Posted:
| "I write better for other film makers because there is a certain responsibility that comes in" - Anees Bazmee | |||||
| By Joginder Tuteja, January 9, 2006 - 03:30 IST | |||||
| Anees Bazmee, undoubtedly is one of the busiest directors in Bollywood today with as many as a whopping TEN films in his hands under different stages of production. The writer-director was in the news for most of 2005 with the super success of 'No Entry'. With number of announcements about the director being roped in by the top most production houses of the country, he is sure to continue making news for 2006 as well. Here we get into an exclusive conversation with the soft spoken director who has a definite air of confidence around him while talking about the success of 'No Entry' and life after that. While filming 'No Entry', did you ever think that it would turn out to be the biggest hit of the year? No, I didn't have an idea that 'No Entry' would turn out to be the biggest hit of the year, but did have good expectations that it would meet with good success. While writing the script itself, I could sense that this was a good film in the making. See, there is a certain grammar that is required for a film and a lot depends upon this factor for a film to be hit or a flop. In case of 'No Entry', grammar was quite good from the writing point of view and this showed in the final results. Though never did I imagine that the film would turn out to be such a huge success! Didn't the delay in the movie making and release create any insecurity? The movie indeed got delayed and in the meanwhile another movie 'Masti' too got released, which was quite successful at the box office. We knew what the storyline of 'Masti' was and its subject but that never bothered us about the prospects of 'No Entry'. There was never once a thought that the script of 'No Entry' required any change due to these factors. Also, 'No Entry' had a lot to do with relationships which worked for the movie as a whole. Hardcore Salman Khan fans did have a grudge about his lack of screen presence.... See, it was made very clear in the beginning by the producers that there were limited dates available from Salman bhai. If it would have been possible, I could have placed him more on the screen but lack of dates didn't allow that to happen. But don't you think in the hindsight it wasn't too bad to have the movie revolve completely around Anil Kapoor? After all he was terrific in the central role. True, no doubt Anil Kapoor is a good actor and was superb in 'No Entry'. But everyone knows the kind of craze Salman Khan generates today. There is a specific segment of audience that simply loves Salman. I am sure if his role was bigger than what it was in the movie, 'No Entry' would have done even bigger business than what it has done today! For any movie to take a bumper opening, especially in case of a romantic movie or a comedy, music plays an integral role. Wasn't that a hindrance in case of 'No Entry' where music was okay, but not super hit enough to pull in an audience? See, the music scenario of today is such that every 3-6 months the taste of the audience changes. What you compose today could be outdated after a few months. We started 'No Entry' a couple of years back and this is when the music was composed keeping in mind that when the movie releases a year later, how would it perform. But in case of 'No Entry', the music arrived much later. Still, Anu Malik did come up with some good tunes and two songs got popular too, especially Salman Khan's solo 'Just Love Me' and the title song picturized on Bipasha Basu, Salman and Anil Kapoor.
[Laughs] Oh yes, it too turned out to be popular. Good thing that happened due to success of 'No Entry' was a career boost to number of actors like Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan etc. Isn't it? Anil, Fardeen, Lara, Celina, Bipasha - just about everyone gained a lot from the movie. It's like this, when a movie becomes a hit, each and every small character too gets noticed and gains mileage from the film's success. Look at this, Fardeen had never done comedy to this extent earlier. Anil Kapoor was always good but hadn't got a hit for quite some time. In his case, I had always wanted to make a film where I could use his persona to the maximum. I had seen him in movies like 'Ram Lakhan' and 'Taal' and loved the characters he played in the movies. With Bipasha, it was the first time she was coming in a role where she had to play such a character. In fact for the first few days of the shoot she felt a bit uneasy with her character but slowly as the shooting progressed, she became more and more comfortable! For a movie like 'No Entry' that dealt with infidelity and extra marital affairs, how could one still see queues with 5-year-old kids accompanying their 70 year old grandparents? That was exactly the case. When I started writing, I knew that it was very easy to fall in a trap where for a subject like this I could have ended up with something vulgar or indecent with double meaning dialogues. But thankfully I stuck to 2-3 things that I had clear in my mind. One there would be no vulgarity or double meaning dialogues and two, I won't play any cheap 'chakkar' to make the movie a hit. It could have been an easy way out but I never allowed myself to take that route. Hence I ended up writing a movie that had good dialogues and screenplay, which could be enjoyed by children to elders. You are one of those rare directors whose last three films [Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, Deewangee, No Entry] have been good successes and that too with altogether varied subjects. As a writer I have written on a number of subjects so I love to pick up any subject that excites me most. It's not like today when one thinks that since one action movie has been hit to chalo ek action kar lete hain! Ya phir ek comedy picture achchi chali hai so let's make another comedy! If you look around today, after the success of 'No Entry', 9 out of 10 movie titles are in English. But what I am interested in is a good film and that's about it. I don't want to be typecast as a director who can only make an action movie or a love story or a comic fun flick. Because once that happens to you, audience starts expecting a certain genre of cinema from you. This is what scares one as a maker because so many times a different subject comes to you but you can't pick it up as the audience has a certain expectation from you. And this is the saddest thing to happen to a film maker!! Thankfully after 'No Entry', my next movie to be released is 'Benaam', which is an action movie while my other movies to follow too belong to different genres.
