be wary of risking their health for a cinematic experience. But films will not go away and neither will theatres. It’s a strong window, but things will change and we will have to work 10 times harder on the creative content, storytelling and scale to bring the audience into the cinema halls again.

Does that mean smaller films will find it difficult to get screens?
No, if you have a gem of a story, it’s a big film already. People go to theatres because they don’t want to wait eight weeks. It has never been cinema v/s OTT as each one augments a market and grows.

When do you expect cinema halls to open and a constant flow of big releases?
Mumbai and Delhi, which account for 65 per cent of the box-office, are the worst-hit cities right now. Until they open up, nobody will want a release in only Pune, Nagpur and Kanpur. Makers of big films will wait to see if people are coming back to the cinemas. I don’t see some of them arriving this year. I don’t see theatres opening till October and even when they do, they won’t run to full capacity until the vaccine arrives. Entertainment will be the last priority for people. Next year, one will feel the pinch because there will be a drought of releases as few new films will roll for the next six-seven months, so there won’t be any more fights for the weekends. There aren’t too many films in the waiting, and you will see the gap over the next 18 months.

Do you think this is the right time to renegotiate on ticket rates, VPF (Virtual Print Fee) and other issues with theatre owners?
I have strong views on this, that’s why I got into the Competition Commission. Unfortunately, there is no unanimity.

You have backed films like Rang De Basanti, Khosla Ka Ghosla, A Wednesday and Aamir which were way ahead of their time. What gave you the courage and conviction?
Rang De Basanti was one of the first films we made, it could have been before its time, but it was not. Jodhaa Akbar was an expensive film, but again it broke the mould. People thought Aamir, A Wednesday and Khosla Ka Ghosla were small, but they worked big time. Anurag Basu narrated just 40 lines of the Barfi! script to me, look how the film turned out to be. Of all our films, only Swades was before its time, but it was a gem of a film.

Next up: The Immortal Ashwatthama with Vicky Kaushal, a fantasy trilogy based on the Mahabharata. Tell us about that…
The way forward for the millennial audience is not in retelling history, but in the way it is told. You need to romanticise history, let imagination take flight and put it in the context of the future. Our problem is that we don’t think big. I am sick and tired of everyone saying this film earned Rs 100-Rs 200 crore over the last 10 years. They should now cross Rs 500 crore, otherwise there’s no reason to make films. Baahubali showed us the potential of our market. It was a scaled-up film, but at heart, it had a strong story.

The Immortal Ashwatthama will reunite you with Uri: The Surgical Strike director Aditya Dhar and lead Vicky Kaushal. Any pressure?
We will have a blast. Aditya has such clarity of vision and Vicky is a stupendous, versatile actor. And I have the ability to look at things three years from now. The film is in prep now and will roll next year.

You also team up with Kangana Ranaut on Tejas, set against the backdrop of the Indian Air Force.
We wanted to make a film on the army so Uri happened. Tejas is not a sequel to Uri, because that was a true story and this isn’t. But it is on the same lines and on the same scale.

Will Taapsee Pannu’s sports drama, Rashmi Rocket, lose money due to the delay in production?
Prep cost is never a waste, we will be more ready when we start. Safety is the priority now.

Abhishek Chaubey is writing the biopic on hockey legend Dhyan Chand…
(Cuts in) We have 12 films in planning right now, we’ll discuss them at the right time.

Any change in your outlook as a producer in the post-Covid era?
I will be more aggressive now.

