Actor Sonakshi Sinha likes how things have been in her career so far. But going forward, she’d like something to change — she doesn’t want to settle for small parts: “I don’t want to be repetitive or do characters that aren’t strong.” So, is she referring to the damsel in distress kind of roles? “Not really. If I have to play that at some point, it’s my job to portray a character. But, if I get to play a serial killer, I won’t say I can’t do it. As an actor, you have to play different roles,” she says.

The 34-year-old, who will be seen in films such as Double XL and Kakuda, says she doesn’t find the ‘commercial heroine’ image a hindrance in being considered for more meaningful roles.

“I have never strategised anything, or thought that at this point, I will only do such films. I did a film like Lootera (2013) at the beginning of my career, right in the middle of those commercial films. From the beginning, people never questioned my abilities as an actor, so it wasn’t difficult for them to imagine me in certain kinds of roles,” says Sinha.

She feels that the way he audience accepted her in films such as Dabangg (2010) and Rowdy Rathore (2012) made the makers believe that she could headline films, too: “Since I did films like that, I got to do movies such as Double XL. I got the power and courage to headline films.”

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; February 5, 2018)

Whether it’s Cheeni Kum, Paa or Ki & Ka, R Balki has opted for unconventional subjects, which haven’t been attempted in Bollywood before. Continuing the tradition, his next directorial, Pad Man, deals with a topic — menstrual hygiene — that’s considered a taboo in the society. This is also the ad filmmaker-turned-director’s first biopic, a genre which, he admits, he isn’t too comfortable with. He tells After Hrs why he readily took up Pad Man and how he would do a masala film, only if it’s done his way...

When you were making Pad Man, were you apprehensive that people would take offence to it, since the film talks about menstruation?
No. I never thought about it. An objection to this film would be an objection to women. It’s as fundamental as that. But I’m so touched by the effort that our government, as well as that of other countries, are making to create awareness about menstrual hygiene. It’s a universal issue.

Here, sanitary pads are considered an object of luxury and not a necessity in villages, whereas, in a few countries, condoms are distributed for free. Do you think that will change?
It will. Cinema is a powerful medium. When people say that, ‘Pad Man is coming’, they are telling a word, which they never said before. But ask those same people to request for a sanitary napkin at a store and they’ll start whispering. I also believe that there is a huge problem of affordability. A lot of women who want it, can’t afford it. There is lack of awareness, too. People don’t understand that pads are more hygienic. It’s supposed to protect you from diseases that a cloth cannot because despite washing it repeatedly, there will still be germs. So, the basic purpose of sanitary napkins is misunderstood. It’s not a lifestyle choice, it’s a necessity. It’s a luxury today in a lot of people’s houses only because it’s been made out to be a luxury.

How did Pad Man happen?
I was approached to make this film. Twinkle Khanna had interacted with Arunachalam Muruganantham earlier as she wanted to write a book. Akshay Kumar and she (Twinkle Khanna) met me and I thought it was a great opportunity. I normally don’t like making a biopic because I get scared thinking whether I’ll be able to do justice to that person. At the same time, I knew the opportunity to make a film like this would never come again. I said yes in 24 hours! Then, it was funny. Twinkle went on to write her book and I went on to write my film. Finally, we arrived at two different interpretations of one man, his life being the common thing. We both finished at the same time as well. So he’s got two people writing for him. It was a natural story waiting to be told. I needed to make sure those emotions came across really well because eventually, it’s a love story.

You have a certain sensibility and treatment in your films. Do you think that prompted Akshay and Twinkle to approach you?
The cast wasn’t in place at that time. Even Akshay wasn’t sure. But he just asked me, ‘Do you want me to do the film? I don’t have a problem not doing it’. I felt that you could see the character in him completely. Pad Man is probably my most mainstream film because all my movies have largely been urban-centric. Of course, the tonality and the way I write doesn’t change but the genre and setting of this emotional love story is so far-reaching than anything else that I’ve done. It’s because of the nature of the story. It’s funny that something that people consider a taboo subject is actually my most mainstream subject ever.

But it’s commendable for a superstar like Akshay to do Pad Man...
Yes, it’s brave that he’s making such choices. Last year, I loved two films —The State vs Jolly LLB 2 and Toilet - Ek Prem Katha, both of which starred him. He has a great reach today and he can do any kind of movies. Akshay has got an absolute new tone in his films now. I’m so happy to have him play my leading man because when you watch Pad Man, you’ll know why he’s perfect for it.

As a director, is it difficult to find novel ideas?
I just try and see what I haven’t thought of before. I also watch a lot of films. I think there is a certain zone and tone that every director has. I know enough to say that. If you’re doing something that’s not original, then there’s no point in doing it. Yes, the subjects might have been dealt with somewhere else. But I should not know. That’s my only condition before starting a film. If I know it and I’m asked to do it, then there’s a problem.

Do you critique your own films?
I have done such s**t. I try and forget my movies as fast as possible, in fact, just a day after the release. I loathe my films. It’s not just one scene or two scenes. I cannot stand my own work.

