Forty-one years is a long time between a film and its sequel. But considering the immense popularity that Mithun Chakraborty’s Disco Dancer (1982) enjoys, the veteran actor’s fans will only be too happy to get a follow-up movie. mid-day has learnt that B Subhash, who produced and directed the 1982 musical drama, is backing the sequel, the working title of which is Disco Dancer 2. Nitin Kumar Gupta, who directed Sayonee (2020) and Love In Ukraine, will helm the offering.

Disco Dancer, also starring Kim, revolved around Chakraborty’s street singer Jimmy who becomes a disco star. On its release, it became a smashing hit, thanks to the leading man’s smooth dance moves and Bappi Lahiri’s chartbusters, including Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja, I Am A Disco Dancer, and Yaad Aa Raha Hai. The movie is also credited for ushering in disco music in Hindi cinema.

A trade source reveals, “The upcoming action-musical will pick up where the first movie left off, following the story of Jimmy and his son. It will be shot in various international locations, including Russia.”

The world of Disco Dancer is incomplete without Chakraborty. We hear that the makers are keen to rope in the senior actor for the second edition. “While Mithun has not been approached yet, he will most likely be seen in the pivotal role of Jimmy. Music plays a key role, and the makers have initiated talks with some international music directors,” says the source.

Subhash and Gupta are apparently in talks with K V Vijayendra Prasad — the writer of RRR [2022], Baahubali, and Bajrangi Bhaijaan [2015] — to serve as the writer-presenter.

Despite multiple attempts, Gupta remained unavailable for comment. Subhash, however, confirmed the news, stating, “I have given the sequel’s rights to Nitin, who is directing it. I will be a joint producer.” 

When probed whether Chakraborty will be a part of the sequel, he stated, “The casting is underway. It’s too early to talk about it.”

The year was 1983. Film director Babbar Subhash’s ‘Disco Dancer’ had just been invited for the Moscow film festival by a Mumbai-based agency Sovex Fort. “I was hesitant because it was a modern film with modern music and mostly dark films such as ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ have been successful in Russia but Smita Patil convinced me otherwise,” Subhash recalls.

By the time the movie screening ended, over 3,000 people in the auditorium were clapping and dancing along to the title track. “It was one of the best days of my life,” he says. ‘Disco Dancer’ went on to sell 120 million tickets in the Soviet Union, and even WhatsApp’s Ukrainian cofounder Jan Koum recalls watching the film as many as 20 times as a kid in Kyiv.

With Hollywood movies banned in the USSR during the Cold War, the Soviet government began promoting Indian movies from the 1950s onwards. The first big hit was Raj Kapoor’s ‘Awara’ selling 64 million tickets followed by ‘Shree 420’. Then came movies such as ‘Dhool Ka Phool’, ‘Love In Simla’, ‘Bobby’, ‘Barood’, ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’.

Dr Sudha Rajagopalan, senior lecturer in East European Studies at the University of Amsterdam, estimates that 210 Indian films were screened in Soviet theatres between 1954 and 1991, around 190 of which were mainstream Hindi films from Bombay. “Indian popular films often surpassed both domestic and other foreign cinema in viewer turnout,” she writes in her book.

Elena Doroshenko, a Moscow-based journalist and linguist who has watched the old hits as well as the relatively newer ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ and ‘Paheli’, says they struck an emotional chord with Russians. “The films spoke the same emotional language — even though we were different, we understood the emotions and passions,” she says.

The success of Hindi films in the USSR also led to joint productions such as ‘Alibaba Aur 40 Chor’ and ‘Sohni Mahiwal’. However, this changed after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. “There was a flood of various films from the West and we wanted to imitate that lifestyle,” Doroshenko says. “Indian films were still on TV — it’s not that they were forgotten but they stopped being a sensation.”

Dancer Svetlana Tulasi, who was born to an Indian dad and Russian mom and raised in Moscow, recalls watching Bollywood movies on cassette tapes, then cable TV, then DVDs and eventually on the internet. She shot to fame a few years ago with her viral Bollywood-Kathak fusion dances at Russia's Got Talent and Ukraine's Got Talent.