Anjum Rizvi found guilty of ‘wilful disobedience of directions’
Vallabh Ozarkar and Sharmeen Hakim (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 11, 2019)

The Bombay High Court last week held Anjum Rizvi, producer of A Wednesday and several other hit Bollywood films, in contempt of court and sentenced him to four months in prison. Justice Gautam Patel jailed Rizvi following innumerable excuses, “lying about his assets” and making false assurances over paying dues to a company called Y T Capital Pvt Ltd. Rizvi was arrested earlier this week and is currently in Arthur Road Prison. “The respondent (Rizvi) continues to believe that he can lie to courts and constantly get away with it…” Justice Patel said in his order, calling Rizvi’s final excuse for not making the payment absurd. In this case, Rizvi attributed the cheque’s bouncing to a bank holiday. He still didn’t have the money with him when he appeared in court three days later. He made this claim despite the fact that the money should have been deposited on the date mentioned on the cheque. On an earlier occasion Rizvi had cited dengue for delay in payment. “Allowing him to get away with this is to undermine the authority of the courts and the rule of law. There is no doubt that he is in civil contempt because there is wilful disobedience of directions, orders and a wilful breach of the repeated undertakings given to this court. His conduct is contemptuous,” the judge observed.

“Mr Rizvi is back in court and as usual he is empty-handed and only requests more time. He has been caught out in his falsehoods more than once… This seems to feed into his film industry mythology that courts do nothing, that matters only get adjourned, that a plaintiff is powerless against a defaulting defendant, that the law is impotent. If Mr Rizvi believes this, he is wrong. He is about to learn just how wrong he is, and he will now learn it the hard way,” Justice Patel had said in an earlier order.

In 2015 Y T Capital filed a case seeking repayment of Rs 2 crore paid to Rizvi in September 2014 for the movie Katha, which never released. The agreement with Rizvi had specified that YT Capital would have rights over his previous as well as future movies until the money is paid.

The HC passed an order in Y T Capital’s favour for recovery of Rs 2.44 crore, including interest. But Rizvi failed to pay the money, forcing YT Capital to approach the court again. In April 2017, the HC stayed the release of Rizvi’s film, Maatr, starring actress Raveena Tandon.

The court also stopped Rizvi from selling or creating any rights in negatives of seven previous films, John Day, India Metro, A Flat, Fast Forward, A Wednesday, Ahista Ahista and Charas: A Joint Effort.

The stay was lifted after he immediately coughed up Rs. 1.5 crores. However, money has only trickled in since then with the final pending amount being Rs 60 lakh.

Soon after the stay was lifted, following court orders, Rizvi filed an affidavit in May 2017, stating that he only has about Rs 17,500 in his bank account. He adding that he did not own any immovable properties.

Rizvi was then ordered to file a further affidavit disclosing his annual returns and later details of his balance sheet, which revealed he had investment in government and other securities to the tune of Rs 74,72,104. In fact advocate Kevin Gala, who was representing Rizvi, later asked to be discharged from the case. Justice Patel allowed his request saying it was “understandable”.

“Enough is enough. Rizvi must now face the consequences of this constant prevarication,” Justice Patel had said in an earlier order. 

Anshul Chaturvedi (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 24, 2018)

When Anupam Kher takes up issue with Naseeruddin Shah on a political point,an A Wednesday parallel is inevitable. There is another throwback to A Wednesday – a conversation Naseer had with us in the context of the movie, minorities, and being a Muslim in India. A decade back, while he was worried about an increasing sense of religious identity, he didn’t feel discrimination was exclusive to a particular community. Has he been feeling the way he does today, or have his views changed over a decade? Read and decipher for yourself

EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW FROM SEPTEMBER 2008:
Naseeruddin Shah’s latest movie (A Wednesday) has a scene where a Bollywood star, asking for protection against extortion threats, confides to the police commissioner that he is being targeted since he belongs to the minority community. When the commissioner, eyebrows arched, tersely asks him, “Mr Arjun Khanna, how do you belong to the minority community?” he answers with a straight face that since the Khans are in a clear majority in his industry, he, along with the likes of Amitji, obviously belongs to the minority community!