Why?
When you are making a film, you go through so many emotions and by the time it opens in cinemas, you’re sick of it. You lose emotions, not objectivity. The sentiments with which you write a movie are non-existent by the time you release it. I’m quite disconnected that way.

Have you ever thought of breaking the norm and doing something completely different?
This is something totally different. I don’t want to do something out of my sensibility because then, it won’t be me. I don’t need to prove anything to anybody that I cannot do this. Even if I do a masala film, it will be with my style and sensibilities. It can’t be made with Manmohan Desai’s sensibilities because I’m not him.

So are you saying you’re averse to that kind of cinema?
No. What you know is what you do. I do only things which I know I can do. For example, I love Welcome. I roared with laughter while watching it. What madness! Even Rowdy Rathore is one of my favourite movies. Putting such calibrated nonsense is an art and if a film bores me, it’s boring regardless of what people think. There are interesting and boring movies. You only do the ones that you can.

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; January 6, 2018)

How many times have you seen an A-list actor wearing a panty with a sanitary napkin in it and checking himself out in the mirror? Well, Akshay Kumar is different and has his heart in the right place. The actor, who is all set to bring in another revolution with Pad Man, doesn’t shy away from trying out spaces which his competitors won’t even think of attempting. He’s the best at juggling films, belting out four films every year on an average and is definitely not someone you can slot into a particular category anymore. He is no longer just the quintessential romantic Hindi film hero or the macho action star, he’s a blend of both and much more. We talk to the Khiladi about his unconventional choices. Over to him...

During Airlift, you had said you wanted films like these to have an audience. Today, such movies are doing tremendously well. Are you happy?
Now, the audience wants change and I’m happy they think that way. The society requires it. Yesterday morning, I was just checking the pollution levels in Mumbai. I’m sure none of us know it but it’s 372, which is huge. These are issues that need to be talked about. The fact that cinema is watched by so many people makes it better. I’m sure more filmmakers will be ready to explore such spaces.

You are someone who has successfully juggled and made unconventional the new convention today...
The reception has been really good. Whether it’s an Airlift, Rustom, OMG: Oh My God! or Special 26, which I had started off with, it’s been fantastic. Actually, if you see, I started it usse bhi pehle, when I made 8 X 10 Tasveer with Nagesh Kukunoor. The film didn’t see much success but I was clear that I wanted to make cinema which was different from what I was doing, because this gives me a chance to do diverse things. For commercial films like Rowdy Rathore, you can only go one way as they are uni-dimensional. But these movies (the ones that I’m doing right now) are different. The dimensions, your roles and characters change completely. For some films like Baby, it was a different genre and you can’t compare it with Pad Man, which again isn’t similar to an Airlift or The State vs Jolly LLB 2. So, you get a lot more breathing space to try out new and exciting stuff.

You are not slotted into any particular category because of your choices. What really is the parameter for you?
It’s just the script, the character and the screenplay. How it’s being told, what is being told, does it have a value to it and can I feel it at all — these things matter to me. And it automatically happens with me. If I feel it, I’ll do it. It doesn’t matter who the director is — how big he is or whether he is new. After all, this is team work and we have to take the movie to a place.

You played a gay character in Dishoom. Now, we will see you wear a sanitary pad in Pad Man. Is it a conscious move to break stereotypes?
When I played a Parsi in Rustom, I didn’t talk the way they usually do in films. I know many Parsis who don’t speak like this. Movies make them look caricaturish. At times, kharab hi kar dete hai. When they have a Bengali character, they make them speak differently. It’s not how people talk usually. I have never liked that. So, I don’t feel the need to adhere to stereotypes.

Were you apprehensive before doing the scene where you wear the panty?
The first 30 seconds into the shot, I was a little nervous. But then, I was totally fine and I had no issues with it at all. It was just like any other scene.

But it’s brave of a superstar to do something like that, especially because the society considers all this unmanly. Comment. 
That is the challenge, na! Why is it a taboo or unmanly? Why can’t we just break these glass walls? They need to be broken. It’s as natural as a guy getting cuts and blood oozing out. I don’t take any of it to be unmanly. We need to change the way we think.

There’s a huge debate about how sanitary napkins should be made tax free. Do you think Pad Man will bring about a change?
I want a bigger change. Forget tax free, it should be completely free. Women strong, country strong and to make them strong, you have to make sanitary napkins free and easily available to them. Because of the cost, so many women use bhusa, raakh and dirty clothes to stop bleeding. It’s not hygienic. For all this, there needs to be a budget which can be one or two per cent of the defence budget. If you have that, women are stronger and they give birth to healthier children and eventually, men too become strong. It’s a simple cycle. When there’s a tree, you don’t start cutting the tree’s leaves or branches. You need to nurture the root, which is what we all forget. Physical roop change karke kya hoga?