On YouTube, there are Russian fan channels devoted to Mithun Chakraborty, and dance performances set to the song ‘Jimmy Jimmy’. There are even a couple of restaurants by that name in Vladivostok and the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

The Georgian ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ was inaugurated in 2019 by none other than Raj Kapoor’s son Rajeev Kapoor. “When we visited Georgia for the first time, we were surprised to see that taxi drivers were playing ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ and ‘Mera Joota hai Japani’,” says owner Shubham Joshi whose customer base includes both locals as well as Indian students.

B Subhash, Parvati Khan and Bappi Lahiri

Director B Subhash’s association with late music icon Bappi Lahiri dates back to 1982, when the duo scored their first hit together with Disco Dancer. Lahiri was someone the director could rely on because he had a solution for everyone and everything.

Recounting an episode from the ’80s, Subhash says, “We were at Mehboob Studio (Mumbai), and Bappi da had five other recordings that day. A producer came and requested him to finish a song because his film was going on floors the next day onwards. Bappi da smiled and obliged. The recording of a single song needs three to four hours. That day, Bappi da recorded for 24 hours at a stretch.”

Quiz him about how he would want to remember the singer-composer and Subhash shares, “He was a lovely person. In the past 40 years, I had never once seen him lose his temper. He was down-to-earth, sweet and kind.”

The duo collaborated again just a few years back when Lahiri composed the music for Subhash’s daughter’s yet-to-be released directorial, Jhoom. However, he rues not being able to meet him in the past two years: “Artistes don’t like to go all out about their sickness because it affects their profession. So, I didn’t visit him because I presumed that he wouldn’t like people coming to meet him due to his ill-health.”

On a parting note, the director says, “Bappi da did a lot for others, and that will stay back and become a part of his rich legacy.”

My association with Bappi da began in 1978, when we collaborated on my directorial venture Taqdeer Ka Badshah, starring Mithun Chakraborty. It was on the set of this film that I decided to make Disco Dancer (1982).

It all began when, one day, I asked my assistant to call Mithun for his shot, but was told that he’s upset. When I went to meet Mithun, he said that he is earnest with his work, but things don’t seem to be working out. That’s when I told him that I’ll make Disco Dancer, which will make him a superstar. 

Back then, Bappi da was working on popularizing the disco genre in India. Disco Dancer paved the way for Bappi da, Mithun and myself to become a [successful] trio of sorts. We three went on to collaborate on several films like Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki (1984), Dance Dance (1987), and Pyar Ke Naam Qurbaan (1990). While every song of Disco Dancer became a hit, Jimmy Jimmy was in another league altogether, becoming immensely popular in China, Dubai, Israel, Ethiopia and even Russia.

When I first heard the song post recording, I told Bappi da that [it wasn’t quite doing justice to] the situation it comes in, in the film. He came up with the idea of using a double voice. Here, the artiste sings it twice separately, after which both [renditions] are blended. The result blew us away.

Apart from being a versatile composer and knowing how to play many musical instruments, Bappi da was also a great sound engineer. He knew exactly which technique to use [to enhance a song]. With Disco Dancer, we also introduced new singers like Vijay Benedict, Nandu Bhende and Parvati Khan.

Did you know that the song, Yaad Aa Raha Hai Tera Pyaar was to be actually sung by Kishore Kumar? On the day Kishore da was to record the song at a new studio in Cuffe Parade, the lift wasn’t working. Kishore da said he wouldn’t be able to climb the stairs due to health issues, and that we could do a scratch recording [with someone else]. So Bappi da recorded the scratch. When I heard Bappi da’s rendition, I felt it brought out the emotions of the song effectively. I wanted to retain it, and told Kishore da that I’d like to go ahead with [the musician’s] version if he agreed.

When Kishore da heard the version, he told Bappi da that he had sung it very well, and that his rendition should be retained. Till date, whenever my actor friends like Jackie Shroff call me, they never say ‘Hello’, but sing, ‘Yaad Aa Raha Hai..’. Such is the magic of Bappi da.

During the making of Disco Dancer, I would shoot the film during the day. Bappi da would use the time to compose the music. At the end of the day, we’d have our music sittings at 10 pm. When I first heard his composition of Ae Oh Aa Zara Mudke, I told him the song wasn’t sounding right, [given the context]. In an hour-and-a-half, he gave me a [reworked version] that was punchy.