Ask Naseer if he believes that there is actually any discomfort level within the film industry, what with stories of fringe groups seeking attention by warning Muslim actors not to be part of Indian cinema, or the debates that arose post Saif and Shabana talking about their house-hunting experiences in Mumbai (Shabana Azmi had reportedly said that a flat was refused to be sold to her because she’s a Muslim, Saif had said several ‘Hindu building societies’ wouldn’t sell to a Muslim, so he went “straight to a Muslim builder”) – and his answer isn’t the dismissive “of course not” that one was expecting. “Hmm, well, no, there isn’t... but one is sensing the divide more and more these days. And it is making me unhappy, because I haven’t felt it before.” Felt what? “An assertion of a Muslim identity. An assertion of a Hindu identity.” Within the film industry? “In the city of Bombay, I’d say generally,” he says.

And after a moment’s pause, foregoes being politically correct. “And yes, in the film industry too. The Muslim presence has always been very strong in the industry anyway. A majority of stuntsmen, for example, or musicians, have generally been Muslims. But there was no sense of an assertion of identity, in ethnic terms, in all the years that I have seen the industry, by any side.” A Yusuf Khan wouldn’t ever need to acquire a Dilip Kumar persona in today’s times, then, would he? “I don’t think it was needed even then,” Naseer is quick to respond. But then, if it wasn’t a sensitive point earlier, why would it have been done? “It’s their own demons. I think Dilip Kumar would have been as successful, would have been the same grade of actor if he had been Yusuf Khan. I don’t know what his reasons were, so I can’t comment on them. But I don’t think what he did, in this context, set a good precedent.”

A discussion on religious identities and the cine industry in Mumbai is bound to veer to the inevitable question, even if it’s predictable — what’s his take on the points made by Shabana Azmi? Naseer is anything but smiling while responding to this one. “I don’t know if these issues need to be pursued with the kind of fervour they generate. I don’t see the point in raking up something that may have happened to someone, many years back, on account of one biased human being, and generalise on that. I wonder if Muslims are the only community that are discriminated against in such terms. I don’t think so. I think each community gets used when it’s convenient, politically, to use it... And that apart, some buildings don’t allow Sikhs, some don’t allow Christians, some don’t allow Muslims – and some are exclusively for Christians, some are exclusively for Muslims. So?”

What’s his personal take on it all? “I know I may be living in a fool’s paradise, but I have never faced any kind of discrimination in the course of my life, nor have any of my brothers, one of whom has served with great distinction in the army all his career. My dad, who was a government official, refused to go to Pakistan when he had a choice. He didn’t buy this idea of a Muslim nation. He didn’t face any discrimination, and neither have we. That’s my take on it.”

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; February 17, 2018)

Neeraj Pandey’s name has always been associated with quality cinema. Mindless or masala movies are just not his cup of tea. Here, the filmmaker talks about his new film Aiyaary, and handling sensitive subjects with ease. Excerpts:

People have certain expectations from your films. Does that bother you?
I’m not a victim for sure. And honestly, if people expect content from my films, then that’s my earning. I love the fact that people are pre-conditioned when they watch my films. It’s not a burden, but an asset.

Have your sensibilities changed from the time that you began your career?
We’re a little older now. So there’s more maturity and experience. You tend to be conscious of the fact that you can’t let your audiences down. For me, they are of paramount importance. When they’ve liked my films, there has not been a bigger gratification and that’s what has kept us going as a creative person running my company. I hope that continues.

What triggered a film like Aiyaary?
I was working on Baby when this started. I was meeting a lot of people from the armed forces and in one specific interaction that I had, the idea of the story germinated. Then, obviously, I went on to do M S Dhoni - The Untold Story. Post that, we were figuring out what to do next. That’s when the thought of that idea came back, I started doing my research and wrote the script.

With the Dhoni biopic raking in such numbers, is there a pressure to make a bigger film now?
Not at all. I always knew this film will not be as big as the Dhoni biopic. I don’t expect it to achieve those numbers because it’s a very different film. That film had more mass appeal. As a storyteller, it was a safe film. I am not running down the work on that film, but conceptually, it was easier. We just had to execute it well. We had to just surprise the audience. Aiyaary is not a very ‘massy’ film, but at the same time, it’s an interesting movie. You will get to see things you’ve never seen before or that people don’t want to talk about. Aiyaary is closest to my first film, A Wednesday, in terms of its tone and tenor. This was a difficult film because it’s like getting into a dark tunnel as there were no references. You have to find a way. We loved the fact that the journey was unique for this film.

