Ehsaas was autobiographical: Mahesh Manjrekar

Subhash K Jha / Apr 4, 2002, 03:02 IST

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MUMBAI: He fought his way onto the silverscreen with Vaastav, and today, Mahesh Manjrekar is rated as one the best directors in the country. Here he is on his forthcoming film Kutumb and his acting stint in Sanjay Gupta's Kaante.

<i>Ehsaas</I> was autobiographical: Mahesh Manjrekar

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">mumbai: he fought his way onto the silverscreen with vaastav, and today, mahesh manjrekar is rated as one the best directors in the country. here he is on his forthcoming film kutumb and his acting stint in sanjay gupta''s kaante.how come you keep getting into run-ins with the censor board? i know. for pitaah, i asked for a ''u/a'' certificate so that they would give me an ''a.'' in tera mera saath rahe the censors asked me to delete the name of a product from the soundtrack. in that case, shouldn''t they have cut 75 per cent of yaadein? the problem is, half of the panelists don''t understand cinema. it''s pathetic. in ehsaas, they wanted me to delete a few shots from that sequence where sunil shetty''s son and servant go to the laundry to borrow a suit for him from an alcoholic staffer at the laundry. they said remove the alcohol bottle from the counter. if i was the producer, i''d have fought for that sequence. but sometimes producers are just too tired to argue. of all your films, tera mera saath rahe and ehsaas were two films which concentrated on exploring relationships the most, weren''t they? i''d say vaastav is my most relationship-oriented film. tera mera saath rahe was about relationships on many levels. it was as much about ajay devgan and the boy as the characters played by shivaji satam, reema lagoo and namrata shirodkar. even the character who played the lonely cranky old man - he had just three scenes. but it was as much his film as the other characters''. at one of the film''s trial shows, one of my friends started howling with grief when he saw that lonely old man. he identified with the character. i guess the songs disturbed the narrative. but they can''t be helped. i wanted to delete two of the songs in tera mera saath rahe. did you write the roles in ehsaas and tera mera saath rahe for yourself? not tera mera saath rahe. i''m glad ajay devgan played that role. but ehsaas was autobiographical. it was about the relationship between me and my father. my producers, time, told me to do a film with sunil shetty. i had an action film about two brothers in mind. but i wasn''t happy about it. everyone wanted me to make ehsaas, except me. i wasn''t convinced i could do justice to the subject. i have to believe in a subject. otherwise the film comes out unconvincing. that''s what happened with kurukshetra. left to myself i''d have made it more hard-hitting. isn''t kutumb your biggest challenge so far? yes, i agree. to direct mr bachchan is a real challenge. i''ll see to it that i do full justice to his presence. when audiences see kutumb i want them to say it''s on par - if not better than â€“ the godfather. to direct amitji and abhishek together is a double responsibility. but i don''t want abhishek to feel the tension of being cast with his father. i''m worried only about my producer feroz nadiadwala. he''s very enthusiastic on the sets. i can''t take it. if he interferes, i''ll get into my car on the very first day and tell my driver to take me home. i''m open to arguments and changes in the script before the shooting starts. once we go on the sets, i''m in charge. whether i make a good, bad or ugly film is entirely my lookout. i can''t take any interference from anyone - hero, heroine or producer, though i don''t mind the producer being on the sets. incidentally, sunju thinks i should play sonny''s part from the original (godfather) in kutumb. but when i''m directing i can''t face the camera. if you are the producer as well, nobody can dictate terms to you. right? nobody is going to dictate terms to me any longer. now i''m half a producer myself. i''ve taken dates in advance from sunju, sunil shetty, tabu and ajay devgan. i''ll make two films every year. i won''t charge a single paisa as the director''s fee. but we''ll make only my kind of films within my budget. all my actors will get a percentage from the profits. who knows, one of them may turn out to be a gadar or a kabhi khushi kabhie gham. incidentally, i''m so happy lagaan was sent for the oscars. is it true that akshay kumar was supposed to play mr bachchan''s younger son in kutumb? yes. when i narrated the subject, feroz wanted akshay. i had nothing against akshay. but i needed someone softer for michael corleone''s role. akshay has a lot of aggression in his screen-persona which wouldn''t have worked in this role. will akshay suit the role of the older corleone heir? after seeing kutumb, no one will say akshay doesn''t suit the role. do you have any other projects on hand? there''s a bobby deol-priyanka chopra film in the pipeline. but there''s a problem in convincing these actors to go against their image. then one of my extremely talented assistants, sanjay jha, is directing the hindi version of my marathi film aai with tabu in it. i''ve nothing else on hand. but the good news is that tabu is doing a film named purush for me that looks at the life of a middle-class woman post-astitwa. the character is thrown out of her home with her husband after 10 years of marriage. she has never seen the outside world. it''s about her and the three men in her life - the husband, lover and a man who''s obsessed with her. it''s a truly hard-hitting subject. why do you think your friend sunjay dutt keeps getting into trouble? that''s because he''s vulnerable and he''s an emotional fool. half the time he''s trying to help his friends. i tell him to let each friend fend for himself. he gets into trouble trying to help others. tell me about your acting experience during kaante in la. i had a blast. i''ve acted in marathi films. but i don''t want to talk about it. i changed my look and dyed my hair in kaante. i''ve this habit of changing my looks all the time. by accident i got my hair done in a particular colour at the saloon. when sanjay gupta saw me, he said this was the look he wanted. and you got a chance to work with... god. oooh, mr bachchan is simply amazing. now i''ll be directing ''god'' in my own godfather. </div> </div>

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