“HOLLYWOOD HAS SWALLOWED US UP BECAUSE WE HAVE LOST OUR ORIGINALITY”

DHARMESH DARSHAN tells  JYOTHI VENKATESH

Today the veteran filmmaker Dharmesh Darshan has turned 53. To mark his 53^rd birthday, we at bollyy.com and Mayapuri wish Dharmesh Darshanm fondly known as Toy and reproduce the interview with the private director, taken five years before.The shy and reticent director who is referred to as Raja of Romance after he made Raja Hindustani says that after a sabbatical for eight years, he is ready to direct a film now.

Why did you think of turning a director?

I think I am totally the product of my late mother Sheela Bhatt. I had no individual ambition. I was reasonably educated but more of a private person. I think that my mother being the daughter of Nanabhai Bhatt who had directed 98 films and the sister of Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt was a director at heart but she was married off to my father the late Darshan Sabharwal, who was a top distributor. My mother felt I am sensitive and was ambitious for me and wanted me to become a director. It was her dream to make me a director. I directed my first film Looteray at the age of 24.

You have directed just 7 films in a career span of 17 years. Why?

Looterey was produced by my elder brother Sunil Darshan and directed by me. To be the No. 1 director is very difficult. After Raja Hindustani, for almost six years consecutively I was the No 1 as far as demand and price were concerned and actors wanted to work with me. My mother passed away in 2009 and I returned the signing amounts which I had received and decided to stop working and took a sabbatical.

Did you assist any director before you set out to make Looteray?

I assisted no one in direction. Raj Kapoor and Manojji were the big directors at that time. My mother used to tie ‘raakhi’ to Manoj Kumar. In late 80’s when I showed interest in direction, I visited Manojji on his music sessions and shooting. He used to pick me from my home in Pali Hill. It was post Kranti. Manojji asked me why I wanted be a director. I said I had no idea of filmmaking though I had strong sense of music and storytelling. Unlike my contemporaries like Suraj Barjatya or Aditya Chopra, whose families were making films, my father did not come from a production background but was a leading distributor.

What was your father’s reaction when you told him that you wanted to be a filmmaker?

My father was so angry when I decided to be a director that he told me not to retain the name Darshan. My grandfather Deewan Sabharwal was the founder of Pakistan film industry who had produced the first Pakistani film Teri Yaad with Nazir Khan, Dilip Kumar’s brother.

In what way has the film industry changed over the years?

Since I have come to films, everyone says industry has changed. Today there is too much of upstart-ism. There is less number of honest and genuine persons now. I see people who have achieved a lot talking less and people who have achieved less talking too much. Earlier directors were happy being behind the camera and did not like to be recognized on the roads. Earlier the audience used to be glamour struck but now the film industry by itself has become glamour struck, though human beings continue to remain the same.

Proceed please!

Sadly it has become a style to make fun of stalwarts now. There is a lot of talk about structurisation but the warmth is missing now. Even the media is less discerning and there is more p.r. Today films don’t have any shelf life. Either the production house or the stars are known post corporatization, not the directors. Hollywood has swallowed us up because we have lost our originality.

Can you name five best films in your career?

Though I have made only seven films till date in a span of seventeen years, I’d say that I think Raja Hindusthani has overtaken every other film of mine as I am of the opinion that romance never dies. Dhadkan and Looteray follow next to Raja Hindustani. Then there is Bewaffa which was eclipsed because of Dhadkan. Also Mela though it failed at the box office.

In what way has the advent of corporatization made any difference to Bollywood?

When Japan came to Bollywood, it shook up Hollywood too. More than discipline in India it is about false perception because the corporate guys chase film stars and do not bother about the content or the technical team. The producers earlier knew the power of the technicians as well as the stars. I hope the corporate guys wake up now after seeing the fate of films.

You have never chased stars!

I find it shocking lesser actors telling they had heard the script after a director calls them up 50 times. I never had to face the humiliation of submitting a script as a tender to an actor. I feel Hindi Cinema is essentially improvisation though the script is very important. Though till date I never chased any star, I say with humility that I never chased any star 10 times. I have worked with every top production house including Cineyug, Boney Kapoor etc.

How did you tackle stars who have a reputation to interfere?

Though I do believe in having a dialogue, I feel that the final decision ought to be with the director. After Looteray was released, on the very first day of the shooting of Raja Hindustani, I asked Aamir how many directors the film would have. Though he was taken aback, he said that a film is made with one director’s instinct. He did not interfere with direction at all in Raja Hindustani but let’s not discuss what happened in Mela, in which his brother Faisal Khan also was a part of the cast.  

To what extent were you influenced by your uncle Mahesh Bhatt?

Mahesh Mama is 20 years elder to me. I didn’t train under him though my mother loved him obsessively. It is not possible to say that I wasn’t subconsciously influenced by him. His Cinema was not popular one in the beginning. I was influenced more by Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, Guru Dutt and Ramesh Sippy though I love Mahesh mama. I loved his Lahu Ke Do Rang.

What next?

Everyone asks me when I am planning to make my next film. Aap Ki Khatir was my last film. With me there is no predictability. I do not think I have to prove myself to any one now. I just want to prove to myself that it wasn’t just my mother’s dream. I have always been a loner though for 18 years, I was very active day and night. In the last eight years, I have resisted the temptation to do films with which I would be uncomfortable looking at the kind of money my contemporaries are making now. Seasons would come and seasons would go but ultimately only your films will be remembered.