Were you ever apprehensive about Aiyaary, given that it’s made on a sensitive topic?
I wasn’t apprehensive, but there’s definitely an unwritten rider, which I’m very conscious about, as a writer. You have to say things in a certain manner. We have spoken about several issues since our first film and the reason why we have got that acceptance is because of the fact that we aren’t jingoistic. We aren’t running people down and we are not into just sensationalism. It’s never been our approach. It’s not that these things don’t happen, but have they been spoken about? No! Which is why we are making the film. The army is an institution that we have tremendous respect for. Baby was our way of showing respect to them and Aiyaary is also in the same league and spirit.

But people get easily offended today. Does that curb a lot of cinematic liberties?
A film’s journey always starts two years before it is actually released. Do saal pehle haalaat kuch alag the. Now, with something suddenly happening to one film, a lot of our perspectives also get muddled and clouded. Yes, I do agree that suddenly people have become too sensitive. We all get put off by anything. At the end of the day, if you have a problem, don’t watch it. Then, there’s the CBFC, which is responsible and takes good care of what’s right and what’s wrong. So, that should be respected.

Sidharth Malhotra has never explored this space before. Was he your first choice?
Yes, he was. I wanted someone who’s vulnerable but can also come across as a strong person. We wanted that combination and Sidharth was a natural fit for that. He is playing a young major in the film and he was the only choice in the film.

Are you happy that content-driven films are not given the tag of unconventional cinema anymore?
That’s the reason we’re here. They have accepted and embraced such films. It’s only getting better for all storytellers. If a film is executed properly, it will do well. That trend is very healthy.

Lasyapriya Sundaram (BOMBAY TIMES; January 29, 2018)

Neeraj Pandey is a man of few words, who lets his films do the talking. He has successfully dabbled in writing, directing as well as producing films. With his fifth directorial venture, Aiyaary, all set to hit the screens, the director talks to BT about how writing is the most important aspect of filmmaking, why he likes keeping a low profile and how he doesn’t feel that artistic expression is under any threat in the country. Excerpts…

Is Aiyaary a quintessential Neeraj Pandey film?
The seeds of Aiyaary were sown during the shoot of Baby (2015), when we were interacting with personnel from the Army and intelligence services. The title, Aiyaary, has been on my mind for a long time. It’s from the fantasy novel, Chandrakanta, written by Devaki Nandan Khatri. The word means ultimate trickery. The title is apt for the story in which a Colonel (Manoj Bajpayee) plays mentor to a Major (Sidharth Malhotra) in the Indian Army. Sidharth looks up to Manoj’s character, but the story reaches a turning point when they have conflicting views about a situation.

When you make a film which evokes patriotism, do you also ensure that it’s not jingoistic?
Absolutely. One should never lose the context in which the story is told and I don’t have an agenda. However, when you make a film like Baby, you inadvertently speak about the country and the people who will go to any extent to protect it. Similarly, this film is about the Armed Forces and how they are serving the nation. So, it has patriotic fervour.

Being a civilian, when you narrate a story about the Armed Forces, how do you keep it as real as possible?
If you are a responsible storyteller, you will ensure that nothing in a film like that is demeaning. In fact, I have more friends in the Indian Army than in the film industry, which proves that they have a sense of comfort when they share their experiences with me. They feel that I am worthy of their faith and trust. Also, my interest in narrating such stories stem from the fact that I have extended family in the Armed Forces. I grew up in a city which encouraged cultivating interest in all kinds of stories, but thrillers attracted me the most.