At 11:30 pm, we decided the song had to be written too, so Kishore da could record it the following morning. So, I picked up lyricist Anjaan saab and brought him to Bappi da’s place. In another couple of hours, the song was ready. [The next morning] when I narrated to Kishore da how the song was created, he was all praise for Bappi da’s dedication.

Bappi da was a foodie. While working, he indulged only in biscuits. While travelling to international destinations, he would shop for two things — a musical instrument or cookies.

As told to Hiren Kotwani

(Clockwise) B Subhash and wife Tillottama with Smita Patil, Amrish Puri, Mithun Chakraborty, Mandakini, Bappi Lahiri, Shakti Kapoor and Dalip Tahil during the making of Dance Dance

Music director Bappi Lahiri, who harnessed and harvested the “disco sound” to produce chartbusters in films like Disco Dancer and Namak Halaal but was equally adept in composing gentler semi-classical and folksy tunes best exemplified in the less remembered songs of Aangan Ki Kali, Apne Paraye and Aetbaar, passed away in a Mumbai hospital late Tuesday night. He was 69.

The composer-singer had been under treatment for several weeks. “He was suffering from OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) and recurrent chest infection...He succumbed to his illness at about 11:45pm,” Dr Deepak Namjoshi of Mumbai's CritiCare Asia Hospitals said in a statement.

In the 1980s, a disco track became mandatory in Hindi films after the tsunami-like success of Qurbani’s ‘Aap Jai sa Koi’ (singer: Nazia Hasan, composer: Biddu). Songs became something that you both danced and listened to. For the young and the restless, beat acquired more prominence. And the electronic synthesizer became the busiest instrument. No Bollywood composer understood, captured and expressed the new musical ecosystem like Bappi.

His dalliance with disco started with ‘Hari Om Hari’ (Pyara Dushman, inspired by Neil Sedaka/Eruption’s ‘One Way Ticket’) and ‘Rambha Ho Ho Ho’ (Armaan). Director B Subhash’s Disco Dancer became his high noon. From the title track to ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, every track in Disco Dancer was dancey and delicious. If ‘Awara Hoon’ was Hindi cinema’s major cultural export in the 1950s, ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ remains a musical ambassador even in Vladimir Putin’s Russia today. Just go to YouTube for confirmation.

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Bappi Lahiri’s breathless foottappers and Indeevar’s nursery-rhyme lyrics (‘Char baar marenge ek baar ginenge’, Mawaali) in Southern productions defined popular film music in the 80’s. They were integral to mind-numbing entertainers whose plots could match Donald Trump’s statements for incredulousness. Jeetendra’s Himmatwala, Mawaali, Maq sad and Tohfa were all propelled by these tunes. “He was a king in Madras,” director B Subhash told this reporter some years ago.

In the 1980s, Bappi da, as many called him fondly, provided the score for an eyepopping 230 films. In 1985, he gave music to 33 movies: 30 Hindi, 2 Bengali, 1 Tamil; which means a film released every 12 days! The composer lorded over the charts even when some of the songs were copies of foreign hits and desi classics. There was an alternative side to him as well.

In Basu Chatterjee’s Apne Paraye, he surprised critics with his folksy tunes. ‘Shyam rang rangaa re’, where he employed the Bengal percussion instrument khol, has the meditative feel of a Chaitanya kirtan. ‘Gao mere mann’ carries the smell of ponds, banana leaves and 19th century Bengal.

Not many would associate him with songs such as ‘Saiyan bina ghar soona’ (Aangan Ki Kali), ‘Chaar din ki zindagi hai’ (Ek Baar Kaho) or ‘Kisi nazar ko tera’ (Aetbaar). Many of them were sung by Yesudas and Bhupendra.

Born in north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri town to musician parents, Alokesh (his original name) trained under guru Samta Prasad and was hailed as a tabla prodigy at just six. Nanha Shikari (1973) was his debut Hindi film. But the composer made a distinct impression with Chalte Chalte (1976), among his finest scores.

