Vidhu Vinod Chopra has made a comeback as a director with the sleeper hit, 12th Fail. The film, which stars Vikrant Massey, is based on the life of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, who survived numerous odds to pass the Indian civil services exam. The filmmaker, who has been known for his flamboyant style, did a complete U-turn with the film, investing in an actual story and lesser known actors, rather than big names and an expensive production budget. He says he loved every moment of his second innings as a director and he’s so enriched by the experience that he can’t wait to direct another film. Restart is the motto of the film and the filmmaker says that’s his mantra as well. At 71, he has sort of put a restart button on his career and is raring to go...
Kashmir is my life
All these wooden rugs and everything that you see in my office are from Kashmir. The whole idea of this place is Kashmir. I mean, I grew up there. I go every year. It’s my home. Sukun wahin milta hai mujhe. During the COVID times, I stayed there and wrote the script for 12th fail for two-three years. I live there with lots of dogs. I have a lovely home built there, far away. It’s all lakes and water. It actually doesn’t even feel like India. So I spent five years making the house. I’m partly the architect. It took me time to build this house. Main deewaren banata tha, todta tha… My wife Anu (Anupama Chopra) used to laugh, ki ye ghar kabhi banega nahi. But I finally realised my dream.
Shikara: My love letter to Kashmir
Shikara was a lovely film. Cinematography has always been an important part of my films. The film can be called a love letter to Kashmir and my caption was “love in the time of hate”. They changed that caption and marketed it as, “The untold story of Kashmiri Pandits,” which was wrong. You should never lie to people.
Restart: the philosophy behind 12th Fail
12th Fail was very important for me to make because I feel that whatever I had to say to the young generation, I have said in this film. In a video game, where you move ahead, die, press the button, restart and begin the cycle again – why can’t you do that in life? Restart is the philosophy of the film, just like All Is Well was or 3 Idiots. And that’s something you take from the film. I think, while you are entertaining, you must also make people’s lives slightly better. I used Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s poem, Haar nahi manunga, to inspire the people. I knew him well. He was a great Prime Minister, a great human being and a great poet. And this poem has always inspired me.
See Also: Vidhu Vinod Chopra reflects on 12th Fail’s journey and success
Literacy doesn’t mean education
We confuse literacy with education. These are two different things. I may be illiterate, but I may be the most educated bugger in the room. When I went to the Film Institute, I did not know English. Mujhse koi English mein sawal puchhta tha toh mujhe kehna padta tha sir, Hindi me boliye (if someone used to ask me something in English, I used to request him to speak to me in Hindi). I’ve used that in the 12th Fail. At the film institute, they were ragging me on the first day and asked me, “Who is Sigmund Freud?” I said he’s a German filmmaker. And they laughed at me. Later, I went straight to the library. I picked up a book on Sigmund Freud and read it the whole night. Then, in the morning, I knocked on the door of the person who had ragged me. I told him, “Sir, let’s talk about Freud.” And the whole day we talked about Freud. He was impressed with my knowledge and asked me why I hadn’t elaborated earlier. I replied that then I was being ragged, so I joked about it, but now, since we’re having a serious discussion, I can share my proper views.
Back in the saddle
I enjoyed directing 12th Fail. I’ve enjoyed making this film so much that I will be directing another film soon. I’ve had such a good time. It’s not that I stopped directing, but I did not direct like a director. Bas, maine galti se apna naam producer rakha liya tha (perhaps, by mistake, I was credited just as a producer). Maine har film Raju (Hirani) ke saath milkar likhi hai. Lage Raho se Abhijat Joshi bhi aa gaya tha. There’s a lot of me in those films as a co-creator. But something compelled me to stop going on my sets. During the making of Munnabhai MBBS, Sanjay Dutt used to ask me for inputs and not Raju. I noticed that, and somehow I felt that Raju’s authority as the captain of the ship was being diluted. I told Raju I wouldn’t come on the sets tomorrow and from then on, I never went on the sets of a film made under my banner. But I sit in the scripting. Every scene goes through me, and of course, I sit in on the editing.
Vikrant Massey: An actor to look out for
Vikrant is an amazing person and a very simple and dedicated actor. I expect total dedication from my actors. Three months before I started 12th Fail, he stopped acting. He lost 11 kg in the beginning. That kid, whom you see at the beginning of the film, is really him. There’s no digital deaging. For the climax sequences, he gained 8 kg. This is what I expect from my actors.