Do you write scripts keeping the cast in mind? Also, with a significant body of work, there is a lot of expectation from your films. Do you feel the pressure?
I think writing a script with a certain cast in mind is a terrible way to pen a film. Firstly, one needs to be honest about the material, and somewhere down the line, you start seeing faces that fit the bill. Talking about pressure, I choose not to be aware of its trappings. For me, the story has always been paramount, and it will remain so.

You also turned producer with your directorial debut, A Wednesday and ever since, you have co-produced quite a few films. Does being a producer help you to maintain your creative integrity?
Nobody was willing to produce the first film that I directed. So, I became a producer by default and yes, it has empowered me. However, it also comes with a sense of responsibility because the stakes are higher with each film. It’s a combination of risk and adventure, which I like.

Unlike other filmmakers, you keep a low profile...
I would actually prefer a no-profile scenario (laughs). One of the key reasons is that basically I am a shy person. I feel comfortable about not being visible on social media platforms and to be honest, my handles are managed by my team. In fact, I opted for a verified account to put a stop to the number of fake accounts that had come up under my name.

Toilet - Ek Prem Katha, which you co-produced, was successful at the box office. The issue that it dealt with was in accordance with what the current government was drawing people’s attention to. But a section of people also viewed it as propaganda. With such social subjects, there’s always that risk, isn’t it?
The story was in the making for three-and-a-half to four years. After Siddharth Singh and Garima Wahal (the writers) first approached me around three years ago, we kept improvising the story with each draft. Akshay Kumar was keen on being a part of the film, though he had only heard the idea. But once he came on board, we had to tailor the script accordingly and that took time. Also, the problem highlighted in the film is not something new.

A director will always be the captain of the ship but even today, the industry continues to be star-driven. Does it make the task of a director tougher in this scenario?
Since I write my own material, for me, the director is less important than the writer. I have a lot of regard for the writer. So, I believe the director has to listen to the writer and that in my case makes the process of filmmaking easier. I have never believed in the star system, and my films have essentially been about the content. The star is an enabler and pushes the film in a different orbit, but when we embark on a film, the content is paramount.

While your films are works of fiction, they are rooted in reality. But given the kind of opposition that was faced by a recent film, which was based on history, would you now be even more careful about what you write?
I have always been careful and cognisant of it. There is nothing new that I have to do in this regard. I am responsible when I speak for the characters in my films. That’s not something that I have to attune myself to. More than being restricted, I feel responsible as a writer.

Neeraj Pandey as he looks back on a decade in show business that started with the now cult film, A Wednesday
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 19, 2017)

You reunited with Naseeruddin Shah for Aiyaary, your upcoming Republic day release, a decade after your directorial debut, A Wednesday.
(Smiles) Aiyaary is closest to the film I started with, and since it belonged to the same genre as A Wednesday, it was imperative to have Naseer saab. Ten years ago, on the last day of my first film, I was shooting with him in an under-construction building. Coincidentally, I started Aiyaary with him on a similar location and in many ways it was like picking up from where we had left off.

How did the idea of this thriller-drama, set against an army backdrop and revolving around a mentor and a protégé, come about?
It began subconsciously when I was filming Baby. I interacted with a lot of people from the army and a seed was sown. Then after the release of the Dhoni biopic, my mind drifted back to a couple of incidents I’d heard at the time. ‘Aiyaary’ is a Persian word which I had first come across in Devaki Nandan Khatri’s novel in which he referred to them as shape shifters (aiyaars) and the tricks they perform as ‘aiyaary’.

Manoj Bajpayee who was brilliant in Special 26 has said that Aiyaary is one of your best scripts.
I value his opinion, but I’d like to believe that my best is yet to come.

Most of your films have a patriotic slant. Don’t you want to experiment with a no-brainer comedy or a love story some day?
I made Ouch, a black comedy, a genre not everyone is comfortable with. And my first script was a love story which unfortunately never got made as we couldn’t come up with the resources and get the actors we wanted.

Any regrets?
No, I’ve got over it. May be I’ll give it to someone else to direct it at some point.