Amit Khanna, who wrote the lyrics, recounts how Bappi got the film. “The film director Bhisham Kohli, also Dev Anand’s nephew, was looking for a music director. He was unable to get R D Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal. Bappi had earlier come to Navketan looking for work. And I was impressed by some of the tunes I heard. I told Bhisham, why don’t you try him? During the music session, Bappi played the ‘Chalte Chalte’ tune. I wrote the opening lines. And this led to the song,” recalled Khanna. 

Slowly, he worked his way up with hummable melodies in low budget action films such as Zakhmee, Ravikant Nagaich’s Surakksha and Wardat and the Ramsay brothers’ horror yarns (Saboot). Disco Dancer elevated his career. But when Prakash Mehra, then Bollywood’s biggest director along with Manmohan Desai, signed him for ‘Namak Halaal’, Bappi entered the super league. The music in Namak Halaal and Sharaabi (both Big B films) were worth the weight of the gold chains he fondly wore. 

Namak Halaal’s ‘Pagh ghungroo baandh’ was nearly 12 minutes long but the tune was riveting. ‘Raat baaki’, which he sang with Asha, is a standout. Sharaabi earned him his lone Filmfare award in 1985. He tasted success in the 1990s too: K C Bokadia’s Aaj Ka Arjun and David Dhawan’s Aankhen, to name just two. ‘Gori hai kalaiyan’ (Aaj Ka Arjun) topped the Binaca Geetmala in 1990.

In recent years, Bappi sang in Baaghi 3 and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. Last April, he had contracted Coronavirus but recovered well.

Now, the amiable and ever-smiling composer is no more. But the best of his 80s tracks remain groovy as ever. And even today, there’s no better farewell song than ‘Chalte Chalte’.

Almost four decades ago, director B Subhash while trying to boost the confidence of his hero, Mithun Chakraborty, who had hit a professional low, assured him that he would make a film titled Disco Dancer which would make him an overnight superstar. While he managed to put a spark in the actor’s eyes, his writer, the erudite Dr Rahi Masoom Reza, was not impressed. “No one has heard of a Disco Dancer in India. How do you expect to forge a connection with the audience? Call the film Qawwal and we will take the story forward,” he suggested. But Subhash ji was adamant that his first production would be titled Disco Dancer. Period.

“Even Anjaan ji complained that he had no idea how someone would become a Disco Dancer and suggested I take another lyricist,” the filmmaker reminisces, sharing that he subsequently visited a book shop in Mumbai’s Fort area and returned home with pamphlets of songs from albums from across the world. “One of them spoke about how a young man’s mother would often say that he could sing before he spoke and dance before he could walk. I took the words to Anjaan ji who came up with the lines, ‘Doston Meri Yeh Zindagi Geeton Ki Amaanat Hai, Main Isiliye Paida Hua Hoon, Yeh Log Kehte Hain Main Tab Bhi Gaata Tha, Jab Bol Pata Nahin Tha, Yeh Paaon Mere To Tab Bhi Thirakte The, Jab Chalna Aata Nahin Tha.’ After that there was no looking back and he penned one chartbuster after another,” he narrates.

Subhash ji adds that they broke away from the convention of the audience sitting soberly in seats watching a performance on stage, by getting Mithun to get them on their feet, urging, “Will You Sing With Me? Say D…D, Say I…I, Say… S…S... C….C… O…O. Disco, Disco, Disco Wow!” After the film’s release 38 years ago, on December 10, 1982, not just on the screen, but even in the theatres, Disco fans were grooving in the aisles.

The song ended with a two-minute piece of music and Subhash ji insisted that Mithun continue dancing to the beat while he captured the act in one shot. “At the end of it, he collapsed, exhausted, only for me to tell him that I wanted a retake. He looked at me quietly, then, got to his feet saying, ‘Okay Guru, let’s do it.’ That song is unforgettable!” the filmmaker exults.

However, it was not enough to just get a hit score from music director Bappi Lahiri. Subhash ji was determined that the sets would also match those he had seen in foreign videos. But when he suggested to his art director that he wanted a production design similar to what he had seen in the 1979 English synth-pop hit “Video Killed the Radio Star”, he was told that it would cost him plenty. The molded cane shop they visited at Opera House gave them an estimate of Rs 6 lakh which was way above what he could afford. “But on the way back, I spotted a small cycle shop with metal rings hanging outside. They were selling each for Rs 16 and I bought 100 at a discounted price of Rs 14, pasted paper on them and flashed light from behind, making for a colourful set decor that cost me no more than Rs 10,000. The film was all about such innovations since we were working on a shoe-string budget,” he recounts.

