Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; November 11, 2019)

Milap Milan Zaveri, who turned director with Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010), after writing a string of successful sex comedies, is now looking forward to the release of his next directorial venture — Marjaavaan — which he says is an out-and-out massy film. However, his journey has been marred by several setbacks, with people writing him off after his directorial venture Mastizaade (2016), an adult comedy, was pronounced a dud. The resurrection wasn’t easy, but the filmmaker bounced back with the success of Satyameva Jayate (2018) and believes that the upcoming film will add to his repertoire as a successful masala film director. Excerpts from an interview:

Of late, there has been a lot of conversation around realistic cinema and most filmmakers and actors are tilting towards stories with relatable characters. However, Marjaavaan seems like a film straight out of the 70s, with a larger-than-life hero. Did you have any apprehensions about it suiting the current scenario?
Marjaavaan is a hardcore massy, commercial film, harking back to the 70s, 80s and 90s kind of heroism. The kind of films Mukul Anand sir, Manmohan Desai sir, Prakash Mehra sir and Rajkumar Santoshi made. I hope to hear whistles and claps in the theatres. I got an opportunity to explore that zone with Satyameva Jayate, in which a hero was fighting for a cause. He lived by the sword and died by the sword — the kind of anger that was seen in the 70s’ films; the kind Salim-Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) made with Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan).

I feel that anger has never abated; it’s still there in our system. Marjaavaan taps into the same. I believe that if you are honest to the genre, the film will work. It’s a problem when you are confused and trying to please everyone by doing a bit of everything. If you are making a massy film, be unabashed about it. You may succeed or fail, but at least you stood by your conviction. For Sidharth (Malhotra), Marjaavaan was a tough film to understand, because he has not done something like this before. The closest he came to being massy was in Ek Villain (2014), for which I wrote the dialogues. I drilled it into him that Marjaavaan is a massy film and he has to own it, or else it will reflect on screen. To his credit, despite being a city boy, Sidharth surrendered himself.

Sidharth has delivered hits in his career, but his recent films have underperformed at the box office. Was that a concern when you were casting him?
By that logic, John Abraham should have never done a Satyameva Jayate with me, because as a director, none of my previous films had worked. I always say that John is my real-life hero. In a very filmi way, he is my Ram and I am his Hanuman. After Mastizaade tanked, I was not only in the wilderness, but people said, ‘Bury him without leaving a marker on the grave. Let someone find and dig him up (laughs!)’. People behaved as if I had committed treason after Mastizaade. They didn’t want to give me another chance or meet me. John was the only person who had the courage to say, ‘I see something in this boy. I have faith in him and I will do this film (Satyameva Jayate) with him’. He has given me a new life as a filmmaker. Satyameva Jayate turned me into a mass director overnight. Now, no matter what happens in my life, I will always have a hit film to my name that struck gold and will now spawn a sequel. If Satyameva Jayate has been life-changing, I hope Marjaavaan will turn out to be life-defining for me.

How different are your sensibilities as a writer and a director, especially in the case of Marjaavaan, for which you are donning both the hats?
Nikkhil (Advani) always laments that the dialogue writer overpowers the director in me. It’s very difficult for me to separate the two because I have been primarily a dialogue writer. It also helps when I direct a film because sometimes you have to adapt to some unforeseen circumstances on the set. If an actor improvises a scene, you should have the ability to gauge whether it will affect the plot or his character. It becomes easier to take those decisions as a writer. Like in Satyameva Jayate, some scenes weren’t part of the script, but were played out on the set. In Marjaavaan, too, there are many such instances. The writer in me allows the director in me to take these liberties.

Nikkhil Advani is the producer of this film, and he is also a successful director. When you have a filmmaker backing your project, is there a possibility of him imposing his vision on you? Was there any such clash between the two of you?
There is no interference, but he certainly gives me his point of view. Though we are radically different as directors, we have the same sense of emotion and drama. The only thing is that I will push the envelope as far as the filminess goes, while he will hold back. There are times when he advises me technically, since he is an expert in that department. But to his credit, he always gives in to my conviction. I pull his leg saying that there are so many flashes of me in his directorial Batla House. If he incorporated a remixed version of the Saki Saki song, I had Dilbar in Satyameva Jayate. Similarly, while John crushed a phone in Batla House, in my film he ripped a tyre apart. I would like to believe that we have both rubbed off a bit on each other. That’s a great relationship and a partnership, wherein two different individuals love each other and co-exist.

You have been a dialogue writer for long, what made you take up direction? Was it the desire to have a greater say in the way you wanted a film to shape up?
Yes, because then you are the captain of your own ship. Whether that ship turns out to be the Titanic or reaches the shores safely is up to the audience. But it’s your baby and you are involved in every process and aspect. Every decision — good, bad or ugly — is yours, and so, the onus of the repercussion — success or failure — is on you, too. It’s a huge responsibility. As a writer, you do your job and someone else takes over. It’s like you do kanyadaan and give your daughter away to someone else.

