When you hear the name Boman Irani, you think, ace actor. Although a late start in the movies at age 44, he held his own from his very first film, the 2001 indie venture, Everybody Says I'm Fine!

And yet, it's in fact screen writing that he says, that has held his fancy from the start. "I had always wanted to write my own screenplay. When you do movies, and want to do something different, sometimes, you end up helping with the writing, here and there. But when I started to write a screenplay, I knew I needed to reinvent myself. Working in the industry as an actor doesn't automatically make you qualified to be an actor-director. You have to work at it."

And so the prep began. For the last eight years, Irani has been studying screenplay writing; researching the subject, and working with 2014 Oscar winning screenplay writer Alexander Dinelaris, who wrote Birdman. "I met Dinelaris when he hadn't yet written Birdman, and we became friends. He has been helping me with the craft since. I speak to him every day. In 2019, when I launched my production house Irani Movietone, I decided that instead of having a party, why not fly him down for a huge writing workshop. So many screenwriters, and students attended. It was a great time. And then just when we were going to start filming, the lockdown began."

Pandemic or not, the participating writers weren't about to leave him alone. Requests from amateur screenwriters poured in, so one day, he collected a bunch on Zoom.

Ever since, in the last six months, Irani has been holding a daily free screenwriting masterclass, called Spiral Bound. He has gone through 160 sessions with over a hundred students. Irani is helped by his nephew, novelist Anosh Irani, who the actor says, is his partner in crime. "He helps distill everything I say, and sometimes makes it more comprehensible."

Alfred Hitchcock once said, "To make a great film you need three things—the script, the script and the script". But what should the script centre around?

For Irani, it's all about the hero, or the central character. "Don't tell me a story via the plot. Tell me a story through the hero's journey. We have to get to the heart of the lead character. The story is not about incidents. It's about the anguish and challenges that the hero faces." He's certain that every good movie has almost always been about the central character's journey and struggle. "Lagaan is not about the British rule and a cricket match. It's about a man who dared to rebel, and then had to rally the troops. What's your favourite movie?" he asks this writer.

"A Few Good Men."

"Right. That film is not about a fight between a lawyer and an army officer. It's about a young man who has to rise beyond the shadow of his father. This is such a fun game! Every good movie ever is about the character."

Irani also corrects us when we say that the focus on the script is a new development in Bollywood. "No, think of movies like Anand. It's not about a man who has cancer. It's about his attitude and his passion for life depicted in every scene."

Other than the main character, he places importance on structure. "The structure starts from the moment you say the story will end," he says. And, it's all about dividing the script into three parts. "Act 1 is setting it up. The day he accepts a challenge, that's when Act 2 begins." It's here where he gets the most questions from students. "They want to know what happens in this empty marshland, the space between Act 1 and 3. How do they write it? We have been watching movies to get a hang of it. We have to start the journey, start working around the obstacles, maybe there is a new obstacle. We all fall into trouble in that marshland."

From his own career, he remembers the scenes from Khosla ka Ghosla, written by Jaideep Sahni, as magical. "The scenes in this movie are so tight and correct in how the action rises from each moment."

The sessions have also seen some big names from the industry pop in as guest lecturers. Other than Denelaris, Rajkumar Hirani, made an appearance. "With Raju, we all went on a journey. He said when he wrote Munnabhai, he would go and sleep with his friends who worked at the hospitals. He saw the real patients. So he said, observe life around you, and make it personal. Write about something that moves you, and not just something that will sell."

With Dinelaris, the focus was on keeping the conflict alive in each scene. "He spoke about the character surprising you as a writer. He said, 'Yeah, the character gave me the line. He spoke back to me'. That's truly fascinating."

Irani also sees the workshops as a bonding exercise, especially in the times we live in. "Apart from learning, we are sticking together as a family. The circumstances we find ourselves in have been debilitating. And this has helped us know we are all in it together."

Want to attend a session? Drop a mail to yash@iranimovietone.com 

Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; September 5, 2020)

Actor Boman Irani’s journey so far has a lot to teach us — for instance, where you are today doesn’t mean you have to be stuck there tomorrow too. It was at the age of 44, when he made his acting debut with Darna Mana Hai (2003), and went on to deliver memorable performances in Khosla Ka Ghosla and Lage Raho Munnabhai (both 2006).

He’s also played two of Bollywood’s most memorable teachers in recent years — Dean Asthana (Munnabhai MBBS; 2003) and Viru Sahastrabudhhe (3 Idiots, 2009). On Teacher’s Day today, we ask him about his life’s most influential teacher and he says, “I find one every day. It could be a kid. When I go abroad and sit in taxis, I get wisdom from taxi drivers. They’re dying to talk, they meet so many people every day, are listening to radio all the time so they know politics as well, and about human behaviour.”

In fact, the 60-year-old’s early life experiences, as a wafer shop owner, involved meeting many people. “I began going there since I was a kid, and would sit in the shop from 1979-94. I learned a lot from my customers, I’d see a character here and there. Teachers in real life can come from any quarters. It could be the guy you meet in the lift, who’d give you a perspective on the world you never imagined! My mother has been a wonderful teacher. It doesn’t have to be a famous guy,” he says.

And he agrees that his character, of a principal, in 3 Idiots is perhaps everything a teacher should not be! “I had to be everything Rancho (Aamir Khan’s character) was not. The theme of the film was ‘Chase excellence success will follow’, I had to play the opposite, chase marks and numbers, and look at the other guy as competition. He did not go for excellence. Had he gone for that, he would have been another Rancho,” Irani adds.

Avijit Ghosh & Jamal Ayub | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; August 12, 2020)

New Delhi/Indore: He wrote stirring couplets that even politicians quoted in Parliament. And his poems of ardour and abandon made him a major crowd puller. Rahat Indori, one of the most-quoted Urdu poets of his generation, who also frequently collaborated with producer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra, passed away following a string of heart attacks in Indore on Tuesday. He was 70.

“After the first attack, he seemed to be stabilising. But two more attacks followed,” Dr Vinod Bhandari, director, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences told TOI. A social media regular with over 860k followers on Twitter, the poet had tweeted on Tuesday that he was Coronavirus positive. In his last tweet, he requested people not to call him, saying he would update his status. He was also a diabetic and had cardiac issues. His death was widely mourned.

Indori’s association with Hindi cinema was fruitful but not memorable. He wrote lyrics in over 20 films and worked with Vidhu Vinod Chopra for Kareeb (1998), Mission Kashmir (2000) and Munnabhai MBBS (2003). Bumbro bumbro was one of his biggest hits.

The son of a textile mill employee, Indori was a PhD in Urdu literature. He taught at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya for many years. He was married to fellow poet Anjum Rehbar. “He was a poet of mushairas, whose work was much loved by audience but he never lowered his standard please them,” says poet Hasan Kamal. 

As told to Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 25, 2020)

It was during the editing of the short film, Let’s Talk, shot on a handycam, that Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who was cutting his Mission Kashmir at the same studio, noticed me. He called me for a meeting and said that he wanted to work with me in his next. I asked him which film it would be for and he said he didn’t have any at the moment, but whenever he made one, I’d be in it. Eight months later, I got a call. He wanted me to play the antagonist, J C Asthana, the dean of a medical college, in a film titled Munnanhai MBBS, to be directed by his editor Raju (Rajkumar Hirani). The name was weird, but after a narration, I was convinced.

My first day on the set was the first day of the film’s shoot as well, which meant it was Raju’s first day as a director. My first shot was with Dutt saab (Sunil Dutt), who was facing the camera after 16 years. So, in a way, it was his first day too. You can imagine the nervous energy on the set.

As soon as I walked into the set, Dutt saab ushered me into his vanity van for rehearsals and started calling for tea. I offered to get it for him, but he insisted on doing it himself, confiding that he was a nervous wreck. Here I was sweating because my first shot was opposite the legend I’d grown up idolising. And he tells me he is nervous!

