JOIN USThose who keep abreast with films, must have watched the latest movie Heropanti.
While the critics have largely thrashed it, the audience is in two minds to deliver a strong opinion.
Nevertheless, Metrolife shares excerpts from a chat with Heropanti’s director Sabbir Khan, which took place before the film’s release.
“Since my mother passed away and I was sent to a boarding school, the only way to meet my father was to accompany him on shootings,” recalls Sabbir about his childhood when the “idea of making movies crept slowly into” his mind.
“On the sets I would see the director directing everything and the art to tell stories attracted me organically. The earliest memory etched in my mind is of Raj Khosla
in Mehboob Studio directing Rekha!”
It isn’t difficult to join the dots today on why Sabbir approached Mahesh Bhatt to work under him.
“I looked up to him and thought I will be successful after working as an assistant director with him, but just after a few years, he decided to retire.
Bhatt sa’ab was close to Sanjay Dutt who introduced me to Mr (David) Dhawan,” giving him a taste of both the worlds – mainstream and not-so-mainstream.
Sabbir confesses, whatever he is today is because of “the strength and support of Mr Bhatt. Mr Dhawan on the contrary had more mainstream ideas and thus both of them are like chalk and cheese – something that my life has also been like.”
Many are aware that Heropanti is his second film after his debut Kambakkht Ishq (2009). “I agree that I focused more on the entertainment quotient in Kambakkht...,”
says Sabbir who had then brought Hollywood stalwarts such as Sylvester Stallone for the Akshay Kumar-starrer.
“Akshay and Sajid (Nadiadwala, the producer) wanted to me to be a director even before I thought of it. So I decided to cater to the fan following of Akshay which was largely due to his comedy films. But by the time Kambakkht... released, comedy got saturated as a trend and therefore a lot of people liked the film and a lot did not like it, especially the critics, who gave mixed reviews.”
This “disappointed” him as a director but he refuses to admit that the choice of his subjects is still dominated by the producer’s impressions of what sells in the industry
“I did get many offers for direction after Kambakkht... but I did not choose them since I wanted to be known as a better filmmaker. Heropanti is my first step towards it.”
Though he claims that Heropanti “just projects the idea of a mainstream masala love story that provokes the audience against an India which is developing right now,” one doesn’t feel too convinced about his choice for comeback since the critics have raised questions on the poor-treatment of the subject.
“Mainstream isn’t a bad word. I am not offended if someone calls it a mainstream masala film but there is a thin line between masala and aesthetic mainstream.”
The question here is if he has realised this difference himself?
Sabbir is quite matter-of-fact.
“There are different kinds of filmmakers who come from different backgrounds. I come from a very middle class family and trying to get a foothold in the industry where I can work more on the kind of cinema that I want to. The only way to succeed is to try and struggle harder,” he said, hoping that people will like his film this time.