EXCLUSIVE | 'Raaz' and 'Ghulam' director Vikram Bhatt says SS Rajamouli's films can bring in the money back despite Rs 400 crore budget: 'If I was making a Chhaava...'

Vikram Bhatt has been working as a director for over 32 years in Hindi Cinema. His filmography boasts off titles like Ghulam, Raaz, Kasoor, Awara Paagal Deewana, 1920, and Raaz 3. 

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the filmmaker spoke about his next film ‘Tumko Meri Kasam’, the idea behind casting an interesting ensemble, and his definition of mass cinema in today’s times

Your next film Tumko Meri Kasam is about Dr. Ajay Murdia, the visionary behind India’s largest IVF chain and who has been accused of murder. So is it an emotional thriller?

That’s a good way to put it. I would say it’s an emotional drama. Earlier, we never had genres for films. When I made Ghulam, there was no genre. It was a movie that had action and romance and Aati Kya Khandala and everything. If you have to slot Tumko Meri Kasam, I would say it’s a drama and it’s in two timelines.

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So basically, it’s a film about attaining and retaining. So while Ishwak Singh and Adah Sharma’s characters are trying to make an empire, Anupam Kher plays the same character 30 years later. He’s playing Ishwak and Ishwak is playing him. And now, once they have made the empire, the challenge is to retain it.

We have Anupam Kher, Adah Sharma, Esha Deol, Ishwak Singh. It’s an interesting ensemble. How did you zero down these names?

When I wanted to make this film, the first person who came to my mind was Anupam Kher. If someone has to play the character of Dr. Murdia at this age, it has to be Kher Saab. Then it was my wife Shweta’s idea of casting Ishwak. Both Ishwak and Anupam Kher are the same kinds of actors so that’s how he came about.

Adah because she’s someone who has never portrayed inverted commas glamourous roles. And I wanted someone very Jaya Bahaduresque. I did go to one or two other people, but they wanted the complete script. And I was on fire, so I was like complete script tak to main picture hi khatam kar doonga.

Adah is your discovery.

I would say she’s my invention. She’s so mad that she can’t be a discovery. She can be an invention. And Esha and I have worked together in Ankahee. I was looking for a female lawyer. She messaged me and she said ‘You know, I’m looking at coming back,’ and I said, ‘Hey do you want to play this lawyer?’ And she said ‘Yes, why not? Can I hear it? ‘ So I made her read it and that’s how it happened.

Talking of Tumko Meri Kasam, you were making a film with Rani Mukerji and Aftab Shivdasani.

Oh yes, that was going to happen. It’s a great script but it didn’t happen. Oddly you know, every film has its destiny. Like Kasoor. Mahesh Bhatt was making a film called Kasoor with Sanjay Dutt and Dimple Kapadia. And I think that film stopped midway. And when I was making Kasoor, Bhatt saab said ‘Why not call it Kasoor?’

The films that you have directed are slick, be it Ghulam, Kasoor, Raaz, 1920; there are certain frames that really stand out. So what goes behind the cinematography of a film, to make a scene look good?

Direction is like painting. Like imagine you’re a painter, but you don’t have hands. You have the picture in your mind, but you need a production designer, you need a DOP, you need a costume designer. You need an editor. They are your hands. And sometimes you work with someone who is a hand that doesn’t agree with you and that becomes difficult. But most times you get someone who vibes with you, who gets your vision. A director is a director because he has the ability to make everyone see the film that is in his mind.

Of course now with AI and generated AI you know, you can come up with images and references and everything possible. But it was more difficult back then. Right from Kasoor to Mr. X, I’ve done about 20 films with my father. And I miss him. Because he was a DOP who could feel. And unfortunately I have still to find someone with whom I can vibe with like I did with my father.

What is your definition of mass cinema that the audiences are craving for in today’s times?

I come from the culture of stalls, not balcony. As a matter of fact, I am not the multiplex viewer at all because I want to scream and clap and whistle and everybody is sitting quietly and then you can watch it at home. I mean, what’s the whole point of watching it together? So it would dialoguebaazi and taali maarna and all that is part of the filmmaker I am.

So I think what is a mass film? I mean, a mass film is just something that evokes the primordial emotion in you. It can be laughter, it can be tears, it can be uh, you know, action, it can be anything. But these have been primordial emotions. They are very sophisticated and very aesthetic, so you speak, very esoteric emotions.

Today we read the budgets are 300 crore or 400 crore. What is your take on that?

Maybe Rajamouli’s films may have that budget but he’s proved himself by bringing the money back. It depends on the subject you take. Like I have a family drama and a courtroom drama and twists and turns, I don’t need that kind of money. Maybe if I was making a Chhaava I may need that kind of a budget because it’s a big historical with lots and lots of extras and fighters and costumes and so on and so forth.

The problem is when you spend money on a film that doesn’t deserve that bigger budget. is rather problem comes Like if I were to spend 60-70 crore on Tumko Meri Kasam, it would be a calamity. Because there’s no way you can justify that cost.

What happened to your film with Govinda and Rani Mukerji?

That was post Ghulam but that film never got made. Tumhare Liye. I think the producers had a problem with Govinda so it never got made.

Raaz or 1920 the better film

1920

Hum or Khuda Gawah, the better Amitabh Bachchan performance

Agneepath

Raaz or Kasoor, the better music album

Raaz

Aftab in Kasoor or Dino Morea in Raaz

Aftab in Kasoor

Awara Pagal Deewana or Deewane Hue Paagal, the funnier film

Awara Paagal Deewana

Kitni Bechain Hoke or Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye

Kitni Bechain Hoke