The year gone by has seen Disney India (formerly UTV Motion Pictures) deliver the highest grossing Hindi film ever (probable) in DANGAL and THE JUNGLE BOOK which is the highest grossing Hollywood film in India ever and both films are the biggest BLOCKBUSTERS ever for Disney India but it is has shut operations in India. Not only does it have these huge grossers but there is also BAAGHI which was a hit at the box office and is now running riot on television with almost 60 lakh impressions on first viewing and has hit 30 lakh plus impressions three to four times in repeat. Put into perspective these repeats are higher than the premieres of Shah Rukh Khan's FAN and Akshay Kumar's AIRLIFT and RUSTOM. This is no mean feat for a small film. Basically the five most popular films of the year in 2016 in India going by theatres and television are SULTAN, DANGAL, (this order can change in time) THE JUNGLE BOOK, HOUSEFULL 3 and BAAGHI and three of these of belong to Disney India. There has been a FITOOR and MOHENJO DARO but the huge popularity of the three above films more than counteract that.

It is rare to see a studio shut operations in the same year that they have delivered such hugely popular films but that is exactly what has happened to Disney India. This year the decision makers at Disney India would have seen what the audience wants as you have to be stupid not to see after such hugely successful films and on top you have also seen your content which has failed with the audience. It would give a clearer view of what Hindi cinema is all about. But this clearer view is probably too late as the American bosses have pulled the plug. The plug has been pulled because of what we call the DIL CHAHTA HAI syndrome which was probably there in the studio (and many others).

DIL CHAHTA HAI syndrome is

1. There was a film in 2001 called DIL CHAHTA HAI which a section (a fairly large section) of the industry for some reason followed in its story telling and its narrative style despite it being a poor film and rejected and by most of the audience at the box office and even more on television after. More about this fiasco (for the industry) on another day.

2. You make films which you want to make (DIL CHAHTA HAI) which is actually correct and what everyone should do but the problem is when the audience is kicking you in the teeth again and again then there has to be some rethink. It was not just Disney (then UTV) but the whole brigade which thought DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema was the way forward. It was okay at the time though as it was all corporate money and table profits so the audience opinion did not matter much but it had to tell as eventually someone somewhere had to cover the losses.

Disney India (formerly UTV Motion Pictures) started in 1997 with DIL KE JHAROKE MEIN (Manisha Koirala, Vikas Bhalla) which was a disaster were a part of this DIL CHAHTA HAI brigade post the release of the 2001 film and had their first hit in 2006 with RANG DE BASANTI and the same year had KHOSLA KA GHOSLA which no one saw but was raved about in the media and probably this brigade in the industry also. Actually even RANG DE BASANTI was more talked about than what it actually achieved at the box office and after on television. The company continued with this type of cinema which was never going anywhere not in India at least but there were some huge bright spots like hugely appreciated films like ROWDY RATHORE and CHENNAI EXPRESS and well liked acquisitions like RACE and YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI.

Then in late 2013 they hit the jackpot as Disney wanted its share in the Indian market and took over UTV Motion Pictures but Disney is a blockbuster studio. When someone like that comes to India they expect the blockbusters and biggest films but here what they got was DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema and duds like HAIDER, KATTI BATTI and FITOOR etc. which would have been a shock to their system. THE JUNGLE BOOK despite being a foreign film is more Indian in its story telling and emotions than all these films. There were blockbuster acquisitions like KICK and PK but one was highly priced while the other on commission so returns were not huge as the success of those films warranted. This was more than counteracted by acquiring of poor films like PHANTOM, TAMASHA and MOHENJO DARO at fancy prices where just the first named alone more than killed the profits on KICK and PK and this would not have gone down well in at Head Office in California.

The irony of it all is that just when a studio is coming out of some misconceptions (has to be after DANGAL, THE JUNGLE BOOK, BAAGHI and there was also last years ABCD 2) it has to shut up shop which is sad. Actually the misconceptions could have come out earlier when a ROWDY RATHORE and CHENNAI EXPRESS was there but there is a fluke like BARFI in among them and that gives hope that this can be the correct road especially if the people making creative decisions believe in that road. But if you dig deeper into all the facts and figures of BARFI everything is crystal clear that it can happen but rarely and post its theatrical run there is only rejection as though numbers came in theatres its through a minority and wider audience was not interested.

The other sad part is that Disney India is a powerful distribution outfit today with a huge presence in all the circuits and now despite this clout it will not be releasing any Hindi films barring the pending JAGGA JASOOS unless headquarters in California have a rethink. A rethink could actually mean a much better Disney India after what has happened in 2016 but if its still DIL CHAHTA HAI syndrome then there would not much hope for this industry.

Note - Some films in the list will be acquisitions released as a distribution concern

Shabinaa Khan on wanting to be a creative producer and how her journey so far has all led up to this point
Sarita A Tanwar (DNA; May 22, 2016)


Why did you make a Marathi movie?
Because both the movies I made (Gabbar Is Back or Rowdy Rathore) were big-budget films. I always wanted to make a small film. In fact, I wanted to go and study in New York after GIB for five weeks to do a filmmaking and editing course as I wanted to learn something. I was going to be doing Rowdy 2 anyway after that, but I thought, ‘Why not make a small film and learn the same thing here?’