Going by my get-up, he thought I was older than him and started addressing me as ‘Doctor saab’. When Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) dropped by, he saw me hanging out with his father and I became his ‘uncle’. I wanted to tell him that, at 44, I was four months younger to him but I was just so happy being around such established actors in my first film.

In my first shot, I bump into Dutt saab’s character, Hari Prasad Sharma, while buying nariyal pani after attending a laughter club at the park. Happy at this chance meeting with an old friend, Dr Asthana is dumbfounded on learning that Sharma’s son, who he had dismissed as a good-for-nothing boy was now a doctor and ran a hospital. Simultaneously, he is irritated because the nariyal pani wala (Rohitashv Gour), planted there by Munna, keeps interrupting them. He shouts at him, then, laughs out loud. I fumbled and forgot my lines the first time. Even Dutt saab wanted another take because he thought he could do better than the first.

The script had the words ‘laughs’ pencilled next to my dialogue. Dutt saab assumed it would be a short laugh. The surprise on his face when I broke into a full-throated guffaw was real. Raju told me we’d shoot one take with the laugh and one without it. After a while, we figured the laugh added to Dr Asthana’s quirks and finally stopped shooting a scene twice.

At the film’s premiere, when I walked up to Dutt saab, he greeted me with a cursory smile and hurt, I wondered where had all the warmth disappeared. When I told him I was ‘Doctor saab’, he looked lost, asking me which hospital I worked for. It was then that I realised he didn’t recognise me because I was sporting a full head of hair and he had only seen me with my bald pate. We had a good laugh over it.

‘Sanju’s swag & style is inbuilt; I don’t think that will change with age’
Madhureeta Mukherjee (BOMBAY TIMES; September 19, 2019)

At 60, Sanjay Dutt still has the swag, style and subtle sexiness that comes with the streaks of salt and pepper, which he wears with pride. The lines on his face tell a long and deep story — one that has seen trials, trauma, surreal highs and devastating lows. But now, he’s calm and at peace. His boat is steady, and he’s set sail all over again. And his firm anchor, wife Maanayata, has also stepped into showbiz as producer, and together, they are rolling out their first Bollywood film, Prassthanam. In a chat with Bombay Times, the couple talks about their partnership (in the movies and at home), family bonds, lessons learnt and unspoken love. Read on...

Sanjay and Maanayata, now, both of you are a team in the movie business. Sitting here and giving interviews as an actor-producer duo... how does it feel stepping into this new zone?
Sanjay: It is a great feeling. She has turned producer and handled Prassthanam entirely on her own, without any help from me. I am happy about the focus with which she has handled it.
Maanayata: Cuts in… Without Sanju, I would not be able to move an inch into this zone. That is the reason I put this project on hold while he was away. As a company, we are working on interesting projects and I needed him by my side to guide me through this journey. Prassthanam was the first project that we started working on. The Marathi film Baba (which released earlier this year) just came our way; we loved the script and wanted to back it as producers. It was a small-budget film, with a smaller cast, so we could pull it off with more ease.

Sanjay, did you have a huge role to play in Maanayata turning producer? Were you more invested in this project creatively as compared to your other films?
S: I have always encouraged her to do her own thing and create her own identity. It makes me proud. This space is new to her, and I wanted her to be on her own and learn the ropes. I didn’t want to get too much into the production area, I was there mostly as an actor.
M: On set, he was always the actor. But at home, as a wife, I would take his inputs and turn to him for advice.

Maanayata, did you have to go through the process of getting Sanju on board as an actor, or was Prassthanam his idea?
M: A different producer had approached him with this film quite some time ago, and Sanju had agreed to do it. But then, we lost three-and-a-half years during his jail term. Post that, I took over the film as producer.
S: When I heard the story, I liked the way the characters were weaved in, and how the relationships played out. My character does something which he regrets all his life and then tries to mend it. The film also has romance. Well, I don’t romance in it, but Ali (Fazal) does. Even the dialogues are loaded and clap-worthy.

Now, are there more conversations at home around movies and the business of movies?
M: Not really, even earlier, he would never bring work home.
S: Home has always been about family time and hanging out with our children. That takes up all our time.

Prassthanam is adapted from the Telugu film directed by Deva Katta, who is helming the Hindi version, too. It is believed that the sensibilities of filmmakers and the audience down South, are different compared to Bollywood movies and the audience that mostly consumes Hindi cinema. Were there doubts or fears about being able to adapt the film well?
M: We have a very good writer on board — Farhad Samji — who has a good body of work. He took the core idea from the original and adapted it into a Hindi film. He understands the audience here and has written it in a way that it will appeal to them.

Sanju, your character in this film has grey shades. Earlier, you have said that you enjoy playing roles that are dark and layered. Has the all-out good boy on screen become a tad boring for you?
I don’t know about that, but for the longest time characters with grey shades have attracted me. In fact, most of my successful films are the ones in which I have played dark characters. It has worked with the audience, too. I believe that no one is black or white, we all have some grey in us. So yes, I get drawn to such roles.

You turned 60 this year. In a typical corporate job, at this stage one often goes into retirement mode. For you, it’s like a new innings in your career. A lot to look forward to?
I am truly happy in my professional space. And in my personal space, too, I am at peace seeing my children grow up. I want to see our production house grow, too, and I hope that in the next few years, this company will be known for good cinema and people will want to work with our team. There is a lot to look forward to.

Maanayata, in all these years, what do you think has changed the most about him?
He is much calmer and more at peace now. The sword that was hanging over his head for years, has gone. Also, I think that age and the fact that he is fathering two young kids, have contributed to his current state of mind. From the Sanju, who I knew a decade ago, he is a far more composed person now.

Even after all these years, Sanju’s trademark style, swag and persona... none of that has changed. Does it ever feel like you are living with a 60-year-old, Maanayata?
M: Most actors are young at heart and vulnerable, Sanju is, too. As an actor, I guess you have to be young at heart to play multiple roles. Off screen, I still don’t feel that he is a 60-year-old. Sanju’s style and swag is inbuilt; I don’t think that will change with age. I remember that my sister-in-law, Priya, once told me that their father (Sunil Dutt) would often say, ‘Sanju ne itna drugs kiya hai ki uska dimaag grow hona bandh ho gaya hai’. Sanju always says that his dad loved Priya more, but I feel that his father had that unspoken love for him. Priya would tell me how dad would defend him and say these lines. So, I still feel that he is young, and I am dealing with three kids at home. Shahraan, Iqra (their twins) and Sanju gang up together. At home, the kids are supposed to have pizza and burgers only over the weekend, but he breaks that rule and allows it on weekdays, too. You see what I mean!

Are your kids aware of your stardom, Sanju? Have they watched any of your films?
M: They are aware, because it is spoken about in their school. They are nine years old now, and they know when he goes to shoot. We haven’t taken them out that much in public, so they don’t know about the kind of adulation he enjoys or his fan following. They know that he is an actor, and there is a certain kind of attention they get because of it.
S: We haven’t seen any of my films together. I watch kiddie films with them.
M: We all saw Sanju (2018) together. I am not an avid movie watcher in that sense. Lately, I have started watching more films, because as a producer, I need to do that. In fact, I haven’t seen Bhoomi (2017) or Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3 (2018).

Sanju, talking about what Maanayata just shared with us, do you think there was unspoken love between your father and you?
Yes, absolutely. It is much later in life that he started expressing himself more. The hug that he gave me at the end in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S (2003), was so real that both of us were crying. Towards the last phase of his life, my dad started expressing his love for me, and he was proud of the way I handled myself. For any father, it is a good feeling to see things turn around — from people saying that ‘Sanju Sunil Duttji ka beta hain’, to they saying ‘Sunil Duttji Sanjay Dutt ke pitaji hain’.