Subhash ji’s biggest worry was the climax. Back then, every time a song came on, people would exit the auditorium to smoke a cigarette or take a loo break. He had three songs—“Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja”, “Goron Ki Na Kalon Ki” and “Yaad Aa Raha Hai”—and knew that if he couldn’t keep them in their seats, the film would end early. To his delight, they didn’t walk out, they stayed and danced with Mithun.

Disco Dancer was a sensation not just in India but across the world, even in countries like Kazakhstan, China and Soviet Russia, with an overseas audience. Subhash ji recalls how he faced skepticism before the Indian release because Biddu’s Star, with bigger stars Kumar Gaurav and Rati Agnihotri, which had opened earlier, had bombed. “Industry colleagues also argued that Disco Dancer should not be allowed to release in Russia as it did not depict Indian culture. I was anxious and went for the first 3 pm show at Mir Theatre with a lot of trepidation. I was overwhelmed when, at the end, Russians were dancing to ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ and besieging me for autographs,” he flashbacks, adding with a laugh, “I set out to bring disco to India with my first production and ended up creating the world’s eighth wonder.”

On Friday, Bappi Lahiri turned 68. The celebrations were muted this year because of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, but India’s Golden Man remembers a birthday bash from 1992, his last with his mother Bansari before she passed away. “Maa fed me payesh and Bal Thackeray, who was very fond of me, came home to bless me. He was followed within minutes by Sridevi. Guests also included producer friends A G Nadiadwala and Pahlaj Nihalani and actors like the late Amjad Khan, a very young Saif Ali Khan, and Sanju baba (Sanjay Dutt),” he whoops with delight, even as the beat of “Tamma Tamma Loge” reverberates in your ears.

Bappida recalls walking into Sunny Super Sound for a 4 pm shift and bumping into Raj N Sippy, his Thanedaar director, who, on his way out, told him that they needed one last song in his trademark Disco style to be picturised on Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit. Thanedaar was the fourth highest grosser of 1990, but it is “Tamma Tamma Loge” with its quirky dance moves, inspired by Michael Jackson’s “Bad”, that we remember the film by, three decades later. “In 2017, on the request of Bhushan Kumar (T-Series head honcho), I re-dubbed the song in a LA studio for Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt’s Badrinath Ki Dulhania,” he reminds.

Bappida has a treasure trove of hits, but the one film whose songs play across the globe and are instantly associated with Mithun Chakraborty, and him, is Disco Dancer. Bring up the subject and he pinpoints his golden song, “Yaad Aa Raha Hai Tera Pyaar” which was to be re-dubbed by Kishore Kumar on his return from London. “But when Kishore mama heard the track I had recorded, he called Subhash ji (producer-director B Subhash) and urged him to retain my version saying he could not better it,” Bappi da recounts proudly.

His most memorable score is Prakash Mehra’s 1984 comedy drama, Sharaabi, which bagged him the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Kishore Kumar was the only singer nominated that year for his four songs from the album and though he took home the coveted Black Lady for “Manzilein Apni Jagah”, Bappi da’s golden moment was recording “Jahaan Char Yaar Mil Jaye” with his Kishore mama and Amitabh Bachchan, live at Mehboob Studio. “Amitabh was there before me, all prepped up. Then, Kishore mama entered, and what followed was pure magic! Ki ananda, what joy it was to see the two legends singing together,” he exults.

A year later, for Anil Ganguly’s Saaheb, he composed and crooned, “Yaar Bina Chain Kahan Re” for a very young Anil Kapoor. “Anil danced so well, and the following year, when I won the Filmfare Award for Shaarabi, both of us took to the stage to sing ‘Yaar Bina Chain Kahan Re’ together. What a night that was!” he reminisces.