Do you speak Marathi?
Not many people know that I am from Kolhapur and I speak fluent Marathi. We have a house in Kolhapur. We are Marathi Muslims and that is the reason I wanted to make a Marathi film.

How did you greenlight this project?
It’s a very strange story. I bumped into the director who made the pilot for my first TV serial back in 2002 at a temple and asked her what she was doing next. I thought we could do TV again. So, we met over coffee later and she told me, ‘Why you don’t make a Marathi film? Let’s do a film with Swwapnil Joshi.’ He came to my office. We didn’t have a script at the time, but for nine months, we brainstormed. That’s how we came up with Laal Ishq.

Are you familiar with Marathi cinema?
Very. I see a lot of regional cinema. I watch all Tamil, Telugu and Marathi films. I would never do a film without knowing everything about it. I am a Libran, so I would never do something that I cannot control and if you don’t know something, you cannot control it. Every Sunday, I watch a movie with my mom. She comes to my house and after lunch, we take a nap and then I put on a movie. So, of late, because I am making a Marathi film, I’m watching a lot of Marathi cinema. I recently watched this film Katyar Kaljat Ghusli. I was so impressed with it. It has one of the finest storytelling and screenwriting I have seen. It’s an amazing history-based film about a Muslim singer and a Hindu Pandit singer.

If making a small-budget film was the driving factor, why didn’t you make a small Hindi film?
My only thing is, that I make a commercially entertaining movie, and I feel the small Hindi movies are all in a different genre completely, which is not my cup of tea. In Marathi cinema, you can even make a small budget film on the scale of a Rowdy Rathore. In three or four crores! So I’d rather do a Marathi film with a genre I am comfortable with, than a Hindi small film with a genre I am unsure of. An offbeat film is not my sensibility. I like to make and watch the same kind of films. I love making films that are entertaining. I do not like depressing films. I like films that make me laugh, make me cry, make me dance and by the end of it there is a culmination of the entire story. I don’t like question mark ends. When I enter a theatre, I want to forget all my problems. After the film ends, of course, I have to return to my problems. But for those two-three hours, I need to shut down.

Why have you only done co-productions with SLB?
Because I am really happy and comfortable making films with Sanjay. He is a hands-on producer. I am like a crybaby. Anytime I am stuck, I call him. I consider him my guru. Whatever I know about filmmaking, I have learnt from him. I am even doing mixing and background score… He has taught me so much. I was an assistant on Black. I will never leave Sanjay. I will always make films with him unless he decides to leave me.

What has making a non-Hindi film taught you?
I learnt the commercials of a small-budget film. I also learnt that there are friends in the industry. My entire team of Rowdy and Gabbar did this film at the Marathi industry pay scale. Everybody has come down to not half but to 10 per cent of their fee and I am really impressed by that.

Tell me about it
My film is an intense love story which has a backdrop of murder so you can call it an intensely romantic thriller and the story is told through the hero and the heroine who are the prime suspects.

Sounds like The Affair.
It’s like that but I didn’t have The Affair in mind. There is a very, very old foreign film Rashomon, which I love which has the same concept, but the story is original.

Did you at any point think of making it a bi-lingual?
No. When I am going in one direction, I don’t go idhar udhar. I have my two Hindi films which are there and this I always wanted to make in Marathi. But, yes it is releasing with subtitles in quite a few screens everywhere.

How did you get into production?
I stopped designing for a while and I was going through a phase of no work. I was always creatively inclined. I used to sit with Ekta (Kapoor) for script sittings, etc when that phase was happening and I would crib to her. They say everyone has three or four angels that come in their life. Ekta is one of them in my life, who made me make a serial and she launched my company. So I made two serials in 2002.

What did you know about production at the time?
Very little. She did everything. She helped me. She would sit with me for editing and say take this out, do that, put this background and I made 45 episodes that made money. Today, whatever I am in production, is because of these three people — Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Sanjay Bhansali.

Please continue...
Then I tried from 2002 till 2010 to make serials, but nothing worked. I think because TV was booming at the time, so everybody was getting into it. In 2009, I told Sanjay, ‘Let’s make movies together.’ I knew Sanjay because I had designed clothes for Khamoshi and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Then, for Devdas, he worked with Abu-Sandeep. Then in Black, I was the AD and didn’t do the clothes.