Were people apprehensive about your ability to handle serious films as a director, given your background as a writer of adult comedies?
The first film I directed was Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai, which was a light love story and then I did Mastizaade, a sex comedy. I didn’t think that anyone would let me do a thriller because as a writer my comedies, like Masti (2004) and Housefull (2010), have been bigger hits. But after Mastizaade, I realised that I had to change myself dramatically. I had failed as a director in that genre of comedy twice. As a writer, nobody was giving me work anymore. Everyone was wary of me because they felt that since I wanted to be a director, I won’t give them enough time. However, it was a short film, which tipped the scales for me. I got overwhelming critical acclaim for it and the best reviews of my career. I am a jovial person. So, people always thought that I am a happy-go-lucky guy aur yeh toh sirf comedy hi karega. They didn’t know the anger that was brewing inside me till the short film released. The anger was directed at no one but myself for allowing myself to dig a hole, bury myself and for not living up to my potential. I wanted to prove first to myself that I am capable of doing more than that.

Do you regret writing those sex comedies?
I don’t regret anything in life. I had a great time and I made some good friends. Some of the films were hits. But yes, I won’t do it again now. I am exhausted with that genre. I will not write or direct a sex comedy anymore.

Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; October 24, 2019)

While he has written about 20 films in his 15-year-long career, the label of being an expert with double-entendre comedy seems to have become his identity. Even as he wrote hit commercial films on various subjects for top directors, he had to wait for five years to make his debut as a director. In a chat with BT, Tushar Hiranandani talks about why he wrote sex comedies and why he chose a subject like Saand Ki Aankh for his first outing as a director. Excerpts...

It has taken you 15 years and about 20 films as a writer before landing your first project as a director. That must have been a long wait, right?
I always wanted to direct. In fact, I started assisting director Inder Kumar just to realise that dream. But back in the day, it felt like films are only made with stars, and assistants weren’t as close to them as writers. So, I wrote Masti (2004) without letting Inder sir know. Over the years, I would write stories thinking I would direct them, but would chicken out at the last minute. Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010) was supposed to be my directorial debut, but I handed it over to Milap Milan Zaveri. I continued to find stories for others, but nothing that I wanted to go all out and direct. At the time I got to know about Chandro and Prakashi Tomar, my wife Nidhi and I were planning to quit, whereas these women became sharp-shooters at the age of 60 (Saand Ki Aankh is based on Chandro and Prakashi, who are considered to be among the oldest sharpshooters in the world). They turned a new leaf for the sake of their daughters. Prakashi’s daughter Seema became the first Indian girl to win a silver medal at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup. Today, nearly all the girls in the Tomar family have joined the police or the armed forces.

When you decided to make the film six years ago, the grammar of cinema was different from what you wanted to attempt. Did you feel that it was too much of a risk?
Tell me about it! This film revolves around two sixty-plus women. To top it, I, the writer of films like Masti, wanted to direct it. People thought that I had lost it. It’s destiny that this film found supporters, and today, it is ready for release. It was writer Sanjay Massoom, who put me in touch with the Tomar daadis. From that point, things began to fall in place. The first woman to support me on this film was my wife. She would never have supported me on Masti, but she went all out for Saand Ki Aankh. She even became one of the producers. Anurag (Kashyap) also continued to encourage me.

Do you think it was difficult for people to believe in your ability to handle a subject like Saand Ki Aankh because of the vulgar comedies you wrote earlier?
A lot of people think that Milap and I are some kind of perverts. People only see the beginning and the middle of the film. At the end of every Masti installment, we’ve shown the guys repenting for straying and getting punished. I have had to fight to include it in the script. When you’re starting out, you grab everything that comes your way without thinking much. After Masti, I wrote films like ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013) and Ek Villain (2014), too. But Masti was such a shocker of a first film that people labelled me with it. I hope Saand Ki Aankh changes that.

Do you regret the sex comedies you wrote?
I wrote sex comedies because they came to me. I had expenses to meet. Also, I enjoyed writing them, so there are no regrets. But I’ve matured now and I am doing different things. You know, even sex comedies or comedies around sex are being made differently today. Made In China, for instance, is a sex comedy, too. It offers a great take on sex and I am happy that today, people are curating films in such a way.

Saand Ki Aankh opens on Diwali with Housefull 4 and Made In China. Does the box office clash worry you?
Today, any well-made film runs at the box office. The producers backing my film are confident about it. What else can I ask for? If it’s a bad film, it will be rejected even if it releases solo. So, there’s no point fretting. I am just happy that my film is releasing, it has taken me 20 years to become a filmmaker.

Anurag Kashyap has been involved with this film since its inception. Was he ever tempted to take over as the director?
Anurag came on the set just once. He let me fly with the film, without making me change anything about it. He gave me confidence and there is nothing bigger than that. In fact, he was the one who pushed me to direct. When many people didn’t understand the title of the film, he backed me on it.

Your film has Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pedenkar in lead roles. Heroines are perceived to be insecure, especially when it comes to sharing screen space with another equally powerful actress. Did you sense that while working on this film?
Taapsee and Bhumi are like chalk and cheese. The only difference is that they complement each other and are similar to the women they play. They gave each other a lot of space. The team used to place bets saying, ‘Aaj to jhagda hoga’, but they didn’t fight. They didn’t ask us to change anything about the script or the division of scenes.

You started your career in the movies as a writer, the film industry has changed quite a bit over the years, with writers being well-acknowledged for their contribution to cinema. Would you say that it’s still the most underpaying field in the movie making business?
Writers are underpaid and undervalued. No one wants to know them, but it’s their content that sets everything up. If we don’t help them get their due, how will they ever get it? It’s like you love the granite in the building, but don’t thank the pillar for keeping it together. I’m glad that writers are finally getting their names on film posters now. Things are changing, but they could be better.