Baadshaho director Milan Luthria: 'Bollywood hasn't milked potential of heist films as a genre'

There was a point of time when Milan Luthria was so besotted with horses, he wanted to work with them in some way. However, filmmaking became Luthria’s calling instead, thanks to his uncle Mahesh Bhatt (who is Milan’s other’s first cousin). Bhatt asked Luthria to assist him during the making of Zakhm, and Luthria’s journey as a full-fledged filmmaker, that started in 1999, is now peppered with numerous box office bonanzas and few career-defining performances.

Luthria has made nine films in 18 years, and says that’s a number and pace he’s okay with. “I have never been into film making just for the heck of it. I have gone from a POW drama to a 24-hour story set in Mumbai to the underworld (in my films). One thing you learn in this business is that good work takes time. A couple of times you do feel that things should move faster, but it’s more about satisfaction and since I haven’t taken short-cuts or chased money, there are no regrets.

The filmmaker is ready with his next — Baadshaho — which incidentally marks the fourth time he is collaborating with ‘muse’ Ajay Devgn. Beginning as friends on the sets of Zakhm, over the years, the Ajay Devgn-Milan Luthria combination has become synonymous with box office success. Why this fascination with Ajay even after so many years? “We bring out the best in each other. When you have a comfort level, it’s good to work with the same people. At the same time, you cannot overdo it. You are not thinking about ‘what films to make with Ajay Devgn?’ — I never do that. In between there was a long gap but it did not change anything. People are amazed at how little we communicate and yet how much we understand of each other,” says Luthria.

Real stories entice Luthria and Baadshaho is no exception. Milan heard the story of the raids on the palace of Maharani Gayatri Devi in 1975 while he was shooting for his debut film Kachche Dhaage in Rajasthan. Why did it take him 18 years to make his dream project? “It’s only because it was a difficult film to make. Just as you keep catching up with old friends over a cup of coffee, in a similar way you keep revisiting old stories only to see if they still wield the power they once had. The challenge was that there had been heist films before, which have been a little disappointing to me and I wanted to make a very tight heist film.”

A glance at Milan’s filmography will reveal that characters with shades of grey particularly attract him. Luthria is candid enough to admit this fact and the roots of this fascination go back to the blockbusters of the ’70s. “I think they (shades of grey) give more legs to your story. If you go back in time — whether it was Deewar or Trishul — they all were very dark films where the hero dies after opting for the wrong path. Filmmakers always had to chose between sugarcoated films and films that are a little grey. People do make wrong choices and they do have a side, which is not all goody goody. In drama I think it gives you much more to play with,” he explains.

Talking about the ’70s, Milan also rues that dramas have now disappeared from the Hindi filmscape. The films from the ’70s still appeal to him, as the films then were larger than life. “I think today’s lives are much less dramatic. The drama of two brothers separating or two men not getting along was much more heightened in the ’70s. Today, you break up and then you make up or just move on. I think it was a time when men were men. I find that our current films are getting too light. There is not much of conflict and drama.”

Luthria is also disappointed that there is no film in Bollywood which perfectly fits the bill of a heist film though he considers Hollywood’s Rififi as a textbook for such kind of films. He feels it’s a genre whose potential Bollywood hasn’t milked.

Hailing from a family of filmmakers, Luthria learnt the ropes on the sets of movies directed by Mahesh Bhatt and Dharmesh Darshan (also a relative). Emraan Hashmi, another family member, has featured in three of Luthria’s films. So does nepotism exist in the film industry? “I definitely feel that there is a big advantage,” he says, adding, “You will get one or two chances (because of your family connections) but beyond that, whoever it may be has to be very good at his/her job. It’s a very dog-eat-dog world. (Family) does gives you an easier start but only the fittest can survive.”