Why did you become an AD?
Because I wanted to learn filmmaking. I never wanted to do clothes. I was only doing clothes because I was getting to go to London to shop, and I was enjoying all that. I had no inclination, though I had the flair for it. So when I told Sanjay, ‘Let’s make movies together.” He said, ‘Yes, get a script. So for four years, we looked around, but nothing interested me and nothing interested him.’ In the meantime, I was doing Akshay’s and Ajay’s clothes. I was doing a lot of films… Then one fine day, I thought that Akshay needed a change after seven-eight years of the same Hera Pheris and Housefulls, I thought: Let’s get him back with action. Without meeting Akshay, I went to meet Prabhu Dheva. I said, ‘Prabhu Sir, I want you to direct a film for me and I want Akshay. I want you to him bring back to action.’ This was soon after Wanted. He said, ‘I am on.’ I came back and I told Sanjay about Prabhu sir and he said also said he was on. He said, ’I see the spark in you and you’ll do it. I asked him, ‘So can I tell Akshay, you and I are doing this film and ask him if he wants to do it?” Sanjay gave me the go-ahead. Then I met Akshay. When I spoke to Akshay, he was doing Khatta Meetha. I was doing his clothes for that film, and one day, I said to him ‘Akshay, I want to do a film’. He asked, ‘Kaun direct kar raha hai?’ I told him. ‘Who is the partner?’, he asked. I said Bhansali. ‘Chalo I am on,’ said Akshay. Then I went looking for a script and then I got Rajamouli’s second film to be remade in Hindi.

That’s a crazy beginning.
(Smiles) It’s a long journey and it’s my 26th year in the industry. My designing career also began like that, haphazardly. I was in college with Salman. He used to sit behind me. We knew each other since school. I don’t even remember how it began, but he’d finished Maine Pyar Kiya and was looking for a new designer. I went to become an air hostess in Saudi. I resigned in one day and came back. In those days, it paid like three lakh a month. It was most prestigious, as there was no Emirates and all that then. I came back and I was in depression, wondering what to do. My parents were like ‘We asked you not to do it’. So Salman said ‘Listen, just do my clothes’. I told him I don’t know anything about designing. He said, ‘I also don’t know acting, we’ll do it together’. And then I worked with Salman for 17 years!

Do you want to direct someday?
I don’t want to direct. I don’t want to be the captain of the ship. (Laughs) I like to fire the gun from someone else’s shoulder. I like to be a creative producer because, as a director I would have to take certain calls which could be right, could be wrong. I want someone else to take those calls so that I can tell that person ‘Arre yeh mat karo, yeh karo’.

You have the reputation of being a devil of a boss. Comment.
(Smiles) I just feel that other people always find people who are super-efficient, to be monsters.

Not true.
With filmmaking, it’s different.

How so?
Because there are certain things that you need to do at a certain time. There are time limits, there are deliveries, there are date hassles, there are too many irritants.

Not everyone is a monster.
Farah (Khan) is also a monster. I think people who are that highly talented, they all have some quirks. Everybody has them and I am a Libran. When I lose it, I really lose it.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali says Bajirao Mastani needed a wiser, more evolved filmmaker; insists he no longer has a temper
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 27, 2015)

Sonakshi Sinha opens up on doing action for Akira and Force 2….
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; September 23, 2015)

Bollywood has always been an overtly patriarchial set-up with male actors dominating the bandwagon with their dialoguebaazi and dishoom-dishoom. What the leading ladies are left to doing are just standing as mere props or just romance around the trees with the love track playing in the background. But slowly and steadily, there’s a definite paradigm shift in the industry in general. At a time when there is a dearth of action heroines, more and more actresses are taking up action films. And Sonakshi Sinha is all geared up for her next two films- Akira and Force 2 — both having her in high-octane action-packed roles. Here, we have Sona talking about her action flicks and we decipher why she could possibly be the next action queen in Bollywood.

Most Bollywood films have high testosterone levels whereas the actresses are left with no action scenes. Do you think the scenario is changing for the better now?
Absolutely. Audiences have become very open and welcoming towards watching different kinds of content on screen. Films with women playing strong and powerful roles are doing well. Things are definitely getting better for the leading ladies.

Despite attempts, not many films have the heroine doing action, except maybe in an Ek Tha Tiger or a Mary Kom, etc. Comment.
Slowly and surely, it will happen. It already has. I never thought two consecutive films of mine would have me playing an action heroine! The success of films like Mary Kom has paved way for more such roles to be written, which is great!

In Akira, you will be seen doing some heavyweight action sequences. Did you train specifically in some martial art for the film?
Yes, I did train in mixed martial arts for the film. I have been a part of a lot of action films and have always watched my heroes doing some amazing stunts and action, always secretly wishing I could be doing that too! With Akira, I think my wish has come true and I am doing all that I’ve watched unfold before my eyes before this film. In a way, it feels like I have been training for it just by watching my heroes since Dabangg, Rowdy Rathore, Son Of Sardaar, Holiday and other films!

Given that you always wanted to do action, was the experience on Akira thrilling?
It was beyond thrilling. I think when you specifically learn something for a film, apply it while shooting, and watch it unfold before your eyes, it makes the experience even more fulfilling.

You are following it up with another high-voltage action film like Force 2. Is it a conscious move?
No, it’s a coincidence. My role in Force 2 is fantastic and I couldn’t say no. But you can be assured that the roles, my look and the films are poles apart from each other.

