Dharmesh Darshan explains his unannounced sabbatical; why plans of Dhadkan 2 fell through.
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 8, 2016)


On Dharmesh Darshan’s 42nd birthday on May 16, 2014, Ratan Jain, who’d produced his 2000 romance drama Dhadkan, featuring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Shilpa Shetty, asked him to announce a sequel. According to Dharmesh, he agreed to come on board as a “director making a comeback” out of sheer respect for his longtime association with his producer friend. Also, he figured he could give the second instalment a modern spin, mounting it on a much bigger budget than the original. However, two-and-a-half years since the film’s inception, Dharmesh has walked out of the project citing differences in negotiations. While he has seceded all association with the development of Dhadkan 2, the producers are now bringing on-board a newer, much younger director, Prem Soni whose last directorial was Preity Zinta’s debut production, Ishkq In Paris three years ago.

“Even though I had said ‘yes’ in principle, I wasn’t too sure after the negotiations that followed. There was a lot of back-and-forth and we worked on the terms of agreement for six months. I had absolutely no need to prove myself — over the years, Dhadkan has become a cult film as well as has made profits via satellite rights. I did not want to make a sequel just for the heck of it,” Dharmesh cleared the air to Mirror, further adding that he went on a sabbatical six years ago after 18 successful years in the film industry. “I was at the top of my game. My directorial debut, Lootere, released when I was 24 and was a super-hit. Four years later, Raja Hindustani made me a leading director at 28. My contemporaries, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, and Sooraj Barjatya decided to turn producers and my parents wanted me to follow suit but I didn’t want to chase money,” Dharmesh recalls, noting that he chose to make only seven films, including Mela and Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya, when he could have directed 70.

Aap Ki Khatir, the 2006 romantic comedy featuring Akshaye Khanna and Priyanka Chopra, would go on to become Dharmesh’s last directorial. On May 9, 2009, his mother, Sheila Darshan, daughter of Nanabhai Bhatt and the older sister of filmmakers Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt, passed away at 69, making the director retreat into mourning. “My world changed overnight. Two-and-a-half years later, my father (Darshan Sabharwal) passed away on December 31, 2011. In 2007, I had two big-budget films lined up, one whose script I had already completed and was on the verge of taking to the floors. But I returned my signing amount and chose to go a sabbatical in 2010, and have been on a break for the past six years,” he explains, quick to add that there is much more to do besides making films, like teach, and travel and that he has no regrets since he has already broken all box office records of his time and made films like Raja Hindustani and Bewafaa that were “way ahead of their times”. And there’s another reason for his time-off from the film circuit. “In a time of money-hungry producers, everyone courts controversy and everything is about a person’s visibility and validity, I call myself a complete misfit. Fame, name and moolah came to me early on in life, and while they’re important to me as well, I’m not a businessman. Maybe I’m foolish or an artist with integrity,” he asserts.

While he continues to receive offers to remake films or direct sequels, he does not want to touch any of the classics because he believes it is “impossible to redo a soulful film.”

Today, he lives alone, without a partner or any children to cater to. “All artists live through the noise of a film set and the loneliness when in a crowd. While filmmakers manage to work through all kinds of emotions and situations, I cannot exhibit my grief and vulnerability on set. Neither do I crave for the attention anymore, nor do I mind the loneliness,” he says matter-of-factly.

Isn’t the lure of making a couple of crores a tad tempting or worthy of prompting a comeback soon? “Demonetization has proved that anything can happen to your wealth overnight. We’ll never know whether the filmmaker who chased it all was the right one or the one who gave it all up,” he signs off.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 4, 2014)

Back in 1966, Darshan Sabharwal took the brave decision to make his romantic suspense thriller, Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi, in black-and-white at a time when colour exploded on the Indian screen. The suspense drama revolves around a mysterious woman who emerges, so it seems, from the skeletal remains at an excavation site, and bears an uncanny resemblance to a centuries-old statue. “The film is in the genre of Mahal and Woh Kaun Thi and my father felt that the eerie beauty of the subject could be best captured in cinematographer Keki Mistry’s black-and-white frames like the earlier classics,” explains Saberwal’s filmmaker son Dharmesh Darshan.

The film opened two years after Kashmir Ki Kali and transformed Sharmila Tagore from a shy teenager to a courtesan from the Magadh era who supposedly returns to life to reclaim her lover. “Everyone was wowed by her sensuality in an Amrapali costume designed by Oscar-winner Bhanu Athaiya. Since her character Kiranmai was from another world, Bhanuji suggested an Amrapali costume for her which was teamed with exotic jewellery like chokers, dangling earrings and a bracelet that becomes an element in the storytelling. Even the trend of Sharmila’s famous bouffants started with a layered, old-world hairstyle adorned with a piece of jewellery in this film,” points out Dharmesh.

Interestingly, while shooting the film’s poignant climax on the rocks of Bandstand, where the lovers meet for a final goodbye, director Brij suddenly realised that Sharmila couldn’t be wearing the Amrapali costume and decided on a white sari. “My mother (Sheila Darshan, the sister of Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt) would often complain that my father borrowed one of her beautiful white saris for that scene and it never came back to her,” Dharmesh reminisces with a laugh.

The film co-starred Biswajeet who like in Bees Saal Baad is drawn towards his doom by a sonorous signature tune, Har tukda mere dil ka, and a woman who could be real or ethereal. Mumtaz caught the eye in a role with shades of grey and Prithviraj Kapoor played the archaeologist caught in a web of deceit. “But the story revolved around Sharmila and established her not just as a glamorous star but also as a performer,” asserts Dharmesh, who 30 years later reminded the actress about the film when she made a two-scene appearance in his Dhadkan as Akshay Kumar’s mother.

Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi continues to haunt with its charttopping tracks, from Har tukda mere dil kaand Yahi woh jagah hai to Main shaayad tumhaare liye ajnabee hoon, Phir miloge kabhi iss baat ka vada kar lo and Mohabbat cheez hai kya. “There was also a beautiful duet, Huzur-e-waala jo hai ijazat, picturised on Helen and Madhumati for the first time,” says Dharmesh. “Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma called up Ashaji (Asha Bhosle) from the US after hearing the songs during a drive. They recreated the magic of Ashaji and OP Nayyar.”