Maanayata, what is your first memory of seeing Sanjay Dutt on screen? In what kind of films do you like to see him the most?
My first memory of him is from Aatish: Feel The Fire (1994). There was this scene where he burns down a godown, I still remember it. Sanju is a fantastic actor, you give him any role and he does it with ease. His filmography is so diverse — from dark roles in films like Khalnayak (1993) and Agneepath (2012), to the lovable goon in Munna Bhai, and funny roles in films with David Dhawan and Govinda. He has this larger-than-life presence on screen. I remember once I was on the same flight with Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan, from London to Mumbai, and we were talking about how he has worked with both, my father-in-law and my husband. Mr Bachchan told me, ‘Sunil saab toh bahut acche actor the, aur Sanju ke saath kaam karne mein bahut mazaa aata hai, kyunki agar aapke saamne bahut takkar ka actor ho, toh aapki performance badhti hai’. And he also said that Sanju looks ‘itna chauda’ on screen. It feels great that someone who is an institution in himself, speaks so highly of Sanju.

Back in the day, a hero had to be a certain type. But you were not like that and we saw you playing the good boy and the baddie on screen with as much conviction…
Every actor comes with this baggage of an image, which the audience has formed based on the roles he has played. For instance, Salman Khan can’t attempt something too different. Even if he tries, it is really tough. His fans want to see him in a certain way. They want to see action and songs in a Salman Khan film. I am in a similar situation. I have tried to do different kinds of roles, but it didn’t work. Like in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3, the reaction of my fans was, ‘Gangster bola kyun, gun kidhar hai?’ In Bhoomi, so many people told me, ‘Aapko courtroom ko tod dena chahiye tha’. I told them, ‘Courtroom kaun todta hai?’ They don’t want to see me standing haath jod ke in front of people. They want to see me in the avatar that they like me best in.

But you have done some prominent films as a lover boy…
Yes, I have. But during our time, a romantic hero did more than just romance on screen. They were romantic-action heroes, you know what I mean. The only full-on romantic film that I have done (without any action), which was accepted by the audience was Saajan (the 1991-film, also starring Madhuri Dixit Nene and Salman Khan). I play a physically-challenged character, who is all heart. It was a lovely love story with great music.

What has been your biggest regret and biggest learning?
I have no regrets in life. The court case went on for about 25 years and the jail term happened, but now, I look back at all of it positively. I know that I lost many years of my youth, but I have taken every learning from it positively. That experience taught me a lot, but very late in life. I wish that it had happened when I was a bit younger. It really mellowed me down.

Writer Farhad Samji on bringing the actors together
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 24, 2019)

Sanjay Dutt’s next, Prassthanam, produced by wife Maanayata, also featuring Jackie Shroff and Manisha Koirala, is the official remake of a 2010 Telugu movie by the same name. Farhad Samji who has written the Hindi version, says that the challenge was to give the story a fresh spin. “The original is a cult film, but it released nine years ago. Everything upgrades with time, so it was essential for us to make it palatable for today’s audience. However, the basic premise and characters have remained the same,” informs Farhad, who has co-written the Simmba, Singham and Golmaal franchise with brother Sajid.

Farhad, who is now directing and writing independently, believes that it’s an ace for a scriptwriter to have talented and experienced actors on board. “I’ve been with Baba (Sanjay Dutt) since the MunnaBhai days, and after 19 years, life has come a full circle,” he smiles.

Prod him on what it was like to get Sanjay and Manisha back together a decade after Mehbooba, and he quips, “I have grown up watching these two brilliant actors, but in this film, you will see them as characters and not actors. There is turbulence in their relationship and the story revolves around how they overcome it. We usually categorise characters as the hero, heroine, villain and comedian, but in Prassthanam, everyone is related to each other in certain ways. It’s the complexity of relationships which keeps us glued. As compared to Singham and Simmba, which given the genre, were the epitome of ‘commercial’ writing, Prassthanam falls in a more real space and has plenty of drama to spice up the proceedings,” he explains.

The film, directed by Deva Katta, tells the story of Baldev Pratap Singh, played by Sanjay, a successful politician, and his two sons, Ayush and Vivaan (Ali Fazal and Satyajeet Dubey). Both the boys are diametrically oppostite personalities with one being cucumber cool and the other, always fiery. Manisha plays Saroj, Sanjay’s better half.

Farhad has not only penned the screenplay and dialogue, but also written the title song. “The lyrics capture the mood and tone of the film,” is all he is willing to say. But before he signs off, he adds that another USP of the film is Jackie Shroff who plays Badshah. “He emotes with his eyes, I promise you, he has not played a role like this before. He is a loyal guard and you’ll feel for him,” Farhad signs off.

Sunil Dutt with Sanjay, Rhea, Priya and Namrata; A still from Munna Bhai MBBS

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 25, 2019)

He was always Dutt saab for me. A real-life hero who had jumped into an inferno, raced towards his on-screen mother, then, as everyone watched with bated breath, had swept her up in his arms and made a dash back for safety. His spontaneous knight-in-shining-armour action had ensured that though bruised and slightly burnt, both Nargis ji and he lived to see another dawn. That incident which took place on the afternoon of March 1, 1957, in the village of Umra in Gujarat, on the sets of Mehboob Khan’s epic drama Mother India, is Bollywood history today.

Sunil Dutt saab and Nargis ji went on to quietly get married in an Arya Samaj ceremony the following year on March 11. The romantic in me loved the fact that in an era when cell-phones didn’t exist and traffic jams roadblocked you for hours, Dutt saab did not stir from his position outside the Arya Samaj Hall for three hours as he waited for the bride. Sitting in her car, Nargis ji was convinced her groom had left while he worried that if she turned up to find him gone even for a second, she might drive off. The marriage that happened close to midnight, was not expected to last even six months. It lasted 23 years till Nargis ji’s demise on May 3, 1981.

I met Dutt saab under trying conditions. Sanjay had been arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), after being whisked off for questioning, minutes after he got off the plane on April 19, 1993. Dutt saab moved heaven and earth to get his son out of jail. On May 5, after Sanjay’s lawyers moved the High Court, he was granted bail. TADA was lifted, he was put under the Arms Act. There was a sigh of relief as Baba drove home to his Pali Hill bungalow past 9 pm the following day.

Sanjay however was still in Arthur Road Jail when I took a seat opposite Dutt saab at the same bungalow. He looked drained and admitted that he was in Germany, on his way to the US for a medical check-up, having undergone a bypass surgery just six months ago, when he heard that his son was in trouble over illegal possession of arms. By the time he reached London, the reports had got stronger. When his elder daughter Namrata got a call from Sanjay telling her to inform him that he wanted to return home from Mauritius where he was filming Aatish, Dutt saab didn’t think twice about booking himself on a flight back to Mumbai. “I knew he needed me,” he told me simply.

When Nargis ji was around, Sanjay had always been closer to his mother. By the time he lost her to cancer, he was heavily into drugs. Dutt saab didn’t work for three years as he tried to wean him away from drugs. “At that point of time he needed me. I stood by him. I made sure he got off drugs and his career started picking up. And I am still doing what I can… For my boy,” he told me that day, his elder daughter beside him, eyes tired from lack of sleep but spirit still strong.

After Sanjay returned home, I got a personal letter from him thanking me for all the support. A letter with a lot of heart that I still treasure.

Five years later, I spotted him at an award show. I was backstage when he strode past, fit and smiling. At the time of his death, on May 25, 2005, Dutt saab was a sprightly 75, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. He gave my locality in his Mumbai North-West constituency, a joggers’ track that still draws residents.

Last year, I saw Paresh Rawal play him in the Dutt biopic, Sanju. Dutt saab had himself returned to acting two years before he passed away in his sleep, as Sanjay’s reel-life father in Rajkumar Hirani’s 2003 film Munnabhai MBBS.

While discussing Sanju, Raju recalled that when they were shooting the last scene of his debut directorial, Dutt saab had a frozen shoulder and could not lift his arms to give Sanjay a proper hug. “Sanju whispered to me not to pressurise him,” Raju recounted. “Dutt saab heard him and told me not to worry, he would do the scene the way I wanted. And after a few painful tries, he finally gave Sanju a jadoo ki jhappi.”

