Shah Rukh Khan’s doppelgänger, Suraj Kumar, had the time of his life when he was papped at India Gate in Delhi recently and his pictures went viral. Talking to us, the 22-year-old, who would instantly remind you of SRK from the 90s, can’t contain his excitement as he says, “I often go to India Gate to shoot videos. That’s my go-to spot to make reels. I love enact his scenes from movies Baazigar and Darr (both 1993).”

An ardent SRK fan, Kumar loves to watch his “older films such as Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Deewana, Chamatkar (all 1992) and Maya Memsaab (1993)”. He adds, “His style was unmatched. Unke bolne ka tareeka, baal, dance, haklaana... you don’t get to see all that in his newer films.”

Kumar, however, reveals that the response and love he has been receiving at the moment wasn’t the case a few years back. “Initially, when I used to behave like Shah Rukh in public places, people would laugh at me. After my videos went viral, they started recognizing what I do. Now, people take selfies with me and say, ‘Aap 90s ke Shah Rukh lagte ho’.

Hailing from Jharkhand, Suraj left his home six years ago with a dream to meet SRK and become an actor. Currently living in Delhi, he says, “My family never supported me. Toh apne papa ki pocket se paise chori karke main Mumbai chala gaya. I wanted to become an actor like SRK.” He adds, “I’d go to Mannat daily, but I’ve never met him. Agar kabhi SRK mujhse mile, main toh ro doonga.”

Kumar has finally bagged a film, “which stars (actor) Pulkit Samrat. Mera sapna poora ho gaya”.

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Ketan Mehta, 61, is very obsessive when he is working on a project, very laid-back when he is not. He is very stubborn if he believes in something, very accommodating otherwise. He is a Gandhian, but a rebel and is ambitious to go beyond his means in trying to do new things. The release of Rang Rasiya may have drained him physically, emotionally and financially, but this filmmaker, who holds the distinction of having launched Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri in bollywood, felt compelled to tell the story of Raja Ravi Varma, a man who fought for the creative freedom of expression. Over an hour-long conversation with Bombay Times, he talks about his intelligent and strong-willed wife Deepa Sahi, his childhood rebellion against being a Gandhian and his obsession and passion for telling the story of Raja Ravi Varma. Excerpts:

How did you become a filmmaker?
I was born in Gujarat at my nani's house and then lived in Mumbai till the age of 10 and then moved to Delhi. My father was a professor in Gujarati Literature and taught at the Delhi University. He was a Gandhian and had been a freedom fighter, who had gone to jail with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for four years, so all those influences were there. His father was a khadi-wearing nationalist and so, patriotism came naturally to him. I had two younger brothers and was the black sheep of the family, who rebelled against the restrictions placed upon me as a Gandhian, like wearing khadi all the time, the frugality of living and food habits. My father was a complete moralist with high standards of ethical behaviour.While we grew up in Delhi, we would go back to Gujarat on our holidays, spending time in mango orchards. Dr BV Karanth, who later became the director of NSD, was my theatre teacher in Sardar Patel school in Delhi. So I grew up in theatre, in a sense, and those experiences in childhood must have shaped the desire to be in this field. I was a merit lister and got selected for Economic Honours at St Stephen's College, but I had no interest in Economics while I was there.

And while all my classmates went onto becoming IAS officers or to Cambridge or MIT to learn or teach, I joined the Film Institute in the film direction course. When I told my parents that I wanted to go to the Film Institute, they were shocked as filmmaking was taboo. They even decided to go on a hunger strike to stop me from going there, but somehow, I persuaded them. Those three years were transformational years in my life. Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Vinod Chopra and Saeed Mirza were all contemporaries. Falling in love with cinema was the best thing in my life. It took possession of my life and I never looked back after that. I then joined the Indian Space Research Organisation in Gujarat, as they were the first to beam directly from satellite and that really excited me, as it was the very beginning of satellite television. I travelled rural villages shooting and also got exposed to a folk Gujarati form called Bhavai. I did a series of programmes on the untouchables and made my first feature film called Bhavni Bhavai with just 3.5 lakhs given to me by NFDC. Making a musical with just that much money is as foolhardy as it gets, but it won several national and international awards. Friends like Naseer, Om and Smita Patil made their debuts and all came together for nothing. They would sleep on a terrace in a haveli in a row, under the sky. That's how it started. I then picked up Aamir Khan, who was a student in one of the colleges and made my next film Holi with him and Ashutosh Gowariker also making his debut. And since, it has been 35 years.

