Naushad Demanded Payment For Interview Savita Oberoi

 Savita Oberoi is an independent filmmaker whose documentary films on the legendary Dada Saheb Phalke awardees  is being widely appreciated .

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By Team Bollyy
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Naushad Demanded Payment For Interview Savita Oberoi

Jyothi Venkatesh

 Savita Oberoi is an independent filmmaker whose documentary films on the legendary Dada Saheb Phalke awardees  is being widely appreciated . These are rare films which celebrate some of the greatest icons of Indian Cinema.

Savita Oberoi has also made films for PSBT, like “Single in the city”, which examines the notion of freedom from marriage for women in India from those who challenge the prevailing norms. She has also produced and directed a 13 episodes series for DD Urdu called Aqeedatke Rang. Her films are diverse in subjects, like films on a tribe from North East titled “Nature's offspring”, another film on a tribe from Andhra Pradesh titled “Yerukulas-The fortune tellers”. She has also made a film on the Vatican. She has also made films for the NGOs, corporate sector and was the programming Head of Focus TV and has been the Dean at the Asian School of Cinema, Marwah Studios.

Savita Oberoi, who has made short films as well as documentaries on these legends who have been the recipients of the Dadasaheb Phalke awards like Dilip Kumar, B.R. Chopra, Yash Chopra, Asha Bhosle and Ashok Kumar as part of the films in the series “The Legends”, says that she could not enter her film on Asha Bhosle at this year’s MIFF because the last date for entries had elapsed by the time she was ready to send her film but adds that she is now all set to send her film to most of the other film festivals all over the world.

Talking about her film on the thespian Dilip Kumar, Savita quips, “I did not at all intend my film to be a tribute to Dilip Kumar. My only intention was to document his acting style, which I have admired for a long time. I wanted to document his approach to his craft. I wanted to honor Dilip Kumar for what he is”, she quips.

Contrary to the prevalent and popular notion, Savita asserts that she found Dilip Kumar very easy to work with, when she set out to make the film two decades ago. Says Savita, “Dilip Saab was very warm, affectionate and every down to earth. What struck me even more was that Dilipsaab was an effective communicator, an intellectual who could hold on his own on any subject in either chaste Urdu or impeccable English”.

Savita shot with Dilip Kumar over a period of just two days and according to her, it was a tough shoot because of the constraints of time. Also Dilip Saab was not keeping good health and hence not in a position to let her shoot with him over a longer period of time. Besides candid interviews with the thespian, Savita has also interviewed other celebrities with whom the actor had worked with and these interviews have been interspersed with the footage of the interview with the actor and excerpts from some of the salient points of the films in which Dilip Kumar had worked.

It is interesting to note that Savita feels that it was more difficult to get celebrity interviews than to get Dilip Kumar to agree to be interviewed by her. “Not every celebrity was ready to co-operate with me. The late Naushadji demanded that I pay him if I wanted to record his interview. The late Nadiraji as well as the living legend Kamini Kaushal even refused to talk to me, while Manoj Kumar was indisposed after I had managed to convince him to talk to me for the film. Dilip Kumar was however was very sweet and even went out of his way to co-operate with me even though I had met him for them first time in my life for making this film on him.”

Savita confesses that she was quite scared and nervous when she faced Dilip Kumar for the interview because she had heard tales about him being arrogant and not accessible to the media. “You often tend to get second hand views on a celebrity. It is only when you meet the person face to face that you get the right picture. Dilip Saab did demand a questionnaire, but once he was satisfied with it, he asked her to shoot. In fact Savita Oberoi remembers that when she began the shoot, it was Dilip Kumar who said that there are many in his house like me- daughters  and asked me to shoot my questions without hesitation and patted me on the back ”

Now Savita Oberoi wants to send her films on these immortal legends of Indian Cinema to festivals across the country as well as the Globe as these are archival films which will prove to be a delight for all film lovers .

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