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 22, 2018)

Fifteen years ago, I slipped into a preview theatre after the lights dimmed to watch a film with a weird title, Munna Bhai MBBS, by a first-time director called Rajkumar Hirani which was to open in the theatres on December 19. A print had been rushed across to be screened for the jury of our upcoming film awards. Since this was the last big release of 2003, they did not want to wait till it was officially released to finalise their list of nominees. Few believed then that the Sanjay Dutt-Arshad Warsi comedy stood a chance of making the cut. But going by the rules, it had to be watched.

Since I was on jury duty that evening, I decided I might as well catch the film rather than sit outside twiddling my thumbs. But I had planned to make a quiet getaway after the interval. Less than fifteen minutes into it, I was hooked by the golden-hearted goon who though well past the school-going age, lumbers into the classroom to pursue his father’s dream of becoming a doctor, believing a jadoo ki jhappi is the cure to all ills. By the time the end credits rolled, I knew a director had been born and Sanju reborn. That year, this little big film swept most of the awards, including the 2004 National Film Awards for Best Popular Film on its way to becoming a jubilee hit and acquiring a cult status.

Today it is hard to imagine anyone but Sanju playing Munna, but the film had initially been planned with Shah Rukh Khan who had even started working out because the character while not a bad guy was a big guy. Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra in an interview to me had spoken about how he had been trying out different moustaches and giving inputs to the scripts, including the Michael Jackson takeoff in the title track, for which he finds a mention in the credits, when a back injury during a show in Lucknow put him out of action. Realising he couldn’t train anymore, SRK stepped out, and Sanjay Dutt who was already in the film, playing Zaheer, the cancer patient whose death jolts Munna (eventually played by Jimmy Sheirgill), stepped into his shoes since he already had ready-made muscles and was the right age.

The one big change this shuffle in the cast brought in was that Vinod was able to convince Sanju’s dad, Sunil Dutt, to play the role in reel life too and give him a jadoo ki jhappi. The latter turned out to be a painful exercise because Dutt saab was nursing a frozen shoulder and couldn’t raise his left hand. Raju was ready to push the shoot to another day, but the late veteran who kept rotating his shoulder, refused to give up. He finally managed to give his son a hug which came straight from the heart, much like Munna’s jhappis in the script.

When I quizzed Vinod on the genesis of the idea, that industry A-listers, including Sanju and Shah Rukh have embraced over the years, he remembered how Raju had cut some promos of his 1942: A Love Story. “I hated them and screamed at him. Three days later, Raju was back with fresh promos which were so wonderful that I spontaneously gave him a hug and the memory stayed with him. There’s nothing like a good hug!” he asserted. I agreed.

Munna Bhai MBBS came at a time when producers were wary of showing their film even to distributors before release. Vinod and Raju however had trial shows for different audiences, from kids to auto drivers, weeks before the film opened. The first test group was doctors. They loved it and Vinod heaved a sigh of relief, but not just because they were walking the tightrope with the subject. He confided that just like Munna, his own father had wanted him to become a doctor. He was really upset when his brilliant son opted for the movies instead, his brother Veer, putting him through the Film and Television Institute of India.

Vidhu’s first student short, Murder At Monkey Hill, bagged him the National Award for Best Short Experimental Film while his documentary on destitute children, An Encounter with Faces, was nominated for the Oscars. “My elder brother, Ramanand Sagar, would say, ‘Takt ya takiya, you never know which way the scales will tilt.’ My father was convinced it would be takiya for me,” he laughed, happy that though he did not become Dr Chopra, like Munna he brought to life the age-old idiom,‘laughter is the best medicine’.

One is also reminded of Dr Asthana’s laughter therapy in the film. Like Nana Patekar, whom he spotted on stage and cast in Parinda, Vinod discovered Boman Irani, who played the cantankerous dean of the medical college Munna enrols in, in a play. Boman was introduced to theatre by Shaimak Davar at 35. He was 44 when he made his Bollywood debut. But then, as Munna proved with his bhaigiri, age is but a number. Boman today, with Sanju, Raju and Vinod are looking ahead to Munna Bhai 3.

Deepali Singh (DNA; July 11, 2018)

Among the many talented actors in Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju, even Tabu has a blink-and-miss role in the biopic on Sanjay Dutt. The actress is seen as herself, presenting a Best Actor award to Sanju, played by Ranbir Kapoor in the biopic, for Munna Bhai MBBS.

Interestingly, back in 2004, Tabu had actually presented the Best Actor trophy to Dutt. The actress says, “Raju called me one day and reminded me about it. He wanted to recreate that scene for Sanju.” It was a surreal experience for the National Award winner. She admits she was excited to do this bit. “It sounded so bizarre, it felt like revisiting the past! They (the makers) showed me the clipping of the actual award ceremony that was held in 2004. They created a similar outfit, make-up and hairstyle for me. I went to shoot for it directly from the sets of Golmaal Again, which I was filming at the same time,” she says. Was it a déjà vu moment for her? “Absolutely! I walked out of the set and I was like, ‘Yeh main kahaan se nikal ke aai hoon!’ I call it my Truman Show moment,” she laughs, adding that it was fun to do that one scene with Ranbir.

And what about the filmmaker? Wouldn’t she like to do a bigger role in one of his films? “Why not? Raju and I have a purana connection,” she laughs, unwilling to reveal anything  further. Guess we’ll just have to wait for Raju to cast this talented actress.

Meena Iyer (DNA; June 29, 2018)

Rajkumar Hirani’s biopic on Sanjay Dutt, Sanju, opens today. And, the filmmaker, who is known as one of the brightest talents in Hindi cinema, says he has butterflies in his stomach, but shows no visible signs of his nervousness. He laughs when I ask him if he is aware that the film is tracking extraordinarily well. “Who conducts these surveys? Where do these tracking figures come from?” Raju (as he’s popularly known) questions, smiling beatifically. Then, he goes on to explain meticulously how Ranbir Kapoor tackled the challenge of playing the Munna Bhai actor. Excerpts...

Have you realised that we’ve never seen a biopic of an actor in his lifetime. In that sense, you are about to make history.
Yes, actually, there is no such biopic. Whenever I tried asking an actor, everyone backed off. Many of them wondered, ‘Why would we share our story?’ Sanjay is different. He had no qualms about trusting me with his life story. You know, he hadn’t even seen the film till two days ago. I was like, how can this guy be so cool? But that is Sanjay for you. I remember calling him earlier and asking him to watch it and he said, ‘Abhi baahar hoon, aa ke dekhta hoon.’ Another actor would have been curious. They would be dying to know, ‘Kya ho raha hai, kya bana raha hai?’ But Sanjay is a superstar, he is too cool.

There are amazing reactions to Ranbir’s portrayal of Sanjay from people who caught the film at previews.
I doff my hat to Ranbir. He never forces his thoughts on you. If he wanted to convince me about something, he would do it so tactfully. I remember when we decided to work together, the first thing he told me was, ‘Sir, thoda time rakhna. Let’s start work on the looks, do-teen mahine lagenge.’ He said it so softly, but I knew he couldn’t be rushed. I know in those months he had already started preparing. But he was not willing to make a go of it, till he was fully convinced. Ranbir has said that it was a daunting task. I agree.

My team and I supported his (Ranbir’s) thought process. He had the patience to keep trying out the various looks. Sometimes, after five to six hours of make-up, he would say it wasn’t working. He took just 30 seconds to shake his head and say ‘No’. Then we’d sit for hours to discuss how we could make it work. Later, we went to London to get it done. The most important thing was the patience on his part.