Flashforward to 2011 and The Dirty Picture. The film is unforgettable as much for Vidya Balan’s National Award-winning performance as it is for Bappida’s “Ooh La La”. He sang it on the behest of ‘Bade Bhai’ Jeetendra who wanted a song along the lines of Mawaali’s “Ui Amma Ui Amma” as the film was set in the ’80s. “I had sung ‘Bambai Nagariya’ for Vishal-Shekhar’s Taxi No 9211 earlier, the first film soundtrack in which I had given playback for another composer, and I was happy to reunite with them. By the time I reached the studio, Shreya Ghoshal had already recorded her track and left. I heard it and told them the song would be a super hit!” he flashbacks.

Bappida was in the US when Vishal called to say “Ooh La La” was the No 1 song in India. “Soon, it was playing all over the world. Now, at every concert I have to sing it at least three times on popular demand,” he shares, boasting that after half a century, he’s still making music, without even a gap of a year.

This year, there was “Arey Pyaar Kar Le” with Ayushmann Khurrana for Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan , “Bhankas” for Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi 3 and “Tim Tim Tim” for Kaamyaab . “But because of a rogue virus, I could not enjoy their success. I recorded a song with Akon before we were shut in, composed a few film songs in my home studio during the lockdown, and am waiting for her final approval to collaborate with Lady Gaga,” he rattles off, confident that life will get back on track soon and he will keep glittering bright in our galaxy.

Harry Baweja, 60, is a family person and emotional, but determined and gutsy. He is open and honest and can settle for being a bad negotiator, but does not like to compromise on his films. He may not be as romantic as his wife Pammy would like him to be, but he loves her the most in the world. His latest animation film Chaar Sahibzaade has not just made money, but brought him respect from Sikhs around the world. It has completed 100 days in Canada, London, Delhi and Punjab and has been so successful that he is now making a trilogy of it. While he started working on the second part that will hit the theatres in the summer of 2016, he talks to Bombay Times about the challenges in making Chaar Sahibzaade, the blessings he has got as result of it and why he would never keep a dog at home. Excerpts:

How did you come into films?
I come from a business family of Chandigarh, where my father was into the construction business and owned petrol pumps and we were pretty wealthy. He was a staunch Congress follower and the President of the Chandigarh Congress Pradesh committee. I lost my father when I was only 13 and was at that time studying in a boarding school. Had he lived, he could have probably become the Chief Minister. Right from when I was in school, I was interested in doing only theatre and dramatics. I later joined Department of Indian Theatre in Panjab University and started learning theatre formally. But being the eldest of the five kids, the responsibility of looking after my family was on me. My mother was not educated and could not read or write. But after all the relatives gave way, she took over the business. My father had died of hydrophobia. We had an Alsatian dog at home who had gone wrong. He would run away every night as he was not well, so, my father would lock him up every night in the bathroom. I was at home from the hostel that day, when my father returned from taking a morning walk with the dog. As he opened the main gate, the dog thought that he would again be locked again and he jumped at my dad on his neck and his saliva contacted with my dad's mouth. We didn't know that the dog had that disease, so, within a month, my dad got that disease too and died. I have never kept a dog after that as I am so scared. Life changed after dad. Mom could not cope up with the business and it did not do well. I was not cut out for it and found it too crude, even though I would go to college in the morning and to the brick lanes in the evening. I was happy only while doing theatre and started directing plays. I would come home with an award and my mother would say, 'Throw it away.' Finally, I had an arranged marriage, but told my wife Pammy before we got engaged that finally I wanted to go to Mumbai to make films. I had two children, got my two sisters married, saw my brothers settling down and decided to leave my wife and kids in Chandigarh to come to Mumbai to test the waters for myself. I had told them that I would try for six months and if I did not succeed, I would come back. I knew no one in Mumbai and now had two children also, but my wife stood by me. I never took financial help from my mother or my family as they all thought that I was doing something wrong and were, in fact, upset with my decision. Even when I had the chance to come to Mumbai earlier through a school trip, I did not come, but I would always tell my friends that I would be buried in Mumbai. Anupam Kher was a batchmate from theatre in Chandigarh and I went straight to the set of Mahesh Bhatt, who was shooting for Saaransh at that time.I had a cousin in Chandigarh who was the distributor of Bollywood films in Punjab. I requested him to make a call to B Subhash to allow me to be his assistant. I assisted him for eight films, out of which five were with Mithun Chakraborty, who was the biggest star at that time.When I wanted to make my own film, I thus obviously wanted to make it with Mithun da as he was not just a big star, but he was also very fond of me. Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra would be on the set to sign him up and in all of that, I had to tell him to do my debut film. But he said he would do it, provided I waited for a year and of course, I did wait and he kept his commitment, though he could have easily backed out. We made Trinetra and it got a bumper opening. That was a time when Mithun da was having a release every week. But I was lucky as five films before Trinetra and ten films after that had not worked at the box office.