Sidharth Malhotra’s last few films—Baar Baar Dekho, A Gentleman and Ittefaq— haven’t done well. Wasn’t it a risk to cast him him in Aiyaary?
When you start work on a project a year-and-a-half ago, you don’t know what the talent’s journey will be like. It’s not my business to know how these movies fared; I can only focus on my film. Besides, Sidharth is very hard-working and would come for rehearsals and readings on time. Every film is a risk on multiple levels. But once you put your faith behind a particular talent, there should be no doubt, only the confidence to play around with the talent.

Aiyaary releases on the same day as Akshay Kumar’s Pad Man. Considering that you’ll have worked together on Special 26, Baby, Naam Shabana and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, did you ever discuss shifting one of the films?
We knew from day one that Aiyaary would come on January 26, 2018, because the subject lends itself to this date. I don’t concern myself with what other people are doing. The decisions we take involve several other people who rally behind the project and calls are taken after a lot of deliberations. I believe the films are chalk and cheese so there is no issue in them releasing together.

What’s happening to Crack, featuring Akshay?
It’s on the backburner for now as I’m not happy with the way the script has shaped up. When I find the time, I’ll go back to the material and see how it can be reworked.

There were reports of a fallout with Akshay. True?
That question doesn’t merit an answer. Why would there be a fallout? On what? There are absolutely no issues on any front.

After the release of M S Dhoni - The Untold Story, you were accused of glorifying the cricketer and not highlighting his flaws and controversies in what turned out to be an agenda film.
I had said before the film released that the Dhoni biopic was about the making of the man and the talent. It ended with the 2011 World Cup, a milestone in his life and that of Indian cricket, and most of the stuff that is in the public domain came in only after that period of time. It just seemed appropriate to end with a boy from Ranchi on the world stage achieving this big win for the country along with his teammates. That was the arch of the story.

How do you look back on your decade-long journey?
I’m not satisfied as a filmmaker as I still believe all the films I have directed have room for improvement. I have to live with that knowledge but I can learn from my mistakes and not repeat them. Fortunately it’s been a great run for our company as we have managed to work with the stories we believed in.

What do you do when you’re not working?
I like to read and I enjoy discovering new places. (Laughs) So, I just try to find an excuse to travel and sometime plan mock recces.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 19, 2017)

Mirror had earlier reported (July 14) about Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee leaving for London for the on-going schedule of Neeraj Pandey’s Aiyaary. Now, we have learnt that veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, who had earlier worked with the filmmaker on his 2008 directorial debut, A Wednesday, has reunited with him for his next which is inspired by real-life incidents involving two army officers.

A source close to the development told Mirror, “While Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra play mentor-protégé, Naseer plays the whistle-blower. His role had been kept under wraps so far. He has already shot his portions in Mumbai and isn’t part of the London schedule that goes on till the month end.”

Next up, the leading men of the Shital Bhatia and Neeraj Pandey production will head to Oman in August. The film’s first schedule was canned in Gulmarg and Pahalgam, followed by a three-week schedule in Delhi.

Meena Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 10, 2017)

Naseeruddin Shah’s name still adds a certain gravitas and even excitement to a film; though his roster recently has more misses than hits. On the eve of the release of an upcoming social thriller, the veteran actor, known for his candour, admits to his follies, opens up about his late friend and reveals why he wants to give Shaad Ali a hug.

Irada releases a week from now, any thoughts on it?
I’m anxious because I will be held responsible for the quality of the film. It’s a grim thriller and hopefully will be accepted like A Wednesday. It has a couple of good twists and a socially relevant subject, talking about the poisoning of the soil and water by chemical industries and how it even affects the common man who drinks a glass of the contaminated water.