The look was just one aspect, the other aspect was how he would play Sanju. Thoda zyada karta, then it would look like mimicry or caricaturish. You never know the depth of an actor. Humko laga ki yeh kar raha hai, aise hi karna hai. I noticed it when we shot a song at the end of the film where he was himself. It felt as if I was shooting with another actor because, for the rest of the film, he had toned himself down so much. Usually, Ranbir is an expressive guy who uses his hands and face to capture what he is saying. But once he had transformed into Sanjay’s character, he had fully borrowed his mannerisms.

You have worked with Sanju on the Munna Bhai franchise and with Ranbir now. Is there any similarity between them when it comes to approaching their roles?
Not at all. Sanjay has a fabulous memory. If you give him two pages of dialogue to memorise, he will do it in a real way. Arshad Warsi, who was also in the Munna Bhai franchise, and I noticed that Sanju was not saying the lines given on the page. He would mix his own lines with what we had written; woh apna banaake bolta tha. I panicked because he wasn’t saying what was originally written. I asked Sanju to stick to his lines. And when he said them the way they were, his performance dropped. Then I realised that his strength is to take the gist of the dialogue, and say it in the way it’s spoken. When we speak, we fumble and repeat words as we are thinking and he made it natural by doing all of that. So I let him do what he was doing. I have to be a hawk to ensure that whatever I’m trying to say is not missed and there is something in taking it beyond.

Aamir (Khan) loves to rehearse. I like it when actors do that. It makes work easy. Aamir is very expressive. Look at  Secret Superstar, he has a great understanding of the script, overall understanding of the medium and he brings in a lot of that to his performance. Ranbir also rehearses a lot. I realised he makes his performances real. He doesn’t overexpress. I understand kiski kya strength hai. I try and get what I want using the strengths that the actors have.

Shunning popular notion, Hirani reveals that long-time collaborator, the muse of his next, Sanju, is "not a close buddy"
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; June 24, 2018)

He may have his own fan following, but Rajkumar Hirani is a huge Charlie Chaplin fan. The filmmaker's office at Andheri East plays the comic icon's movies on loop for visitors. On the day we meet him, it is City Lights that is unspooling. Laurel and Hardy mannequins positioned at the entrance further drive home the point about Hirani's favourite screen idols. His office also houses a memorabilia from his past films. A wall hanging declares that there are two type of people in the world - those who wear underwear, and those who use a two-in-one to hide their modesty. Aamir Khan as PK instantly flashes before our eyes.

Days away from the release of his next, Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Sanju, Hirani is tied up with last-minute post-production work for the Sanjay Dutt biopic. "I am now watching the film to technically polish it," he says. "Sanju is over and done for me. I only await the audience's verdict now." Hirani first met Dutt when he was signed for Munna Bhai MBBS (2003). "We had signed him for a small part. He was to play Jimmy Sheirgill's role, while Shah Rukh Khan was to play Munna Bhai. But, things did not work out. Later, we decided to rope in Sanju as the protagonist." The idea of making a biopic on Dutt was initially tossed by the actor's wife, Maanayata. "When Sanju was shooting for PK (2014), Maanayata suggested that we make a film on his life. My first reaction was, 'No'. Underworld and jails are not my forte."'

But, the idea crept up again when Dutt was in prison soon after. "When he was out on parole, I had gone to meet him. He began talking about life behind bars. Initially, [I prodded him] out of curiosity; to know what goes on in jails. The next day, he called me again. Then, he seemed to be venting out [his frustration]. He was telling me a story. That's when I told Abhijat [Joshi, writer] to accompany me, and we began recording the conversation. I realised that this could make for an interesting tale."



Once his time in jail became the fodder for their conversations, the meetings went deep into the evenings. "Dutt let me into his darkest phase. I would go to his house at 5 pm, and be there till the wee hours of the morning. Apart from what transpired in prison, he would tell me anecdotes about his life - his penchant for cars, his hostel, his parents [Sunil and Nargis Dutt]. Later, I met his sisters, Namrata and Priya, brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav and US-based buddy Paresh Ghelani [to take the story forward]."

What attracted Hirani to this tale was not Dutt's association with drugs or arms. It was what transpired inside his family home whose walls guarded the members from the frenzy outside. "I like human interest stories. Sanju is a father-son story; a friend's story." Hirani instantly puts our notions to challenge when he reveals that the man he collaborated with to deliver two of their biggest hits with the Munna Bhai series, is not one he counts among his close friends. "We share a strictly professional relationship. I do not hang out or party with him. He has his set of close friends, [which does not include me]. Ours is a director-actor relationship. But, at the same time, we are comfortable working with each other."

With Dutt in the know of developments associated with Sanju, it may be argued that the film may shy away from depicting his flaws, even though the unit has constantly refuted such suggestions. Hirani reiterates the fact when he says that should he have wanted to make a propaganda film on the actor, he would have made another Munna Bhai. "There is no reason for me to make a film to glorify Sanjay Dutt. For me, it is simply a great story. It takes courage to bare your life for reel. Sanjay told me everything, and gave me a free hand to do what I wished with that information."

The filmmaker is aware that certain scenes may strike controversy, as a particular one of an overflowing toilet in the cell that Kapoor, as Dutt, resides in, did. An activist found the it objectionable; questioning of jail authorities. But Hirani backs his decision to showcase it, stating, "This scene is from Sanju's earlier stint in jail. It happened in 1993, during the monsoon season. On that particular day, the drain in his cell overflowed due to heavy rains."

Although his films have featured more than one celebrated name in the same frame, this is the first time he helmed an ensemble cast. "It is also the first time I am working with so many female actors - Sonam Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, Dia Mirza, Anushka Sharma and Karishma Tanna." Buzz is that Tanna's character is inspired by Madhuri Dixit-Nene, who had, apparently called Hirani with the plea of not showcasing her alleged romance with Dutt. But Hirani refutes suggestions, questioning, "Why would she call me? Honestly, even I read reports [about my film] every day. It's amusing."

Even though he has a bevy of stars waiting to work with him, there are only a few that he can please, given that Hirani takes three to four years to bring out one venture. "Research and writing takes a lot of time. I keep looking for good scripts. Until I am sure, I will not take it up," he reasons. It's also owing to the lack of a good script that he turned down the third instalment of the Munna Bhai franchise, Munna Bhai Chale Amrika. "But, we are writing the next part."

Having rejected the role eventually played by Boman Irani in Hirani's Munna Bhai MBBS, Rawal confesses he was eager to work with "fantastic" filmmaker before Sanju came his way
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; June 10, 2018)

Politicking hasn't slowed down Paresh Rawal's Bollywood outings. The veteran actor says life is all about juggling various roles, and striking a balance. The Bharatiya Janata Party MP visits his constituency, Ahmedabad East, at least four times in three months. "I shuffle between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. I come from a theatre background, so, I am used to hopping from city-to-city for shows."

Presently, Rawal is promoting his next, Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju. Sanjay Dutt's biopic sees him play the late Sunil Dutt. We meet Rawal at Hirani's office on the Andheri-Kurla road. The air conditioner isn't working properly. It's hot, but he isn't perturbed. He is used to finding himself in sticky situations — literally, in this case — especially after entering politics in 2014. Social media savvy, he often finds himself trolled for taking on the opposition. "Now, everything's out in the open. You can discuss about any topic," he reasons. Last seen in Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), Rawal says, off late, he picks films he genuinely wants to invest time in.

"At this stage in my career, I don't want to work on any [and every] film. I don't want to waste time doing something I may not end up liking. I have done my share of masala films. Now, the makers and the subject matter. There is really good cinema being made." Hirani's Sanju certain qualified as one among them. "I know that there were many actors who were considered [for this part] before me."

Hirani had approached his 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014) actor Aamir Khan for the role. But, Hirani had said that since Mr Perfectionist had already played a father in Dangal (2016), he did not want to take on another role that saw him as one. Khan told him he would only be given roles of similar nature if he agreed to do so. But while playing Sunil Dutt was reason enough for Rawal to give his nod to the role, another factor was instrumental in sealing the deal. "Raju had approached me for Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) for the part that was eventually played by Boman Irani. But, I could not do it then. Over the years, I have been watching his films, and feeling the pinch of having not worked with him. His films are well made, and the results are fantastic."