Talk about working with Mithun Chakraborty?
He is a thorough gentleman. I signed him for a second film, but was telling my producer that we should not be signing him as Mithun da's films were not working, so, I did not want the producer to lose his money. But he insisted we make a film with him only. I called Mithun dada requesting for his dates. And guess what he tells me in front of the producer when we met him? He said, 'Harry, you know your work. If you make a film with me, you will lose your career. Don't make it now, we will make it later.' That is Mithun da. I then made Dilwale with Ajay Devgn that was a hit.

How did you think of Chaar Sahibzaade?
My hostel had been a Sikh convent. When you are in a hostel, you don't have your parents, but you have teachers and God. Way back in 1976, I was doing a play for a convent institution, when I read the whole history of Jesus Christ and suggested that we make a play on him. Just after that, I thought why don't I do a play on Sikh gurus. I started doing that, but the Khalistan movement was going on, so I decided against it. I couldn't do it then, but that remained with me. I am very religious to the extent that I have a gurudwara at home and I wanted to do something to thank him, so, I decided to make a movie on the life of the gurus and wrote a letter to the SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in Amritsar) in 2009 to seek their permission. Everyone thought that at the end of your career, you want to do something so stupid and put an end to your life. Who has come out of the SGPC office and got permission to make a film on Sikhism, but I was adamant and after making 80 trips to Amritsar managed to convince them. They had agreed that while I could not touch the 10 gurus, I was allowed to show the boys. But I had another challenge, animation in India had not worked so far. But I realised that it was not the fault of animation, but the content that had been put out. And Chaar Sahibzaade happened. I wrote the story and the screenplay. Right from Class III to VIII, I had gone to a gurudwara every day and had been taught Sikh history and gurbani daily for half an hour, so there was a lot of drilling that went into your system and you can't forget that. After getting the permission, I visited all the historical places so that we could replicate them through animation. It is a story that all Sikhs have read in four pages in school and it touched a chord. We made it in Hindi and Punjabi with English subtitles and even dubbed it for the American market with an American accent so that the kids there could understand. I feel it's the blessing of my guru that has made it the success it has become.

Any feedback that has touched you post the release of the film?
Amongst all the religious places in India, the most closest to Guru Gobind Singh the saint as we call it, is Nanded in Maharashtra as that is where he passed away. That is where the names of the four boys is taken in the main ardaas. I met Babaji, the head priest of the gurudwara there, who is the only person allowed to go in that small room in which Guruji sat and passed away. He saw the trailer and gave us a box of sweets saying congratulations. It was difficult to believe it at that time. These saints never go to a theatre as religious heads are not supposed to go usually, but the film released and the sangat (his people) went to see it and came back and told him about it. He couldn't resist it and went with a whole convoy to see it. He was overwhelmed. Seeing him, all the priests went to see it across gurudwaras in the country. He called us there and gave us the honour that only a few people have got and he said to me, 'Do you know what you have done? When you praise a person, he feels very good. But you praise the children, the parent is more than happy. You have praised the children of Guru Gobind Singh. You don't know how happy he will be.' I cried.T he film brings out the contribution and bravery of his children. Some kids saw the film and said to me, 'I learnt how to love my brothers' due to the bonding of the brothers in the film. I did not become a producer to make money. I became a producer to convenience my filmmaking. I had taken a calculated risk in this film and thought that even if one out of every ten Sikh in the world sees it, I will get my money back and that is exactly what has happened. I am relieved that it has not just done well at the box office, but has also been critically accepted. It's not about the money that I have earned with Chaar Sahibzaade, but it's the kind of respect that I have got, that is overwhelming.