SOORAJ BARJATYA BIRTHDAY SPECIAL : DHARTI KE SOORAJ KO OOPAR WALA SURAJ JAB PRERNA AUR TEJ DETA HAI -By Ali Peter John

In the house of the Barjatya family no one had thought or imagined that there would be any man who would be creatively involved in the making of films. The nearest one of them came to the creative process was when Rajkumar Barjatya took active part in the making of some of the films of Rajshri Productions. And so when the young Sooraj Barjatya showed interest in directing films, they were all surprised, but none of them made any attempt to stop him.

Sooraj Barjatya joined Mahesh Bhatt as his 13^th assistant during the time Mahesh Bhatt making “Saaransh” and he was a very quiet learner and when he decided to direct “Maine Pyar Kiya” with Salman Khan and Bhagyashree, it was another big surprise for the Barjatya family because what he had learnt during the making of “Saaransh” and what he was making with “Maine Pyar Kiya” were two very different subjects and treated him two very different ways. “Saaransh” was an emotional saga and “Maine Pyar Kiya” was a musical love story and it was difficult to say which film was more successful. But Sooraj Barjatya was established as a director with his very first film, “Maine Pyaar Kiya” and Salman and Bhagyashree were overnight stars and so was the music.

This Sooraj who belonged to the earth took his own time to shine and make his films and so it took him more than five years to make his next film, “Hum Aapke Hai Koun…!” and the result was that the film was a super hit and ran for several years and established a new genre of filmmaking in India.

Sooraj followed his own school of filmmaking and made other successful films like “Hum Saath Saath Hain”,  “Vivaah” and “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” and gave breaks to new actors, technicians, writers and composers.

There was a sudden change in the way films were being made and the stress was more on technique than on content, but Sooraj did not change his way of making films under any pressure.

He took his own time and then he announced his new film just before the pandemic, it was one more big surprise. He had not cast any of the Khans’ or Kumars’ or Devgn, but he had cast senior actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa and Boman Irani and people in the business of making films said that the intelligent Sooraj was passing through an eclipse. Sooraj who even otherwise didn’t listen to what people said about him when they had and cast Parineeti Chopra and the versatile Sarika in other key roles and starter shooting on locations in Nepal and people again said that “Sooraj sattiya gaya”.

Sooraj however continued shooting on locations and in studios in Mumbai and has now made up for all the time he lost during the pandemic and if all goes well and there are no unexpected complications, Sooraj will complete his film “Uunchaai” in the next few months as he plans to release the film in the early month of 2023.

JO INSAAN SURAJ KO APNA GURU AUR PRERNA BANA SAKTA HAI, USSE USKI UUNCHAAI TAK PAHUNCHNE SE KAUN ROK SAKTA HAI?