Subhash Ghai on the importance of following the director’s vision
Upala KBR (DNA; March 17, 2016)
Subhash Ghai was once called ‘The Showman’. Through the 1990s, he delivered hit after hit and worked with all the top heroes of the time — from Anil Kapoor to Shah Rukh Khan and from Jackie Shroff to Salman Khan. Follow my vision
The filmmaker reveals that he has been writing a script for his next directorial for two years now, but it is nowhere near complete. He says, “I have to be happy about it. If I’m not, I won’t direct it. And if I don’t get the right kind of actors, I won’t start the film. The actor must suit the character. While making Ram Lakhan during the first schedule, distributors from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata didn’t buy the film as the Anil-Jackie combination had given a few flops earlier. They were willing to buy the film at half the price I asked for. They later repented when the film became a big hit. I never thought ki ye actors bikega hai ya nahi. It is my responsibility that they give the best performances of their lives. And that will happen if the actors follow my vision of storytelling. Like in Pardes, Shah Rukh had to show he’s in love and yet, he isn’t. He had this restless, bubbling energy about him, but he followed my vision. Today, Pardes can be counted among his top five films.”
Writers rule!
He further adds, “If my films are being remade today, it’s because I was also the writer of the script. Shatrughan Sinha in Kalicharan, Manisha Koirala in Saudagar, Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit in Khalnayak, Jackie Shroff in Yaadein, Anil Kapoor in Meri Jung and Ram Lakhan, Mahima Chaudhary in Pardes and Dilip Kumar (who made a comeback in Vidhaata and Karma) have given some of their career-best performances with me. There’s a difference between an actor who becomes a star because of the hits he gives and one who lifts his image by doing a film like Ranveer Singh in Bajirao Mastani and SRK in Devdas. It proves that they have been directed by writers of the films and these actors have followed the vision and script of the director blindly.”
Even Spielberg made flops!
Ghai says that in his career of 18 films if four didn’t do well it was because they were ahead of their time. “My films that didn’t work were not bad. In Yuuvraaj I brought in a fusion of western and Indian classical music while I made Kisna in two languages — English and Hindi. They didn’t work. Fine, but we should remember that even directors like Steven Spielberg have made flops. My working style has always been where I have controlled and contributed in every department because I have been living with the film.” the director signs off.