Doing two back-to-back action films, was there any risk of being typecast?
Not at all! Heroes do back-to-back action films all the time. It’s never a risk to do good roles even though the genre might be the same.

In Force, Genelia had no action scenes. How much will we see you doing in Force 2?
My role is very different than that of Genelia’s in the first part. I am playing a special agent who is working with John’s character in the film. So, I will be a part of all the high octane sequences along with John.

Are you more nervous or confident having someone like John Abraham by your side doing the action scenes?
I think it’s great to be working with John on this film. I am confident and excited.

Are you undergoing any special training for Force 2?
All my MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) training from Akira is coming in handy for Force 2 as well! I will be working with an amazing action team coming all the way from South Africa. They are very clear and organised in what they want to achieve on screen so I will train with them as we shoot and learn all the moves.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali on why he has repeated the Khiladi in two of his productions but never directed him
Sarita A Tanwar (DNA; April 28, 2015)


Why have you been treating your production Gabbar Is Back like a stepchild and only concentrating on Bajirao Mastani that you are directing as well?
Stepchild? Who gave the title? Who finally said, ‘Okay let’s make this film’? Me! I insisted on buying it. I am caught up with the shooting of Bajirao Mastani, it’s on a very big scale but I’ve seen Gabbar to the end. I’ve seen the background, music, songs, everything…

But you haven’t gone on the set even for a day.
Sets... I never visit the sets of any of the films because it is not fair to the director. It is important to give him the space, and the freedom. Actors should interact only with the director. If I am on the set, the actors will look at me and say ‘Aap ko kaisa lagaa?’ Once I start going to the set, then they will ask for me to attend more shootings. Also, if I go on the set, the actors might feel that may be the producer is insecure or maybe I don’t trust the director so I am following up with him. So, I don’t ever go to any sets of mine.

But you are fully involved before the film begins shooting.
Yes. Once I put the film together, I say, ‘This is the film, this is the cast, this is the script. Now go make it.’ For the script, music, casting, etc there are many meetings but once the shooting starts, I step away. Then I see the edit and if I don’t like it, then I cut a little bit here and there. Like Mary Kom, I completely cut on my own. I decided to edit the way I thought it should be edited. Then the film goes for mixing and other departments and all professionals do their work. But Gabbar is very special to me, so it can never be a stepchild. Yes, there are a lot of films that I am making, it’s not that I am working on it full day and full night but I am absolutely there, now Shabinaa (Khan, co-producer) is looking into it. But if she is saying that she is the only one who is doing everything, please correct it.

Akshay was in both your co-productions Rowdy Rathore and now Gabbar Is Back. Why haven’t you ever directed him?
(Dramatically) What nasty questions you have started asking me. You started the interview on an offensive note. Why haven’t I taken Akshay in my films? Will he give me 150 days? Or 200 days. No.

Yes, he will finish three films in that many number of days.
His and my style of working are very different. I am very fond of Akshay as an actor, he is fantastic, there are no two ways about it. Can you imagine anybody else doing Rowdy Rathore? When I see the way he has changed for Gabbar, the things he has done, I am so impressed. He is so professional, talented, he has a huge audience, he keeps up with the time, and he has got everything that makes a big star. When I get the right subject for him, I will work with him.

There is nothing that can stop me from working with Akshay Kumar. He is such a good star but his film philosophies are different from mine, so ideologies are different. I just don’t only make films or make money. I make films for me. It is making a film that matters. I wait to create a certain scene and a certain moment. I mean his style does not permit that, he might get impatient, he might feel like running away for all you know after the 10th day. I love Akshay so much, when the right script comes along, I’ll work with him.

Is it feasible for actors to block a year for a film, given that equations change every Friday?
I feel when an actor limits himself saying, ‘I am only going to give you 50 days for a film and I can’t give you even one more day,’ you are limiting a lot of possibilities and opportunities that can come your way. Don’t look at the number of days, look at the script, look at the possibilities of making a great film. A film that will need a lot of hard work and give you new opportunites to explore as an actor. So actors should not take a film which will get over in 45 days. And as a director, I should not make a film only because it is going to be made in 150 days or 200 days, that is not right. But I feel somewhere there might be that understanding. When I worked with Shah Rukh Khan on Devdas, we never talked about how many days we would shoot. He shot for 260 days with me. That was a lot of time, but we didn’t even discuss it because you are not supposed to. Because you know that this is the style, and the mounting of the film. This is the kind of scene construction will take that time. It’s the difference between building the Taj Mahal and constructing a mall. It’s different, one will take less time, so it depends on what you are making and what an actor is comfortable being part of.

Give me three reasons why one should go and see Gabbar Is Back?
One because it’s a great script, and talks about a very relevant issue called corruption which I think is eating up the country and it gives you a great solution because it just raises your conscience to it. Of course people are more aware of it now. Ten years ago, they used to ignore corruption and we used to succumb to it. Now people are discussing it, and I feel that discussion needs to be taken to another level. Secondly, because it’s Akshay Kumar’s finest performance. It’s also because it’s Gabbar. Which for us, is a cult figure. And fourthly, because it is my film. (Smiles).