You obviously rebelled against your father.
Yes, I was this rebellious kid, who was feeling choked with my father's Gandhian ways. When I went to the Film Institute, it was a difficult relationship. We were talking, but he did not know where I was going, what I wanted to do, what my future would be. But he was a true Gandhian in the true sense and managed to control his anger. And when they realised that I had made up my mind and would not listen, he supported me. While we had a formal relationship, I loved it when he loved the films I made and his view mattered to me. I was attached to him and he finally was proud of my work, particularly films like Mirch Masala. He died while I was making Rang Rasiya a couple of years back.

Why did Rang Rasiya take so long to release?
It was an ambitious project at that point in time. We borrowed the money, got a partner and made this film. The moment we made it, the market crashed in 2008-09. The sensuality that is so integral to the film got into trouble with the censor board. The screening committee initially refused to give it a certification and so, we had to take it to the revising committee. Fortunately, Sharmila Tagore was the chairperson and a revising committee of really eminent people saw the film and when the film got over, they got up and complimented me and passed the film despite the sensuality and nudity without cuts, as they felt that it was relevant and aesthetically handled. It led to a huge financial crisis for us. Fortunately, the animation studio we started in 2010 has taken off very well and we are now the largest content providers of original animation content produced in India. But it has drained us completely physically, emotionally and financially and I am very proud and honoured that Deepa has withstood all this in this journey. I am not fond of crying, but I came very close to it. It is a passionate love story of a passionate artist in a passionate film.

Who do you love the most in the world?
That has to be Deepa. She is my biggest strength and my strongest critic. We got married in 1988 during the making of Maya Memsaab and for the both of us, this is our second marriage. She is very strong-willed, independent, very intelligent, adventurous and willing to take challenges and risks. Without that kind of support, the kind of films I have made would not have been possible at all. She is a hands-on producer with an international mind, a lot of courage, very sharp wit and a sharp, perceptive mind. She is a gold medalist from Delhi University and clearly, the brighter amongst us. I must be the craziest man she has met in her life, but I suppose she likes my madness, my films and my world view. We are both strong-headed people and she likes my stubbornness towards my work. We are best friends and rarely fight, as we are both consumed by the same passion of making films that we believe in and we share our dreams. I am creatively egoistic, but personally not at all. We have a dynamic equal relationship and that is the basis of our relationship.

What attracted you to Raja Ravi Varma's story?
I was attracted to him even in the film institute times. I felt that somewhere, cinema had derived so much from his paintings. I also admired him for having discovered our culture somewhere for us by painting realistic images from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. I liked his modern spirit, the idea of starting his own coloured printing press and then, distributing his prints. He was a renaissance mind, who played an important part in rediscovering our civilisation for us. And then I read his story by Ranjit Desai and realised that he had faced charges of obscenity for painting beautiful nudes. This was just after finishing making Mangal Pandey. That was also the time that the environment of intolerance was building in India, painters were being hounded, girls being pulled out of pubs and being beaten up. So this film, in a sense, was a reaction to that kind of intolerance and extremism. If an idea fascinates me, it almost compels me into its orbit. At times, I feel that ideas are using me to express themselves. I do believe that a filmmaker is a live participant in a changing society and his purpose is to reflect the society and the mind of the society that he is living in.Creative freedom of expression is a need of the time and I feel the need to react to it. I am very stubborn if I believe in something strong enough, very accommodating otherwise in my personal life. I am obsessed with somethings and very chilled out otherwise. I am not that short-tempered now, but I remember when I would shoot earlier, all these actors including Shah Rukh Khan in Maya Memsaab must have been struck by my matchbox throws at them like missiles.

Have you made friends in the industry?
Sudhir Mishra and Deepti Naval are friends. Sudhir is again a strong personality and does the film he believes in doing, again doesn't accept any rules or regulations and is driven. Deepti is intelligent, a fine artist and a sensitive soul.

You have launched Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in this industry. Who do you see the potential in within the current generation of actors?
Apart from Randeep Hooda and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who are really world class actors, I find Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh incredible. For Rang Rasiya, we were looking for an actor who was not bogged down by his stardom. Deepa recommended Randeep after seeing his first gangster film. He is an incredible actor with an electric presence and had done a fine job of portraying Raja Ravi Varma.

How much of a Gandhian are you today?
More now than ever before. His ideas are so relevant now, given the violence and corruption we see all around us. His values are important for the survival of the world as a whole. I earlier found his puritan ical traits constricting where truth is absolute. It choked me while growing up. I had been allowed to wear only khadi till the age of 15 and nothing else with no vices and 100% vegetarian food. That was not acceptable to me at that age. I showed my rebellion by going to the Film Institute, by breaking every rule that was laid out for me and felt liberated. Today, after so many years and having broken all rules, I have come back to eating vegetarian food and to wearing khadi, but this time, by choice.