This is Rawal's first collaboration, not only with Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi, but also with Ranbir Kapoor, who plays the titular role. Rawal says that while it was stated to Kapoor that he must resemble Sanjay, no such demand was made of him. Rawal had briefly interacted with the late actor on matters concerning the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation. Even his collaboration with him in Rajkumar Kohli's Virodhi (1992) did not lead to much communication since the two did not share screen space.

"Once, Dutt saab sent me a birthday card, out of the blue. I still have it. I always wondered why he had sent it to me when we barely knew each other. Strangely, I am now playing him." Rawal has not tried to ape his mannerisms. "Dutt saab had an affable personality and a unique voice. I looked up to him as an actor, and person. He went through a lot in life, wife [Nargis] coping with cancer, son battling with drugs. He endured it because of his strong personality." As for the film's protagonist goes, Rawal says Hirani has been particular about showcasing the man without sugar-coating his actions.

"He has not hidden any aspect of his life. Usually, a biography paints the protagonist as a noble man. I am told, Sanjay's precondition was to show his life with honesty." He is hoping that he has done justice to Dutt saab's character, which he feels is a father-son story. Coming up next for Rawal is Aditya Dhar's Uri based on the 2016 attacks in which he plays National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. He is also part of Ashutosh Gowariker's Dear Dad, based on his ongoing play by the same name. A Priyadarshan film is also lined up. Rawal terms his political outing as a "pilgrimage". "The coming months are crucial in the run-up to the 2019 general election. Ask him about rising petrol prices and he says, "We have to repay the debts of the past government. Only if people had raised their voice earlier, we would not have to see such days due to the past government's heavy, indiscriminate borrowings from the World Bank." Now, he is ready to take the plunge again in the electoral fray next year.

Junior Rawals eyeing Bollywood
Rawal's sons, Aditya and Aniruddh are also Bollywood-bound. Aditya studied script writing in New York while Aniruddh, who worked as an assistant director on Sultan (2016) and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) is keen to be an actor. “I will not be launching them, they will have to find their own way." Rawal's actor-wife Swaroop Sampat will be seen in a web show, The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family. “She is engrossed with her life skill programmes for healthy living,” says Rawal.


Rawal with his family at a book launch in the city

Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; July 22, 2017)

While rumour has it that filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will have an extended cameo in the Sanjay Dutt biopic, playing Subhash Ghai in the film, a unit hand tells mid-day that Hirani will, in fact, be playing himself. He will appear in a few scenes where Dutt [played by Ranbir Kapoor] is offered Hirani’s film Munnabhai MBBS (2003) . “That Raju sir is making an appearance makes the movie more authentic. He has already shot for the part,” says a source.

In an interview, Hirani had revealed that years ago, he came to Mumbai to become an actor, but never got the offers he was looking for. He is best remembered for a Fevicol advertisement. “After Raju sir finished his shot, Ranbir and Vicky [Kaushal] celebrated his return to acting and threw a party after pack-up,” says the source.

The director tells us how a chilli chicken lunch set him for a career in advertising, and how an entire village contributed to his multiple National Award-winning Marathi film, Ventilator
Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 16, 2017)

When we meet filmmaker Rajesh Mapuskar at Shivaji Park, his wide smile mirrors his mood. That his debut Marathi black comedy Ventilator has just won three National Awards, including a Best Director for him, isn’t the only reason for his cheerful demeanour.

“I would hang out here to check out girls when I was at Kirti College,” says Mapuskar, who was first introduced to cinema while at school. He’d spend his afternoons at his family-owned theatre in Shrivardhan, a beach town in Raigad. “I was the usher, sweeper, projection operator and would sometimes also man the ticket counter,” says Mapuskar, adding, “I remember when certain films were overbooked, I’d sprint back home to collect chairs to accommodate everyone.”

Ventilator is about a large joint family that collects at a hospital when a senior member is put on life support. The film leans on eccentric characters and slippery situations and has 116 speaking characters. “I grew up in a joint family comprising 68 members and I’m used to parallel sub-plots. Since I also shot in Shrivardhan, my neighbours, uncles, aunts and the entire village was part of the film in some way.”

The movie also delves into the unspoken resentment that can fragment the relationship shared by fathers and sons, something Mapuskar borrowed from his relationship with his own father. “He is my khazana of inspiration and he loved the film too.”

Mapuskar had little interest in academics in school, he moved to Mumbai after his 10th standard exams, in 1983, ostensibly to pursue a commercial arts course at Sir JJ School of Art. “But my dad didn’t approve, he thought I’d end up painting shop boards.” He then took up Commerce on his father’s insistence. “But then he saw my B.Com. marks and told me to return to the village and join the family business.” But Mapuskar had other plans. After a string of odd jobs, including that of a sales representative, the 44-year-old signed up for a six-month diploma in business management. A friend got him space to study at a doctor’s clinic in Mahim, which remained vacant through the day. This turned out to be his first break.

“This doctor also happened to produce TV serials and his clinic doubled up as a space for story sessions,” remembers Mapuskar, whose occasional plot contributions landed him a job as an assistant director for princely salary of Rs 700. Then, someone suggested he get into modeling. “I had more hair on my head then so I was convinced,” laughs Mapuskar.

Four years later, he bagged a TVC in which he played a shopkeeper interacting with a salesman played by Rajkumar Hirani, who was a freelance editor at the time. The two bonded instantly. Apart from getting paid Rs 2,500 for a day’s shoot, Mapuskar was fascinated by the fact that he was served chilli chicken for lunch. “Raju told me this was a regular affair at ad shoots and even introduced me to the director Dilip Ghosh, who hired me as a production assistant.”

Five years on, he was on the verge of moving to Bangkok to work with a boutique production outfit, when Hirani called to ask him to join his debut feature that was being produced by Vinod Chopra Films. “He [Hirani] said after the film, I could move to Bangkok.”

Mapuskar ended up as chief assistant to Hirani on Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Rago Munnabhai and 3 Idiots, and also made his directorial debut with Ferrari Ki Sawaari. “The film didn’t do Rs 100 crore, but it did decent business. Till date, when people meet me, they speak fondly of it,” he says of the comedy starring Boman Irani and Sharman Joshi.

The idea for Ventilator, a black comedy, struck him when he was halfway through writing his second Hindi film — a musical. “Many of my friends discouraged me and asked me to not venture into Marathi films as there’s no money in it.” But Mapuskar was determined to make it “whether it was a success or a failure”.

It was at this stage that his accountant told him about Priyanka Chopra’s interest in producing regional films. “I reached out to Priyanka and her mother, Dr Madhu Chopra, and within five minutes they were sure about backing it. We never thought of monetary gains from the film.”

Mapuskar’s next step is to complete writing his Hindi musical that he abandoned to make Ventilator. While he feels winning a national honour for his work is “humbling”, he doesn’t feel any additional pressure to follow it up. “My approach to cinema will remain the same. It’s just difficult to imagine that my name has been included among the greats like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen who have won this award in the past.”

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 24, 2016)

Boman Irani who is a good friend of Rajkumar Hirani and has featured in all his directorials – Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots, and PK – joined the filmmaker as the newest guests on Sajid Khan and Riteish Deshmukh’s show, Yaaron Ki Baraat, on Tuesday.

A source from the set told Mirror, “Raju revealed that he only met and got to work with Boman because of Vidhu Vinod Chopra who produced his debut, Munna Bhai MBBS. He couldn’t afford the actor before as he was working as an editor and adman. Boman admitted that he took to Raju instantly because ‘he is a very simple man,’ joking that even though the filmmaker lives in Mumbai he gets his suits tailored from his hometown Nagpur and still turns up everywhere in a simple shirt and jacket instead.” The 56-year-old Housefull 3 actor also described himself as an “aristocratic pauper” as he has appeared in nearly 1000 films and TV shows as an extra.