Yes, 'Deewangee' was a big success but see, I am a writer as well and hence I was busy doing scripts/screenplays. Agar aisa nahi hota to shayad keh sakte they ki koyi kaam nahi hai but that wasn't the case and hence I wasn't sad. Mere liye direction ek shauq hai and I am happy with the current state. Filmmakers did approach me after 'Deewangee' but what they wanted from me was to make another suspense thriller. But as I said earlier, I didn't want to be typecast. Same happened when 'Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha' was a hit that had Ajay Devgan in a full fledged romantic role for the first time. People came to me with an offer to direct romantic movies but I just declined. Meanwhile I continued writing. Now with the success of 'No Entry' situation has changed. People tell me that you direct a movie for us and choose the subject you want to make, whether it is action, comedy, romantic or anything else. I have been given a lot more flexibility now. Is that the reason why we see so many movies in the pipeline from you with an announcement a fortnight? Filmmaking ek lagan ka kaam, shayad mehnat ka nahi par lagan ka zaroor! This is why I want to make only one movie a time. I am an honest person who wants to give his fullest while working a project with complete commitment and dedication. My earlier movies used to take 2-3 years to be made but now I intend to make a movie in 4-6 months timeframe. Only when one movie of mine is over, I will start doing my next film. Next month I would be beginning work on 'Welcome' that is a Firoz Nadiadwala production. Firoz Nadiadwala movies have a style of their own and be it 'Hera Pheri', 'Awara Paagal Deewana', 'Aan' or a 'Deewane Huye Paagal', they seem to be more of a Nadiadwala movie rather than that of a director who has actually directed it. Doesn't that scare you? From what I know of Firoz, he is a nice person and a very nice producer. I can tell you that 'Welcome' would be very different from the Firoz Nadiadwala movies that you have seen before. [Laughs] His movies are famous for flying motorcycles and other similar stunts but in 'Welcome' you would see none of that. It is basically a romantic comedy.
Well, it could be your individual perception about Firoz but on meetings with him, one of which just happened recently, I know that this is not the case with him. So what else in the pipeline after 'Welcome'? There is 'Benaam', UTV's next, Autograph, a movie with Ajay Devgan, a film for Ekta Kapoor and [probably] also sequels of Mr. India and No Entry. With so many films to work on as a director, has script writing gone on hold? Hmmm...yes, I have allowed down on script writing now. Earlier I used to work on 8-9 movies but now it is only one film that I intend to write in a year. How much so ever I may try to stop writing, my friends in the industry won't allow me to do so. They have a lot of confidence in me and often tell me that there aren't many good script writers around so do write for us as you are the best. And then I enjoy writing as well. I have written more than 50 films in the past with 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' for David Dhawan being my 50th film. In fact while I was writing for the movie, I was also working on 'No Entry'. This is quite commendable because it never appeared that MSK had any compromises of sorts.... Yeah absolutely! I have to be honest in my approach and this is the reason that when I am working on a movie, I am completely focused on it. There should never be a thought ki ye scene achcha hai to isko apni film mein le lo. There is no corruption in me and hence such a thought never occurs even when there is a good idea. [Laughs] Perhaps I write better for other film makers because there is a certain responsibility that comes in such a scenario.
There is one with Padmalaya films, which is being directed by Yusuf Khan. Its working title is 'Dharam Veer' with Dharmendra and Sunny Deol in lead. Then there is another movie being produced by Anil Kapoor. It is being directed by Roshan Andrews who is from south and would be directing his first Hindi film. This one is again a comedy with a lot of humor. With so much work in hand, it seems you are working at least 16-18 hours a day... I am in this line for 27 years and there are number of friends I have made in the industry. People look at me as friends and though there is a lot of work, lot of commitment or I am awake the entire night, I don't let people know about this. Another thing is that number of old friends come to me and offer me movies today. Though I can't say no to them, I do have my limits and hence say that "Yes, we will do this movie after sometime". But what happens is that people go and announce to the outside world that I have signed their movie and it appears that I have 20 films in hand. For me, even if I could direct 20 movies in a lifetime then that itself would be something, let alone such a big number of films in a couple of years time.