Mentor musings
I am happy that so many young directors and actors have worked with me, and all are close to me still. It feels so good. And they all make nice movies, be it Raju Hirani, who became a director from an editor; now see him. Pradeep Sarkar or Rajesh Mapuskar—they’re all people I care for. But Abhijat Joshi is special to me. He’s a guy who has written all my films after Kareeb. I think he’s the most unselfish, not self-centred, creative artist I’ve worked with. As a person, I wish I could be more like him. He fascinates me.
Missing Pradeep da
Pradeep Sarkar’s death was too sudden and uncalled for, actually. The funny thing is, when he came to me with the first draft of Parineeta, it wasn’t the story you’ve seen on screen but something else. I’ve read the book and I asked him whether he was attempting his version of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s seminal novel. When he said yes, I asked him not to deviate much from the source material. He said he was afraid to follow the original as the two earlier films made on it haven’t done well. I told him to rewrite the script, keeping the source in mind. He came back after two months, and when I read it, I said, “Don’t change a single thing; make it exactly this.” It was a gamble for me as a producer to engage a first-time director into making a classic, and thankfully, it paid off.
Remembering Dev saab
Dev saab was very close to me. I was a great admirer of his, and he, of course, often said that he liked me a lot. He told me a lot about Guru Dutt. because I wanted to know why Guru Dutt killed himself. So Dev saab told me a lot about the era. He told me Guru Dutt’s sensitivity proved to be his Achilles’ heel. This was a person who made Kagaz Ke Phool, who understood how fickle life is, and was perhaps saddened by this revelation. I never could come up with a subject good enough to cast Dev saab. Though I did approach his brother Goldie (Vijay Anand) for Pran saab’s role in 1942: A Love Story.
Bonding with the best
I have worked with the best actors in the film industry. I have made 16–17 films and worked with great actors. I have worked with Anil Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and Jackie Shroff. I had a great experience with Nana Patekar. Jackie won so many awards for my films. Nana Patekar became big overnight after Parinda. People still love him for what he did. I want to remake Parinda and Khamosh, for sure. I just watched Khamosh again and I loved it. Frankly, if I find a young, good director, I would like to remake it.
Parinda memories
Parinda (1989) was nominated for the Filmfare Award. I had come to the event with my mother. I didn’t have a coat; I was wearing my brother’s coat. I never thought the film would get an award, as Sooraj Barjatya’s, Subhash Ghai’s, and Yash Chopra’s films were nominated. I first got the Best Screenplay Award. I thought I wouldn’t get another one and wanted to leave, but my mother wanted to see the whole thing. Then, when my name was announced as the winner of the Best Director Award, I was nonplussed. It didn’t register. I thought they had announced Yash Chopra’s name and I was clapping along. Then, when it finally registered, I went with my mother to collect it on the stage. It was a surreal moment, for sure. I’m so grateful to the Filmfare team, as I never expected it.
Handling egos
My ego is bigger than any star’s ego. My ego is so bloated that it overtakes all egos. I can’t have anyone else’s ego on my sets. I don’t like many people and many people don’t like me, so it works beautifully for me. I don’t take stress. In today’s world, our self-valuation has started coming from the number of hits and likes on social media. Which is sad. I find it silly. We’ve forgotten to live life and enjoy life. Say anything that is out of the ordinary; log nahin samajhte. Ek urdu ka sher hai, “Chalo kaam aa gayi deewangi apni, varna ham zamane bhar ko samjhane kahan jaate (it’s good that people think I’m unworldly; otherwise, I’d have to convince the world of my sanity). When I was 30-35, I was confused, but now, at 71, I’m not confused. I think this is the way to live.
I’m happy. I’ve always been like this. I’m okay with not being understood. Today, things have changed. People only take you seriously if your films cross 500 crores. It’s only the numbers that speak. The filmmakers of today are too busy counting the numbers because their self-respect comes from counting hits. Well, I’m past all that. I’ll sit here proudly in my office because I know what I and my team have achieved in our journey together.
Marital bliss
Anupama and I have been married for 27 years. Anupama is such a nice woman. Because of her, I have become very gentle and calm. If you see Parinda, there is a lot of anger in me that shows in the film. I was always like this. It’s just that I have become a better human being because I have lived with her for so long. Now I have become an achcha-bachcha. It’s not that I’ve stopped striving for perfection.
The idea of striving for perfection is what makes me who I am today. It keeps you living life to the fullest. I follow Dev saab’s song from Kala Bazar (1960), “Na main Dhan chahun na ratan chahun.” There is a line in the song. “Tham gaya paani, jam gayi kaai, bahti nadiya hi saaf kahlaai.” It’s the philosophy of my life. I genuinely feel you should never stop flowing. Stopping the flow means death.
See Also: 12th Fail teaser: Vikrant Massey and Vidhu Vinod Chopra chronicle the struggles of UPSC students
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