At heart Mansoor Khan remains a storyteller. Born into a family of filmmakers, it would be incorrect to expect otherwise. And credit to the man, for he remains true to the family tradition even when exploring a new idiom – that of penning a book. So his debut work,
The Third Curve – The End of Growth as we know it, which ideally should and will eventually delight or disturb (depending upon one’s bend of mind and state of health and wealth) essentially tells a story.
A story which takes you on a journey, not imaginary but very real and unfolding all around us. Intelligently crafted and beautifully mounted (he’s published it himself) the book speaks of the essential disconnect between the ‘perceived reality of exponential growth’ and the ‘real picture of finite resources’ of the earth.
But Mansoor clarifies that he is not an environmentalist or asking his reader to make moral choices. He is only questioning the “efficacy of the modern industrial world, while examining the co-relation between the compulsions of economic growth and the limits imposed on us by Nature.”
In town alongwith wife Tina for the book-launch, Mansoor will share stage space with cousin and superstar Aamir Khan who is launching the book.
Better known as the maker of films like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (QSQT), Mansoor describes himself as a “reluctant filmmaker” who made films more to prove a point to his father, the renowned Nasir Hussain.
“I am not fundamentally interested in making films. I got into it because I was a dropout from several colleges. I went from IIT, then Cornell, but transferred to MIT, Boston in third year and then in the final year, I felt I was not cutout for it. I am glad I did it. I was following my instinct.”
“But, when I came back in ’80, I was confused, angry, had no self-esteem and was generally a useless guy.” It was worse, “because my father was so successful, so it worked on me more. Unfortunately, I took out a lot of my angst on him and wasted a lot of his money. But somewhere I wanted to prove to my father that I could be a useful guy.”
Which Mansoor did, with a short autobiographical film Umberto, post which his father asked him to read a script that he was writing. “I loved the first 11 scenes” of what would be eventually QSQT. And history was made.
“But I am not like Aamir. He loves cinema, breathes it, lives it – he’ll die for it. Imran would, my dad would. I am not. It’s not whether I want to make films. For me it’s need-oriented, thought-oriented. I am not planning anything. I like to go with the flow.”
So currently, “my book and anything that is peripheral to its subject, is what I’ll do.” Films and fans may please wait.