You make very different films as a director and as a producer. Is that because Rowdy Rathore and Gabbar Is Back are not your sensibility?
I love all kinds of films. One section is multiplex audience, which says only family films are good, then we make those kind of films. Another section feels only films which are being shot in Bhendi Bazaar and Pydhoni, running through the lanes, only are good films. I am saying both are good. I’ve grown up, watching films with Fakira, Chor Machaye Shor, Loafer and Pratigya. These are all my favourite films. I want to make those kind of films. If actually I would have got a chance, I would have directed Rowdy but I was shooting Ram Leela at the time. I would have loved to do Mary Kom also. Half the time, all those things that I want to do actually can’t do, so I say ‘chalo, let’s produce.’ It’s important for a director to have that range, to enjoy the basic roots of Indian cinema, in the Indian audiences. Finally the audience, mainstream audience, single screen theatre, that is what our nation is all about. That is what Bollywood is all about, so I am very proud of having produced Rowdy Rathore or Gabbar as much as I am proud of Mary Kom and the other films, I have directed. Personally to make a film, to direct a film, I don’t know. If you gave me the total of all the films I’ll make it. But they made the whole film in ten crores.

Do you think it is possible for you to make a small budget film?
I tried making Black as a small film but it became big, now what to do. It’s just the way that my mind goes. I feel budget is not... First of all you have to justify the budget. If you get the budget you should know how to use that money. When you get a lot of money it doesn’t necessarily mean that you know how to use it. I know of directors who have big budgets but it’s not worth it because they don’t know how to spend. But spending is not the reason why I make a film. It just happens that I want this, I want that and then you realise that it’s costing a lot more than it actually should. Most directors or producers will say, ‘bunk it, you don’t need it’ or ‘who cares a damn’, or ‘who is going to bother about it?’ This doesn’t happen abroad. Look at their softer films or their smaller films, there is a lot of detailing even in them. Their budgets are bigger, their level of everything is higher because of the precision and the excellence... I justify the money I spend and can say, ‘okay, I used the money correctly.’ A lot of people feel that I waste money, a lot but that’s not true. I shoot my songs in over 12 or 15 days. I want my song precise, perfect, it has to be correct, I want to give my actors all the time of the world. And the feeling that they have enjoyed working on this film. They need to be loved, need to be pampered so it’s all a sense of good living that everyone experiences when I am making a film, so I justify my budgets.

Your mentor Vidhu Vinod Chopra has made a film for the West with actors from there. Do you want to do that at some stage?
I won’t ever make a Hollywood film because I can’t be the flavour of the month. I feel it’s very important to know that it is that you are making. I understand Bollywood because this is what one have grown up with. Our language, our traditions, our society today, what is happening, our people, is what I know and that is what I make. How do I make a film on people living abroad? I don’t know anything about their world. If you are asking about a collaboration and whether I would do an Indian film with a producer abroad, that might be a possibility. But I won’t go there to make an English film, with an English ambience, English surrounding and English script because it doesn’t make sense for me to do that. I don’t know it, so I will not make it, I should only make what I know, Vinod Sir is comfortable, as he has lived a lot in LA, he travels a lot, he interacts with people a lot over there, so maybe he knows the place but I don’t.

When was the last time you took off on a holiday?
Last year. I went after a long time to Paris. The weather sometimes gets depressing. Have you been inside the village, the old Paris? When I did the opera I stayed in the old Paris. It was a Spanish writer’s apartment, given to me by the theatre, Her record player and her records.. Oh what an apartment I didn’t want to get out of that place.

BOMBAY TIMES (April 2, 2015)

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; November 6, 2014)

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; March 26, 2014)

Over the last few years the economics of Bollywood, in some ways, has gone wrong. Many a times films don’t fail, budgets do. Our ‘A’ list male actors earn more from a film than the producers of the film, which is unique to us. If a producer is lucky and lands up making a blockbuster, a producer could be struggling to make just 5-10 crores whereas the big male star could have made upto 50 crores as the big male stars today don’t just charge their fees, but also want revenue share. Over and above, stars sometimes retain their satellite rights and could ask a share in the overflow at the box office. The power equation has somewhere gone wrong in Bollywood, which is leading it to become more and more risky and unprofitable for the producer. If you see Hollywood, while a film like Iron Man 3 may have landed up doing a business of over 6,000 crores, the male star there doesn’t charge 1,500 crores. While they too charge a large fee, the fee is only a fraction of what the producers make, that is vice versa in Bollywood. It’s the producer that arranges the money, puts the project together, manages all the egos and then has the herculean task of marketing it in a highly competitive scenario. And all this too only if the film has made money. God help the producer if the film doesn’t do well at the box office. While the star still stands to make his large fee, the producer actually loses his money and needs to be content with the positioning that he thinks he has gained by working with a big star.

