Romping AHEAD

How are you going to select these new directors?
Mrigdeep Singh Lamba,who has directed my forthcoming production Teen Thay Bhai and Sunil Pandey,who will directing my companys next,have assisted me on my earlier projects. But I am open to outside debutants as well. The only criterion is that they should have a story to tell. For me,it is important that the director is a storyteller,and not one who comes in saying that he can get me a particular star. It is also important that the young talent has a point of view. Technique and experience come in later.

Will you invest in scripts as well?
Of course! There is reverence here to the story and the script. We get two scripts a day from young writers and my company has invested six and a half crore in stories. Thats a lot of money in India and abroad. Basically,a story has to move my selection team and me emotionally. It has to be a new-age film that is progressive. I have bought some stories that will be go into production only in 2012.

Your earlier films like Aks and Rang De Basanti were path-breaking. Do you intend to continue making off-beat movies?
Basically,I want to build a bridge with the audience with my cinema. It could be any genre. Like ROMPs Teen Thay Bhai is a comedy and something we are dabbling in for the first time. In fact,I consider it as an evergreen comedy. The film is about three brothers who hate each other and what happens when they share a night together.

Its also for the first time that your company is not taken on big stars.
According to me,Om Puri,Shreya Talpade and Deepak Dobriyal are stars in their own right.

You have also have a new film with Amitabh Bachchan. Whats that about?
Its an untitled venture to be directed by Sunil Pandey,who had assisted me in Rang De Basanti. Its a musical,a father-daughter story with Amitabh playing the stellar role. We have weaved the script around him and are now in search of a new girl to play his daughter. Prasoon Joshi has written the script and the lyrics. It should take off in March or April.

When will Bhaag Milkha Bhaag,your directorial project on ace sprinter Milkha Singh,take off?
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has already taken off,in the sense that the script is ready and we have started casting. We are looking for an actor to play Milkha,he could be a big name or even a new actor.

The buzz was that either Abhishek Bachchan or Akshay Kumar would be playing the part.
No,the hunt is still on. There are beautiful roles for two leading ladies and a cameo for a foreigner as well. It is going to be a big-budget movie with a wide canvas and one of the biggest films that I have ever made.

Is it true that you want to change the format of Hindi films?
I firmly believe in doing things differently. Yes,there needs to be a change in the way we format our films. I would like to do away with the intermission. This tradition goes back to the theatre culture and various acts in musicals and traditional plays. If we have to export our cinema globally then we should do away with what I call an artificial break. Many films in the West dont have intervals forced into them.

Are you a film buff who watches every movie?
Cinema is a passion,but no,I am not the kind who has to watch every film that releases or try and catch up with the latest. I have not even seen Aamir Khans 3 Idiots. Basically,I dont want to watch films so that I am not affected by what is happening around and get into a frenzy that I also have to catch up with the rest.

So,which was the last film that you saw?
Just a few days back I saw A Beautiful Mind on TV. I found it extremely inspiring and recorded it and saw it a couple of times again. I also watched Aisha because I love Sonam Kapoor,shes one of the best talents we have. But I do get into these moods when I pick up several DVDs and sit and watch films for days together. But I like to watch them alone.

Which of the younger lot of actresses have impressed you?
Like I said Sonam,and then Soha Ali Khan with whom I worked in Rang De Basanti. I cannot comment on any of the others as I havent worked with them.

Wouldnt you like to work with Aamir again?
Definitely! We bonded extremely well during the shooting of Rang De Basanti. But I want to show him a script that will scare him! So I need to work on that.

How do you look back at your three films,Aks,Rang De Basanti and Delhi 6?
I have very fond memories of all my films. Aks,my first film,was extremely stylised and meant to break boundaries,which it did. I remember when I was making Rang De Basanti people told me that it was hara-kiri to make a film like that. I dont have to elaborate its impact here in India and globally.

As for Delhi 6,I wont deny that I went wrong firstly by giving it a happy ending when it was meant to be a dark film (it was forced on me) and secondly by releasing 2000 prints when it should have been 500. I changed the ending for the DVD version of my film though.

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