Raju went on to reveal that Amrish Puri was the original choice for the role of Dr Asthana in Munna Bhai MBBS. After the late actor turned down the offer, it went to Boman. But it was only when the actor turned up in character, almost unrecognisable, to decide on his final look that Raju was truly impressed with his old man turn. It’s been a mutual admiration society ever since for this actor-director duo!

Sajid Khan turns 45, talks cinema, relationships and more
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; November 23, 2016)

It takes a brutally honest man to admit that he’s more intelligent than the cinema he makes. That’s Sajid Khan for you... a veritable encyclopedia of films, a one-time collector of film tickets and more. As he turns 45 today, we corner him for a heart-to-heart and he talks about everything from his birthdays, who he celebrates them with, his relationships — past and present and why he regrets (only a wee bit) not playing Circuit in Munnabhai (did you know he was the first choice?).

How do you usually celebrate your birthdays?
I don’t celebrate it at all. I usually try to keep myself busy on that day. If there’s a shoot or a show, I try to make sure we schedule it on my birthday because I feel it’s very important to work on your birthdays. It gives you a sense of satisfaction. But last year, I had a big bash because my best friend Sajid Nadiadwala wanted to throw a huge party. We were estranged for two years. In 20 years of friendship, two years of fights are allowed! So when we got back in 2014, he said that it was important that we have a big party and call all our friends from the film industry, too. It also sent out a lot of positive vibes to the film industry... the fact that we weren’t fighting anymore. That is probably the best birthday gift I could ever get... it cleared a lot of things being said about us.

You are extremely close to Diva, Anya and Czar...
I love them to death. You should see me with Diva, Anya and Czar. I don’t talk to them like an uncle, but as someone their age. I try to connect with them on that level.

What do they do for you on your birthday?
They make cards for me every year. I have saved all the cards they’ve made for me. I am not one who takes gifts and all. They pretty much have everything a seven or eight-year-old child would have. Otherwise, on my birthday, I would give them gifts.

There has been much written about you and your films. Does that still bother you?
Of course, it does. But it doesn’t bother me as much that it alters my life or the way I connect with people. It has made me realise that people are very short-sighted and they don’t really care. There’s one question that people always keep asking me. ‘How is it that you know so much about movies, but still make cinema like this?’ I know I am far more intelligent than the cinema I make. But the cinema I make is always going to have a wider spread than other films. My last two films didn’t do well, but it still did Rs 55 crore plus business which is probably the business of certain hit films on smaller budgets. The audience doesn’t care about the budget. They don’t care whether they are watching a Rs 100 crore movie or a Rs 200 crore film. When was the last time you thought that I am watching a Rs 20 crore film, so my ticket should cost less or vice versa? That doesn’t happen.

Do you carry emotional baggage around?
No! I think Twitter has helped me a lot. When I thought of joining it, everyone thought that now, he’s going to do everybody’s ma behen, screw other people’s happiness. I haven’t done that and I will never ever do that. When I was making fun of films and film reviews at 17-18, I was just doing my job. The only difference between most of these guys today and me is that my life is cinema. The purity in cinema goes to the time when I used to bunk school or college and watch movies alone. Trying to get into an adult movie, then getting thrown out and entering from the back gate. Or trying to sneak in without a ticket and standing at the back, watching the film because there were no more tickets, Then, there was no video or TV. People grow up, they have families, wives, kids, they have responsibilities. I have none, so I guess I never grew up and my love for cinema is still the same as it was when I was a kid. I have sacrificed a marital life for my cinema. So that my time is not divided and when the brickbats also come, I can take it a little easy and not get perturbed because I don’t have to think about how my wife would feel or what my kids would have to hear in school.

You have been in a lot of serious relationships in the past...
Some not-so-serious ones, too!

So is sacrificing it okay for you?
I have turned 45. By being with a woman, she also has to understand she isn’t with a normal guy. I love watching three movies a day. And some girls tried their best, they felt that it’s damn cool to be with me because I love movies. And they say that women love men with passion. Unless the man’s passion is his mom! (Smiles) I have been in relationships where some girls have liked the idea initially, but after six months, they would be like, ‘Get on with it. Let’s go out.’ And I’d say, ‘Let’s watch a movie’. It has lasted me 40 years of life and it didn’t change. Why will it change for anyone else?

Have you ever been close to getting married to somebody?
Yes! Again, two of those girls are married, so I won’t take names. I was in a steady relationship with this sweet girl way back in the ’90s. I thought I would end up getting married to her, but I was not a good guy for the simple reason that she was nicer than me. I was cheating behind her back and she caught me. But she even forgave me. That’s how nice or should I say naive she was! (Smiles) I won’t say I regret not getting married to her. But if I split in June, the break actually happened in February-March. It takes around 90 days to get on with it and end it. Most relationships break up around three months before the actual split. I was even engaged to somebody once in 2003, a slightly popular name. Even that didn’t work out and I wasn’t a bad guy then. I didn’t cheat. I guess you just get bored. Plus, I am a reclusive person. I don’t go out, I don’t party. My outings are only my dinners with my friends or PVR movies!

You collect film tickets!
I used to! I have actually collected each and every ticket of each and every film that I have watched over the years, but they don’t make them like they used to earlier. Behind every movie ticket, I would write the length of the film and I used to mention, who I watched it with and then, I would give it a 1-star or a 5-star review, depending on what I felt about it. All the tickets are intact.

How many tickets do you have?
I started collecting them since 1982. I stopped collecting in the early 2000s. So there are over 3,000 tickets.

No one knows that you were initially the first choice for Circuit from Munnabhai...
Not that I went to meet Hirani or give a screen test, so I really would not be able to confirm whether I had got it or not. But I do know for a fact that Abbas Tyrewala, who was writing Main Hoon Na at that point for Farah, was my friend and was writing Munnabhai. He had told me, ‘You are perfect for the role and Raju would love to meet you. You should do it.’ Anyway, I was close to Sanju as friends. Then I called up Baba (Sanjay Dutt) and asked him what he thought. He was like, ‘Do it Saju, we will have a rollicking time.’ I was in this dilemma whether I should do it or not. Aur woh pehle aap, pehle aap ke chakkar mein woh gaadi nikal gayi. Then, one day, I realised Arshad got it. And he is damn good in the film. No regrets because Arshad did, probably, a better job than what I could have done because he is a far superior actor than what I am. The only reason I regret it a bit now is because I know for a fact that whatever I was charging for being on TV at that time was there. But when Munna and Circuit became such a big rage, Arshad started charging much more for shows.

Rajkumar Hirani, responding to PK's success being projected as evidence of India's tolerance in response to Aamir's remarks, asks for everyone to calm down -and seeks greater decency in public debate
Anshul Chaturvedi (BOMBAY TIMES; December 11, 2015)

Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi on their passion for filmmaking and the norms they refuse to follow
Harshada Rege (DNA; December 11, 2015)


Though Wazir is an adaptation of your earlier English film script 64 Squares, explain the process of adapting it?
Vidhu Vinod Chopra: Well, it took us four years to write it first….
Abhijat Joshi: Actually, it took 35 years because he got the idea around 1980. When I met him for the first time around 1994 he told me about this idea of two chess players and this lovely thriller. Then in 2000, we started writing it. It was supposed to be his first Hollywood film. Between 2000 and 2004 we wrote it in English and most of my education in cinema happened during that process. He was mentoring me. Dustin Hoffman was to play the protagonist. Unfortunately, the producer suddenly passed away.
VVC: Bobby Newmyer was the producer.
AJ: Then he saw a film by Bejoy he really liked.
VVC: Not the whole film though. Just one small portion. I liked the black-and-white portion of David very much. I called him (Bejoy), and I have an almirah full of scripts, so I opened it and asked him ‘Which one?’ (laughs) He picked this one. Then we worked for two more years on it.