We were the first to highlight in our paper that women-oriented films can actually make money and how they are a relatively low risk proposition for a producer. We have seen that coming true with both Queen and Ragini MMS 2, which have both been made on relatively modest budgets and are both hits. Of course the catch is, you can’t do without a decent script, director and actress. While Queen is selling on the quality of story telling and the performances, Ragini MMS 2 is selling on sex and horror as a genre. Bottom line is, they will land up making more money for their respective producers than films with bigger stars, which have either made losses or have just scraped through with a marginal profit. Thus comparatively, it is more sensible to make a Queen than to make a Boss or a Himmatwala or a Besharam.

More importantly, producers need to come to terms with the fact that the Indian audience is evolving each day. While his appetite for good cinema, stories that entertain and touch you is increasing, the ability to suffer a pseudo intellectual cinema or brain dead film is rapidly diminishing and that is clearly reflected in the box office numbers. Our audiences are mature and have an eclectic taste for all kinds of good cinema, be it a The Lunchbox or a Bhaag Milkha Bhaag or a Queen or even a Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-leela, but they are not willing to suffer films like Boss and Himmatwala beyond a point. From sex to horror to romance to action, anything sells but the story needs to connect.

Is there a way forward for the industry? We believe yes.


1) MAKE WOMEN-ORIENTED STORIES: As that could make more money for the producer. While the male actors need to be paid less, the actresses can do with a little higher pay cheque.

2) FORMULA FILMS DON’T NECESSARILY WORK: The industry needs to recognise and come to terms with the fact that formula films have stopped working in the last one year and that every film cannot be a Rowdy Rathore. To become a blockbuster, you must be able to make films, at least like a Dhoom 3 or a Chennai Express or a Krrish 3 that entertain you. You can’t just produce a poor film and hope for it to sell on the basis of just an ‘A’ list hero.

3) SOME FILMS DON’T FAIL, BUDGETS DO: Produce films based on potential return on investment as against cost plus basis and then trying to recover that money. Producers need to start thinking of making films basis the potential of the script to make money at the box office and then working backwards on the costs, as against first spending the money and then trying to make it profitable even though it lacks saleabilty at the box office due to the high cost. One of the key reasons that may make a film unprofitable is overpayment to the ‘A’ list hero which makes the amount required to make a film break even unreal.

4) BACK NEW TALENT: Invest in new talent, be it directors, story tellers or actors otherwise an ‘A’ list hero will continue making money whereas the producer will be left twiddling his fingers, wondering if they will break even or be lucky to scrape through with just a couple of crores.

We as a country are mad about our films and our film stars. Producers need to make good films catering to different tastes at a price that is real so that our films can be profitable. Only when they are profitable and the power equation between the producer and actor changes can we have a healthy industry.

Parag Maniar (BOMBAY TIMES; March 24, 2014)

Akshay Kumar and Prabhu Dheva will unite once again after Rowdy Rathore (2012). Akshay will essay the lead in this untitled venture being made under his banner, Grazing Goat Pictures, co-founded with Ashvini Yardi.

Ashvini says, “Akshay is excited to be teaming up again with Prabhu. The venture will be one of the biggest so far from our production house. The two of them share an exceptional chemistry as actor and director and that translates beautifully on screen. The hunt for the female lead is on and the film will release in 2015.” She adds, “We feel proud that this is our third venture that is being launched, after, OMG Oh My God (2012) and Fugly which is releasing on June 13 this year.”

Ashvini says that Akshay and she are committed to making new-age, innovative and fresh projects. “We would like to give domestic and international audiences, films that are cutting-edge and high on concept,” she says.

Box Office India Trade Network

JAI HO which did better in single screens than multiplexes was still not able to become a grosser at single screens. The business of Jai Ho was 44 crore nett at single screens which is a huge 15 crore nett less than BODYGUARD which is the 10th highest grossing film ever at single screens.

The business of JAI HO at single screens was even less than YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI which is was more of a multiplex film but still grossed more at single screens than JAI HO.

The phenomenal blockbusters HUM AAPKE HAI KOUN and GADAR are also in top ten as the former did all its business in single screens multiplexes gave close to 1 crore nett contribution for the latter. Below are the highest grossing films at single screens of all time.

Top All Time Single Screen Grossers
Rank	Film	Release Date	Nett Gross
1	Dhoom 3	20 Dec 2013	97,00,00,000
2	Chennai Express	08 Aug 2013	79,00,00,000
3	Gadar Ek Prem Katha	15 June 2001	76,00,00,000
4	Krrish 3	01 Nov 2013	76,00,00,000
5	Hum Aapke Hain Koun	05 Aug 1994	73,50,00,000
6	Ek Tha Tiger	15 Aug 2012	72,00,00,000
7	3 Idiots	25 Dec 2009	62,00,00,000
8	Dabangg	10 Sep 2010	61,00,00,000
9	Rowdy Rathore	01 June 2012	60,00,00,000
10	Bodyguard	31 Aug 2011	59,00,00,000