You once famously said that films are not arty or commercial but good or bad. Knowing this, how do you justify your mediocre choices?
Over the last few years, my output has not been outstanding, only Waiting turned out well. Some of the films I did for obvious reasons but it’s become embarrassing. Take Charlie Kay Chakkar Mein, which I did out of a sense of loyalty to a couple of my students who claimed they did not have any money. I agreed to a two-day appearance which stretched to five days and ultimately I ended up as the villain which I was not supposed to be in the first place. It was a dreadfully embarrassing movie which I couldn’t sit through myself. One review even said, ‘Naseeruddin Shah has now become the Messiah of mediocre cinema.’

It’s good that you can laugh about this?
Yes, of course. I did good films like Dedh Ishqiya which didn’t fare well and ghastly ones like Jackpot which deserved to flop. There were films like Dirty Politics, Bolo Raam and some whose titles I don’t remember which I did for various reasons. A couple were made by cash-strapped friends who needed a name to sell their projects. After 40 years of doing cinema, this is not a good enough reason for shoddy work.

So you agree you should be more discerning?
Yes, but there’s no way you can tell whether a movie will turn out to be good or bad. I had never heard of Neeraj Pandey before I did A Wednesday yet it’s one of my most memorable films. Ditto Shoaib Mansoor of Pakistan but again Khuda Kay Liye turned out good. Who was Shekhar Kapur before he made Masoom? It’s the roll of the dice. I am not embarrassed to admit that I’ve done a lot of movies for money. That is what we all work for. But there have also been cases where the money does not matter. Irada is one such film I’ve done because I believed in it.

But money is important to you?
I seriously suspect money can buy happiness but I’ve been a happier person since I started earning enough than when I was broke. I appreciate money and I work for it. I don’t expect something for nothing which is why I do not gamble. Money doesn’t solve every problem but it makes life easier and it’s better to have money than not have it.

Is there something like a typical day in your life?
No, there isn’t. Sometimes I wake at the crack of dawn, sometimes not until noon. It depends on bodily fluids and what I have lined up. I haven’t green-lit too many films and ideally I like to start my day with a game of tennis. Till a couple of years ago I was a cricket addict, now it’s tennis. I’ve been forbidden to play cricket and ride horses. I cannot even exercise because my back has given way.

Do you advice your children on the kind of work they should undertake?
You cannot influence or control your children’s lives. Parents overrate their influence. My parents had no control over me though they tried everything. I know better than to try to live my children’s lives for them. My only prayer for Imaad, Heeba and Vivaan is that they are happy and successful in whatever they do.

With Om Puri gone, you seem to be the only custodian of a certain kind of cinema…
Yes, I’m the sole survivor. Om is gone, Farooq (Shaikh) is gone, Amrish (Puri) is gone… It feels strange. I’m angry with Om, deeply grieved that he didn’t look after himself. He had no right to mistreat himself. But on second thoughts, who knows what he went through?

You couldn’t sit through OK! Jaanu because you were deeply disturbed by Om’s death, right?
Shaad Ali invited me to a preview a couple of days after Om passed away. I was deeply disturbed and left shortly after the film began. I’ve heard disappointing reports. I thought Mani Ratnam’s film was enjoyable and at a loss to explain what went wrong with the Hindi version. Shaad is sincere and worked hard, as did everyone else. I want to give him a hug because he must be feeling low. No one should feel like s**t after they’ve worked hard on something. He is a lovely chap! As that book on screenplay writing says at the end, no one knows a damn how things will work out as far as a film goes. After writing 400 pages on how to work on a winning screenplay, the last sentence is — no one knows a damn! That’s what filmmaking is all about.

Neeraj Pandey on why he chose to cast Akshay Kumar and Sushant Singh Rajput against type, reveals he has bought the rights to a Hussain Zaidi bestseller for a web series
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 9, 2016)

Neeraj Pandey candidly admits that he had trouble finding backers for his debut film, A Wednesday. That's the reason Friday Filmworks, the banner he set up with Shital Bhatia, came about. "We were not equipped to set up a production company, it was born out of default so we could make the film we wanted," he acknowledges.