It seems like a gripping thriller, what was the inspiration behind it?
VVC: It’s a film about friendship. It’s not really a sanjeeda film or an action thriller. It’s about two friends. It’s a very unusual friendship between somebody like Vishwanathan Anand and say somebody like Rakesh Maria. Farhan plays his first ever action part and he has done a great job, but the film is really about friendship.

Can a writer ever be happy with the script he has?
AJ: That’s not possible. You always feel that something could be done differently.
VVC: Just today, he was saying that we could change this one shot. So I saw it and said ‘No, no’. You can never be fully happy, but when it’s over — like when this movie releases on January 8, we are flying to Paris for the premiere of Broken Horses — we are going to cut the umbilical cord. If you like it great, if you don’t it’s still yours, we have done our job.
AJ: As a writer, you feel a sense of pride when you see it. It may not absolutely be the perfect thing you have done, but you know that you’ve gone beyond your own capacity in some ways.

How important is it for a writer to be present on the sets when the movie that he has written is being shot?
Both: We didn’t go on the set for this one at all.
AJ: I think it depends on the director. He (Chopra) prefers the writer to be present on the set.
VVC: Yes, when I made Broken Horses, Abhijat was present for the shoot.
AJ: But sometimes the director feels that I am happy with the script and this is how I am going to shoot it and I want to focus on that. If a director prefers that then it’s perfectly fine.
VVC: The other thing is if you take someone like Bejoy for example and if I am on the set then Amitabh would’ve probably looked at me and then everybody would’ve looked at me for approval. I don’t want that. When Munnabhai MBBS was being made by Rajkumar Hirani, I was on the set on the first day of the shoot. Sanjay Dutt looked at me after the shot and asked ‘Theek hai?’ He did that twice, I told Raju that before he does that the third time I am leaving the set. After that I never went on the set ever again.

How easy or difficult is it to hand something that you have written to another person to direct?
VVC: It’s easy and difficult. If a director delivers — like Bejoy has — then it’s very easy. But if he’s not delivering then it is extremely difficult. The thing with Bejoy is that he really grew up in the last two-three years that he has been with me. He is not the same person who had started out. He has delivered better than I expected so it has been easy. I write a film and hand it over, and then I never go on the set. I let the director be the king on set. He deserves that. Bejoy made his film and brought it to me. Then I saw the edit and felt this is not the way it should be and then because I was so involved I sat on it myself. That’s why I have editing credit in the film. It’s truly like a collaborative force. You don’t know where the writer ends and the director begins and where director ends and the editor begins. It’s like a mixture of colours. It’s one collaborative force that makes the force.

How do you feel about fine-tuning a scene while shooting it?
VVC: I am totally for it. We believe there’s nothing sacrosanct about what we have written. We believe it’s a process. Some of the best lines in Wazir are improvised. The joke about Russian vodka and Russian girls between Amitabh and Farhan is one such instance.
AJ: As hard as you prepare, if something comes along that fits beautifully you incorporate it.
VVC: You can’t be strict. If I ask you to just ask me the questions that you have come with and nothing else that comes to your mind then it would be like an exam. Similarly, we are okay with improvising, the only thing is, we don’t compromise. When we make a film like Wazir that takes us six years to write so be it…

Go on…
VVC: Everybody insisted that we release it on December 25 because it’s a good day. But I am not ready! I will be ready on January 8. It’s a very good film, if you like the film you will come and watch it. Why will you see a bad film on the 25th and not see a good film on 8th? And do you see a film because it is being promoted on a television show where everybody is laughing or are you going to see it because it’s a good film? Why would you want to go make a fool of yourself? If the film is bad you’ll get to know not by the second day, but the second show. Wazir is a damn good film. Even if you say you won’t get the opening like other films would get on the first day, you’ll get more the second day. LOC had released with Munnabhai MBBS. But my week three collection was better than their week two. I am just saying that if you make a good film… toh rukhti nahi hai achhi film. In this office we don’t do movies for Eid, Diwali or Christmas, we do movies for movies!

Abhijat, how is writing with Vinod different from writing with Rajkumar Hirani?
AJ: The process is the same. First of all we strive to develop a unique idea, and not settle for something that is mediocre or done before or is formulae. That’s our first commitment. Then you have to make that unique idea work. What is it that you are trying to say? There has to be a theme. Like in 3 Idiots it was kaabil bano kamyabi aapke pichhe aayegi. In PK, it was that there are two Gods — one that created us, the other that we created. We define that so we get a sense of what the film will be about. Then we start creating characters. Then we slowly approach the writing process. I do that with both of them. There are certain set of principles like every scene has to have either laughter, emotion or drama. If it’s not there then we don’t keep it in the film. In our films you will not find a scene where a car comes, stops, somebody gets out or somebody making conversation. That’s dead footage. We try to keep everything meaningful and respect the time that the audience is spending in an auditorium. With Vinod, he’s my teacher so the equation is different. With Raju, is he is more like my brother, but of course there’s mutual respect.

Abhijat, any plans to turn director?
AJ: No. Having seen these people direct, I quickly realised that my strengths are different. A lot of writers go towards direction because they feel that they are not getting their due. But in this company, writers have been given fantastic treatment. They have been rewarded, recognised, so that human need is satisfied.

Your production house is a few decades old. Is it a conscious decision to do few films unlike other banners that have multiple projects on the floor?
VVC: We can’t do that. We want to make good films. When I die, if there are DVDs of say five or seven of my films, I want to look at them and say, ‘You know what, we did very well’.

Your one film rakes in more money than a bunch of movies made by other banners in a year. You clearly believe in quality over quantity…
VVC: Wohi toh main keh raha hoon. Kaabil bano, kamyabi kadam choomegi aapke. Chase excellence, success will follow. That’s true in our life. Tell me in how many offices will they invite you to watch 15 minutes of the film three-four weeks before the release? Nobody will do it because they are not sure of what they are doing at all. Some distributors are seeing the whole film today. They were just seeing the first half, but I said poori dekh lo. Kya problem hai? That is rare.

A lot of production houses are remaking old films. Any favourites that you want to remake?
VVC: Everything I have made should be remade. (Laughs loudly)
AJ: But not by him.
VVC: Frankly, I am not into the business of cinema. I cannot say ke chalo yeh film hit ho gayi thi toh isko fir se banake aur paise kamalo. Raju, Abhijat, me...all of us are not pushed by this ‘Oh my God, we have to make so much money’ feeling. The difference is that when you are not intellectually strong your strength comes from your bank balance. But when you are strong deep down, you don’t need that. When you look at great figures like say Mahatma Gandhi or Swami Vivekananda...did they have a lot of money? No, but they had some kind of strength and that what we strive for. That we should become like those great people where the strength is within us. So what will money do? Nothing. I just had a fantastic anda toast before you came in. Uske upar kya kha loonga? I can’t melt gold or it’s not like I can have a few diamonds for breakfast. It’s nonsense. We don’t chase money.

Also you only make films for your production house. Any directors who have impressed you that you’d like to offer a film to?
VVC: I don’t think like that. I see very few movies. For me, more than the work, I have to like that person and he has to like me. He may be a great director, but if doesn’t like me and I don’t like him then why do it? But I am sure I will find somebody that I like. I am making a film that my sister is directing. She has just finished writing it. I would love to make that with her because I love her. She has gone to a film school and has worked on Ferrari Ki Sawari, 3 Idiots, etc. She’ll do a great film. It’s like that. I have to like that person, otherwise you spend four years with an idiot then what’s the use? Picture hit bhi ho jaye toh fayda kya? You have wasted four years with a person you don’t even like.

Finally, Ram Lakhan which starred Anil and Jackie is being remade. If you had to remake Parinda today who would cast in place of these two actors?
VVC: Varun Dhawan and Hrithik Roshan. In fact, tell them if they want to do it I would be ready to direct them. Hrithik is a damn good actor. He would be great in Jackie’s part and Varun would suit the role that Anil played.