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Making movies is an extremely creative and intensely fluid process for me, director Farhan Akhtar tells Martin D'Souza.
Farhan Akhtar as The Fakir is having a gala time. Being in front of, rather than behind, the camera has its obvious highs, and Farhan is loving working in The Fakir, a black comedy being directed by his friend, Anand Surapur. While he's open to more offers "As long as it's something I feel I should do," Farhan's also busy on his next project which should kick off soon. The maverick director talks about his first hit, Dil Chahta Hai, what went wrong with Lakshya and his parents. Excerpts from an interview:
Your simple and fresh approach had millions identifying with Dil Chahta Hai. How do you feel now that you have been established as a director of repute?
It fills me with a sense of responsibility towards whoever has been touched by the movie for whatever it is worth. There is a certain responsibility I have towards them now as a filmmaker and to the
audience I still want to create.
Were you taken aback by the response to DCH?
No. Normally a person is more shocked when something they do does not do well. So I don't think it surprised me that DCH did well; I wanted it to and was hoping that it would do well. What did surprise me was the extent it reached in people identifying with it. I think it reached out to a certain generation of this country that hadn't really seen a film that reflected their lives as accurately as DCH did.
Did the overnight success scare you?
When there is a good thing that happens to you, there is a certain amount of responsibility that gets thrust on to you. So it was extremely important that the next step that I took be well thought off. I'm not here to make a movie a year; nor am I in some kind of business where I just want to keep churning out movies so that my company keeps making profits. Movie-making is an extremely creative and intensely fluid process for me. And I want to enjoy what I'm doing and I want people who watch my film to enjoy as well.
Were you upset that Lakshya did not meet the mark as far as audience appreciation was concerned?
Yes, it was very upsetting. Like I said, everybody wants their film to do well. So it was very disappointing that it did not do well, at least not as well as I had hoped it to do. But I think you learn lessons from anything that you do in life, and I think making Lakshya taught me certain lessons about filmmaking in this country; it taught me certain things about target audience so to speak. I would not have learnt those lessons if it wasn't for Lakshya.
Would you agree that the characters of Amitabh Bachchan, Amrish Puri and Om were underplayed considering they are very intense actors?
I think it's a misconception we have as a common mainstream watching audience. We get so used to watching stars doing extremely powerful and lengthy parts that we find it difficult to adjust to the fact that an actor may want to do a little part in a project that he finds interesting. The world over, you have actors doing appearances in movies. I don't think Mr Bachchan nor Mr Amrish Puri or Mr Om Puri were wasted in this film. They were there justifiably so, because those parts required a certain authority—which I don't think other actors could have brought.
How much of an influence have your parents been?
They have always been liberalthinking and open-minded and they have inculcated those ideals in my sister and me as well. They never really interfered in what I wanted to do, but supported me all the way. When I spoke to them about DCH, they were there all the way for me. I don't think I could have asked for a better support structure given who they are. Being geniuses that they are, they have a right, at some level, to give me a lot of ideas. They never really cast their opinions down my throat; they let me do what I wanted to do.
Where do you think Indian cinema stands today?
I think Indian cinema is currently on a very, very interesting threshold. I think if there is some kind of forum set up by filmmakers, we can move on and create a better distribution chain, a better way of exploiting our films the world over to audiences that are not just Indian or NRI. I think now is a very good time to do that because there is a lot of interest the world over in India and in Indian culture, and I think Indian films represents Indian culture.
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