“YOU WILL NOT FIND ONE PROJECT DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY THE SAME FAMILY TWICE IN FILM-MAKING OR TELEVISION IN THE WORLD, LIKE RAMAYAN”

By Jyothi Venkatesh

SHAHAB SHAMSI is a prolific writer cum creative person cum producer and director, who has discovered many latent talents like Tamannah Bhatia, Daya Shankar Pandey, Gurmeet Chowdhary and Debina. In this exclusive e mail interview, SHAHAB SHAMSI who believes more in accomplishing things than just talking about them tells JYOTHI VENKATESH that if Dangal TV continues to deliver supreme projects they can definitely give a tough competition to all the other channels

Have you always been interested in production over direction?

Destiny has its own course. I realized one thing, that there is no point in me defying it. I have always enjoyed writing. In 1993 I wrote Game starring Naseeruddin Shah and in 1997 I wrote Yashwantstarring Nana Patekar. I have been adorning both the hats, that of a producer as well as a director. Tiger was directed by me. I have also directed Satya, a huge courtroom thriller with Irrfan Khan in the lead, Swabhimaan for Mahesh Bhatt and Amit Khanna and ‘Aasman Se Aage’. Post that, I produced and directed a few episodes of both X Zone and Saturday Suspense. I had also directed Chand Sa Roshan Chehra with Tamannaah Bhatia which was my debut film as a director which went on floors in the year 2004.

How did you bag your first directorial debut film?

Writer Jalees Sherwani was a good friend of mine who was co-writing with me on a few projects. One day he called me up and told me that producer Salim Akhtar is looking for a new director for launching his nephew Aftaab and therefore we should go and meet him once. It was a great learning experience for me. Fortunately, after my directorial debut, I got some huge projects with Sagar Arts and one after the other I helmed Prithviraj Chauhan, Anand Sagar’s Ramayan, Mahima Shanidev Ki as a Creative Head. I was also in charge of managing the entire creatives for the shows as well as manage the creative meetings for the respective channels.

Did you inherit your creative writing skills from your father Shams Lucknowi?

My father had written Andaaz starring Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Dilip Kumar. However my background is unlike the normal Bollywood writer. As a creative person I launched Pepsi in India. I was the creative director in J. Walter Thompson. I was also working with Ulka advertising. My acumen is basically advertising, feature films and television all put together. These things were just some learning for me.

When did you get in touch with Sagar Arts?

I was called to write a screenplay for Amrit Sagar for a feature film which was being produced by Moti Sagar. From there on, getting into Ramayan was a God-sent factor for me because I was already doing Prithviraj Chauhan which was again one of the biggest television projects whose success pulled me into doing Ramayan.

Wasn’t Ramayan initially titled as Raghuvansh?

When we were discussing, there was a little problem because Anand Sagar ji did not want the name Ramayan to go outside since he didn’t want anyone to draw comparisons with his father, Ramanand Sagarji’s original version of Ramayan. So, in the history of film-making or television making in the world, one will not find any one project directed and produced by the same family twice. This is one of the only occasions where Ramanand Sagarji did Arun Govil’s Ramayan and then Anand Sagarji trusted me to do Ramayan with Gurmeet Choudhary. When I was called by Anandji he told me that we are working on a project called ‘Raghuvansh’ and narrated the story to me. Upon hearing the narration, I told him that this is Ramayan’s story. He smiled and replied saying that we don’t want to reveal the name of the project and therefore in the initial days until we didn’t get a green signal from him, we had the working title as Raghuvansh.

Were the actors too unaware about the show’s real name?

Like I said, we didn’t want people to draw comparisons to the previous Ramayan. Ramanand Sagarji’s Ramayan was more calm, positive and it had a more sublime feeling of Lord Ram.When Anand Sagarji’s Ramayan came into picture and we were working on the brief, “Kamal Naini’ which means ‘eyes shaped like lotus’ was the word which was used for Ram and therefore the idea was to try and get somebody with a difference in physicality as compared to the previous character of Lord Ram and narrate a Ramayan for the current generation. Basically, we wanted a warrior Ram exactly 20 years after the first Ramayan. I used to watch Ram Leela during Diwali near my house and I was very fascinated by it. So, when I was working on this project, I felt I was entrusted with the major task of heading the show as the creative head.

How many actors were auditioned for the role of Ram and Sita?

To the best of my memory, about 100 actors auditioned for Ram and Sita and one day when I was at the Sagar office, the casting team asked me to meet a boy. I walked into my cubicle and was introduced to Gurmeet Choudhary. I asked Gurmeet about his Hindi diction and took an on-camera test. He also introduced me to his friend Debina who he said was also an actress. I gave Anandji the good news that we had got our Ram and eventually, Debina was shortlisted as Sita. To confirm whether we have made the right choice, I took all the actors to Baroda for a test shoot. The actors were completely unaware of what was happening. Even after dressing up in their costumes, they didn’t get an idea about the show. Post the shoot, I brought the footage back with me to Mumbai, edited the video and showed it to Anandji, who sent it to the channel that gave us a green signal.

How did you zero in on the cast for Ramayan?

For Ramayan, we tried and explored different actors. For Bali-Sugreev we chose Anwar Khan, who played the roles of both Bali and Sugreev. For Hanuman, we cast Vikram Mastal. For Ravan, I opted for Akhlendra Mishra since I had worked with him on Tiger. According to me, it is important for mythological shows to have calendar art.

Tell us about your five best serials for which you have been the creative head?

The best ones in my career as a creative head have been Ramayan, Satya, Prithviraaj Chauhan, Tiger and Saudamini (Marathi). Saudamini is very close to me because it gave me a very good insight into Marathi culture. And I also got to work with my wife who was the writer and producer for the show.

What has your growth been in the industry over these 27 years?

According to me, creativity never stops. I have grown as a writer, director and a producer.

What made you cast Dayashankar Pandey in your show Mahima Shanidev Ki as Lord Shani?

I was the creative head in Mahima Shanidev Ki which is currently performing extremely well on Dangal TV. Dayashankar Pandey has assisted me in various projects as an assistant director. While thinking about the casting of Mahima Shanidev Ki, I suddenly remembered him and offered him the role of Lord Shani.

What are your forthcoming projects?

I am working on three exciting web series which will have a lot of special effects and drama. I am also planning a courtroom thriller for a channel. Everything at the moment is on planning and thinking mode due to lockdown.

What do you think about Dangal TV?

Dangal TV has been doing very well because of Mahima Shanidev Ki and various other projects. If they continue to deliver such supreme projects then they can definitely give a tough competition to the other channels. Their programming content strategy has worked the best for them. Dangal understands the importance of culturally rooted contents.

You are reputed to be unconventional as a writer and creative person with a vision and foresight!

When Irrfan Khan was called for Satya, he was asked to shoot a video. Since Irrfan had never done a video audition, I asked him to say a one line dialogue while I shot the video. I took the video and went to Zarina Mehta but she didn’t seem convinced and asked me to opt for actor Sameer Soni. However, I was of the opinion that Irrfan Khan would be the perfect fit for the role. I insisted on shooting another video where Irrfan beautifully delivered his dialogues and Zarina couldn’t believe me for my choice and Irrfan was zeroed in for the role in Satya.