‘NOT MAKING FILMS ISN’T THE END OF LIFE’

What are your expectations from this endeavour?
I expect a large audience to read them as serious literary works. I haven’t published stills from the films in the book as they could limit the reader’s own visualization of the story. I want to promote Two Tales of My Times as a piece of literature, not a film book.  

Hasn’t your comeback to direction become long overdue?
I’ll return to it when I get bored of writing. Not making films isn’t the end of life. A film eats away a lot of your time and you can’t do your books. I need time for my books, but I am reaching a sort of saturation somewhere. I took a break from cinema to write books; now is the time for a vice-versa perhaps. I just hope that those who offering me films to direct don’t insist on a star cast. That creates a bigger problem.
For starters, I would like to adapt some of Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories and novels as a 15-hour TV series, like the one I did with Munshi Premchand’s works for Doordarshan.  

You could also take up the project with other general entertainment channels.
No. I don’t think satellite channels are even interested in serious literature. Only DD is because as a national channel, it has a social responsibility. Perhaps, Sahara also is. We were, in fact, negotiating with them at one point of time, but some of their terms didn’t suit me. I need independence in writing and visualisation.
My visual interpretation should be the closest to literature so that students can read literature visually. 

Did the bombing of your last film Hu Tu Tu (1999) turn you away from filmmaking?
No. The film’s unimaginative editing by producer Dhirubhai Shah, that too on the day it was released, discouraged me from making any more films. I even went into depression for not being able to release Hu Tu Tu the way I had visualised it. I thank my daughter Meghna for help me get over it though.
I am writing the novel version of Hu Tu Tu to set right that anomaly. Books are a more independent medium of expression than cinema, which is not my property and can fall in the hands of others, who cut it as they want.  

You are currently writing the songs for Subhash Ghai’s Yuvraaj and Amol Palekar’s Dum Katha. How has it been working with them?
I haven’t yet begun writing Yuvraaj as it still has to roll. Dum Katha is a children’s film and it’s a pleasure working with Amol as he is a bubbly child within.  

Yuvraaj is your first project with a prolific filmmaker like Subhash Ghai. Any other filmmakers you wish to have worked with?
Mr Satyajit Ray. Working with a master of a man like him, one would have learned so much. Another man I wanted to work with is Shyam (Benegal) but he just laughs at me and never gives me any work. Perhaps he doesn’t take me seriously. 

As one of the finest lyricists, which of your seniors, contemporaries and current songwriters have inspired or impressed you?
I have always considered Shailendra and Sahir Ludhianvi as the greatest masters and teachers. Anand Bakshi sahab’s Amar Prem had impressed me a lot too. Nida Fazli is another very capable poet who has written very little.

Amongst the current crop, Swanand Kirkire’s choice of words and Prasoon Joshi’s choice of images are interesting. After a long time, we have two good poets coming up in them
At 72, your songs such as Beedi Jalaile or phrases like Mint ki Goli have struck a chord with the masses. I am with the masses. I am not something different; I live amongst them. 

What does getting another lifetime achievement award (at the 10th MAMI film festival) mean to you?
Do lifetime achievement awards mean retiring from work? They are not a full stop to living. As long as you are living and your sensibilities are working, you are creative. 

Finally, is there anything you would still like to tackle?
An interviewer.