Eight years on, after talks to ensure that they were on the same page, the duo joined hands with Reliance Entertainment for an equal partnership joint venture, Plan C Studios, whose first co-production, Rustom, opens this Friday. "The collaboration gives us more freedom to express ourselves without thinking about market constraints and other trappings," Neeraj smiles.

Rustom is loosely inspired by the KM Nanavati case. The Parsi naval commander shot dead his wife Sylvia's lover, Prem Ahuja. The jury of the Greater Bombay Sessions Court pronounced him "not guilty" under Section 302 with an 8-1 verdict but Judge Ratilal Bhaichand Mehta referred the case to the High Court which agreed with the prosecution's argument that the murder was premeditated, and sentenced Nanavati to life imprisonment for culpable homicide amounting to murder.

On November 24, 1961, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction. But after three years in jail, Ahuja's sister, Mamie, was persuaded to forgive him and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, then Governor of Maharashtra, pardoned Nanavati who migrated to Toronto with his family.

In 1963, RK Nayyar's Sunil Dutt-Leela Naidu-starrer, Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, despite a disclaimer that all people and incidents were fictitious and altering the case's outcome, had a similar storyline even though the screenplay was said to be have been written before the case made headlines. More recently, Soni Razdan's on-the-floors Love Affair draws from the same source. With facts only a Google away, wasn't it a gamble going ahead with the Tinu Desai directed Rustom?

"Vipul Rawal's story is only loosely inspired by Nanavati's and has integrated another fictional element. I don't know much about the contemporary film, but Yeh Raaste Hai Pyaar Ke released decades ago. For us, it was an interesting story to tell today as it was a landmark and the jury system has since been abolished," reasons Neeraj.

He has established himself as a filmmaker who steers clear of formulae, bringing stories with a semblance of truth. He is also responsible for Khiladi Kumar's transformation through films like Special 26, Baby and Rustom. Neeraj refuses to take credit for the makeover. "Akshay was hungry for different roles and ready for risks. His appetite got Special 26 going. He followed it up with Baby, Rustom and Airlift which wasn't our film. I believe in anti-casting, I offered him Special 26 to explore a different side to him as an actor. He believed in me and vice versa, this trust has kept us going," he says.

Signing Sushant Singh Rajput to play MS Dhoni in the upcoming biopic, M S Dhoni - The Untold Story, was another casting decision that went against type and was met with scepticism. Today, Neeraj reveals that even the actor admits to being surprised by what he has done while dubbing: "But I'm not surprised, I was expecting it," he asserts. "I could see that he was training himself, both as a player and actor, during the readings, getting there. Sushant has an unquestionable amount of discipline, is hungry and yet wasn't doing much work. It worked in his favour."

Point out that all the secrecy around M S Dhoni - The Untold Story, along with the change in release date has lead to speculations, including reports that the real Dhoni was unhappy with the film. "Work started when we were shooting for Baby, it's been two-and-a- half years since but because it's a biopic you can't stop rumours. They can't impact a project like this which has a life of its own and can't be hurried," he argues, adding that the stories about Dhoni being unhappy are baseless. "But we choose not to give justifications or clarifications, the film will be out soon."

Meanwhile, he's in talks for the rights of several books, including S Hussain Zaidi's Mafia Queens Of Mumbai which is being developed into a web series. "Barring the stories Hussain has already sold to other makers, we have bought the rights to the rest for a digital series, including some he was planning to use in a sequel to the book. We are also in talks for another novel and developing my own, Ghalib Danger. As makers we are constantly looking for material," he says.

Meanwhile, while a follow-up to A Wednesday is out of question "because that story is done", sequels to Special 26 and Baby are in the works, and a new production which should roll in a couple of months could also spin a franchise. "There's no rush... No deadlines or finishing lines on projects. We don't have a target of making five-10 films, we will grow as we go along," he signs off.

Neeraj Pandey on the cross-border villain of his upcoming film, the Special 26 sequel and MS Dhoni's biopic
Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 13, 2014)