The first is No Entry [Pauses] And the remaining two? Number two - No Entry, Number Three - No Entry! Putting all rumors to rest, here we present to you the status of all upcoming movies of Anees Bazmee in various stages of production - right from the horse's mouth! Benaam Producer: Snigdha Patel Cast: Ajay Devgan, Bhoomika Chawla, Sameera Reddy Expected time of release - April/May 2006 About the movie I began working on the movie some time back [roughly 2-2.5 years] and it is unfortunate that it has been delayed. When you start making a film, there is a certain way the product has been devised but when a delay occurs you think that things could have been done better. In one way it helps for me to be a writer as I can bring along different nuances. In case of 'Benaam', there were number of problems that came while filming it. It's a suspense thriller, which is about a man searching for his identity. You could say that it is something like 'The Bourne Identity' but then in the end there are just 7-8 plots around which the films are made. Ultimately the same subjects keep coming back from various quarters. It is the way you provide different shades to the storyline. The man in question who is searching for his identity could be either the richest man on the earth or a man on street! Welcome Producer: Firoz Nadiadwala Cast: Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Firoz Khan, Katrina Kaif and one more heroine who has to be finalized Expected time of release - Second half of 2006 About the movie This is a basically a fun film in the making with a lot of humor. The movie has a romantic plot and I can assure that this will be very different from what you often see as THE Firoz Nadiadwala movie. His movies are famous for flying motorcycles and other similar stunts but in 'Welcome' you would see none of that. I am beginning to work on this movie in February and plan to wrap it up by June-July this year Autograph remake Presenter: Raj Kumar Santoshi Cast: Akshaye Khanna Expected time of release - 2006 About the movie I am making this movie for Raj Kumar Santoshi. This will be very different from the work I have done in the past. It is actually a very emotional movie that deals with the journey of a man. For the movie, I would be deviating a bit from my rule of working at one film at a time as its shooting may overlap 'Welcome'. Since 'Welcome' is a movie with big starcast, there could be gaps between dates of stars that I plan to utilize to wrap up 'Autograph'. I intend to have this as my other release of the year after 'Benaam' and 'Welcome' but after this there would be only one movie at a time. I don't think I am capable of working on multiple projects at a time. Untitled film with Ajay Devgan Producer: UTV Cast: Ajay Devgan Expected time of release - Undecided About the movie The title of the movie should be decided in 10-15 days while one more heroine would be finalized in about a month's time. The movie is going to be a pure love story and is being made instead of "3+1" that is again with UTV. Untitled film for Ekta Kapoor Producer: Ekta Kapoor Cast: Undecided Expected time of release - Undecided About the movie I have just been signed and I am in the stage of writing the story. The shooting of the movie would start only next year. Mr. India and No Entry sequels Producer: Boney Kapoor Cast: Undecided Expected time of release - Undecided About the movie Boney Kapoor has got a bumper success after a long time and he is mighty excited about beginning to work on these two projects. I too want to work on these films but only after I am convinced about the story I want to tell rather than just being excited about the prospects of making a sequel. I want to make the sequels only if they are at least near to the originals, if not having the ability to surpass them. I have to start writing the films and if I believe in my story then I would go ahead with the filming. This is most important to be closed while actors and other things can come later. Other delayed/shelved movies by Anees Bazmee Sandwich [earlier titled 'Hum Do Hamaara Ek] Producer: Smita Thackeray Cast: Govinda, Mahima Chaudhary, Raveen Randon Expected time of release - Sometime in 2006 [Probable] About the movie This was a good movie but unfortunately couldn't see the light of the day. When it was launched a few years back it was a hot preposition but incurred a lot of loss when it was ready for release. Now the producers have titled it as 'Sandwich' and planning to slate it for release. Radheshyam Seetaram Banner: N Kumar Ent Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Suneil Shetty, Paresh Rawal Expected time of release - Stuck About the movie This was a very sweet movie that was completed 7 years back. Call it 'naseeb' or 'haalat' that the final product never reached the audience. When I wrote the story, I tried selling it to 20-22 people. Finally I took over as a director but later the producer fell sick for a long period. After a gap, it is difficult to get the interest level back of everyone involved. The movie starts looking stale, the distributors start loosing confidence in a product, the problems increase. It was a good movie with a different flavor of comedy. If it was released at the right time, it would have been a good success as it was quite beautiful. Who knows, probably the success I have got today could have come a bit earlier. Ummeed par duniya kayam hai - who knows this movie too may release eventually! Dil Dhadke Baar Baar Banner: Dashaka Films Cast: Karan Nath, Amisha Patel, Gracy Singh Expected time of release - Shelved About the movie This movie started quite some time back but we didn't shoot for more than a few days. Only 2 songs were shot but then some problems arose due to which the movie's progress was halted. There is not much happening on the movie's front. |
Book Talk
Cricket
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
13