Anurag
Basu- The Unpretentious
Braveheart
“I
remember, during the filming
of a
dance sequence, with the hero
in a paddy field, I asked one
of the
background dancers how much he
got paid and was told he made
800
bucks! I made friends with him
and started looking for
dancing roles
which drew better
remuneration.”
Ashutosh
Gowariker- The
Perfectionist
“Holi
was seen by a whole lot of
people including Bhatt sahab
who later cast me in Naam.
Amol
Palekarji also cast me in a
television series called
kachchi Dhoop. I
met people and got more work .
And finally, I had to take the
important decision of choosing
acting as a full time
profession.”
Farah
Khan- The Trailblazer
“I
see anew trend now, a breed of
young 20 something women
managers accompanying
actresses. Earlier
there used to be the
quintessential star mommies
who would chaperone
their daughters but in
retrospect I feel they were
better than these
new age managers who brainwash
actresses”.
Kabir
Khan-
Life is an Adventure
'The
only studio I
didn't approach was Yashraj
Films because of the
stereotypes that we
have in our minds; I though
Yashraj only made chiffon
romance
and love stories, and why
would they be interested in
a film like
Kabul Express! If at all
they did , they would make
sure to add an
item number in it, and so on
and so forth.'
Kunal
Kohli- In his Mentor's
Footsteps
“I
was fortunate enough to be the
last director at Yash Raj to
witness an era when the
company made
films as a family and for this
I will b grateful to Yashji,
Aditya
and Pam aunty. I was the first
non family person to have
become a
director at YRF. I sort of
inaugurated the Yashraj studio
as the
first film happened to be shot
in Yash Raj was Fanaa.”
Mahesh
Bhatt- The
Plan-spoken
Philosopher
“When
i was fifteen , my mother
asked
me to work and somehow
supplement my father's income
and I began
doing some odd jobs. A couple
of years later, my cousin who
was a
close friend of Raj Khosla
sahab helped me get a job as a
production
manager for Do Raaste. And
form there began my journey in
the world
of films but only with the
objective of making money.”
Nagesh
Kukunoor-
'Indie'
Spirit Personified
Shot in a short span of seventeen days,Nagesh's debut film, Hyderabad Blues was released in 1998 to much critical acclaim and became one of the most successful independent films and inadvertently also jumpstarted the Indie film movement in India. Besides receiving the Audience award for best film at both the Peachtree International Film Festival, it was showcased in several distinguished international festivals as well.
Nandita
Das- A
Humanitarian First
“Films
happened
completely by default like
most things in my life. Ek Thi
Goonja was
a small “festival film” which
won some awards, was shown on
TV
and then faded away. Finally,
it wasn't even released
commercially .
So, Fire, which I did next,
was in a way my first film.
After Goonja
I didn't think I would do
another film but the role in
Fire was not
only interesting but very
compelling.”
Prakesh
Jha-
The
Soft- hearted Rebel
“ I wasn't a spendthrift those days and got by each day with the barest minimum, mainly for food and bus fares. Initially, there were days when I went without food but it was fine. Somehow, it never bogged me down and I could manage.”
R
Balki-
The
Effervescent Dreamer
“I
was sitting
in this very room in 2005, I
think , trying to do an
advertisement
for Lifebuoy soap when
suddenly an idea for Amitji
(Amitabh Bachchan)
came to me. Though I had never
spoken to him over the phone,
I
fortunately had his number
from his manager. I just
messaged back ,
when do you want to meet you.
He messaged back, when do ypu
want to
meet? I said, anytime you are
free? Tomorrow, at 7? He said
Iwas so
zappeed and couldn't believe
my luck that I had just
messaged Amitabh
Bachchan and he asked me to
see him!”
Rakeysh
Omprakesh Mehra – Quest
for
Originality
“During
his
early years in advertising, a
Chandigarh-based automobile
company,
Swaraj Mazda, manufacturers of
Light Commercial Vehicles.
Rakeysh was
deputed for a short stint to
Hiroshima to not only
understand the
product, but also the Japanese
work ethics of discipline,
punctuality, etc. The exercise
was meant to Japanesefy
me.”
Rohit
Shetty-
The Midas Touch
“We
don't have
the kind of budgets Hollywood
commands because of the size
of its
market.If the budget of rs
1400 crores is made available
to a good
director here, we can also
make movies like
Transformers”.
Sudhir
Mishra- Romancing
Cinema
“I
owe a lot to
the FTII. In the early
Eighties, there was an open
and liberal
environment in the institute.
One could walk into a class
and nobody
asked you any questions. It
was an interesting place and
helped me
gain a lot clarity on the
technical aspects of
filmmaking.”
Vipul
Shah- Passion,
Patience,
Perseverance
“I
started as a
backstage boy at Prithvi which
meant holding actors slippers,
helping
them into their costumes,
washing their lunch boxes,
packing trunks
and loading them on to trunks
and so on. I worked with my
fiest guru,
the late Mahendra Joshi who
passed on his obsession to me
and to such
an extent that I became
useless for anything else.”
Zoya
Akhtar- The
Discerning
One
“The
only
'Hindi-Hindi' movie I worked
on befo0re making mine was,
Dil Chahta
Hai and it wasn't really
Bollywood because we set up
and made it the
way we wanted to.”
Some like Farah Khan and Zoya Akhtar had sterling antecedents but it took a tough childhood and intermittent assignments on filmsets to win the box office with Om Shanti Om and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; while Ashutosh Gowarikar auditioned for folk dances and failed with his debut film, Lagaan created cinematic history; and Anurag Basu had to first dance as a background extra and later overcome cancer to witness Barfi win hearts and awards. These and other hitherto unfamiliar stories of directors belonging to the “100 crore club” like Rohit Shetty and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra; the adventurous Kabir Khan; and the maverick, Mahesh Bhatt.
- Priced at Rs 250
- Publisher- Westland Limited
ABOUT THE AUTHOR SONIA GOLANI:
Sonia Golani has a BA (Hons.) in History from Lady Shri Ram College and a Masters degree from the University of Delhi. An entrepreneur, she manages her firm, Management Consultants Group which specializes in recruitment of professionals (MBA and CAs) for Banking, Financial Services, Insurance and FMCG sectors
Her second book, My Life, My Rules: Stories of 18 Unconventional Careers was published to much acclaim in 2013.