Plans that worked to perfection

From the world of commercials to showbiz it has been a smooth transition for director Rakesh Mehra, whose ``Aks'' was released recently. SUBHASH K. JHA talks to the auteur.

RAVEENA TANDON who plays a sensuously charged role in Rakesh Mehra's ``Aks'', thinks he is a gentleman.``If Rakesh wasn't married I would marry him right away,'' she confesses.

Tell the reclusive almost shy director this, and he reminds you that his wife is listening to our conversation. But Mrs. Mehra needn't feel threatened. Her husband is not just any ordinary person who is going to get taken in by the razzle-dazzle of showbiz.

There's something special about Rakesh Mehra. Very special. His directorial debut ``Aks'' isn't just one of the most talked-about films in recent years, it is also the only film that movie-going audiences are willing to rush to watch in spite of the looming presence of the twin titans of the season, ``Gadar'' and ``Lagaan''.

The calm, gentle and unassuming director, who has to his credit nearly 300 ads including the celebrated BPL television campaign during which he met the Bachchan, says, ``The distortions of the title ``Aks'', which means ``reflection'' started as soon as I announced my film. People advised me to change it since ``Aks'' sounded a little unusual. But it suits my film perfectly.''

The working-title of the film was ``Good Versus Evil''. Gulzar who wrote the earthy lyrics and Kamlesh Pandey who wrote the pungent dialogue, helped Rakesh, find the title. The supernatural thriller is based , not on the Hollywood film ``Face/Off'', as the gossip press in Mumbai convinced itself into believing, but from an idea in the Bhagavat Gita.

There are several striking aspects to ``Aks'', but the most immediate impression is that Mehra managed a magnificent marriage between content and form. If visually ``Aks'' stuns you, then content-wise it is one of the most gripping and absorbing morality tales on this side of Yash Chopra's ``Deewar''.

No wonder the Bachchans have reposed such enormous faith in the latest Mehra in Mumbai's moviedom. I haven't seen the Big B warm up so much to any director in recent times, except to that other ad-turned-feature maker Mukul Anand. Such is the Bachchans' faith in Rakesh Mehra that he was supposed to direct Abhishek Bachchan's debut film, an unusual Indo-Pak drama called ``Samjhauta Express'', which Rakesh says he'll make some day. Now Rakesh M. has been granted the privilege of designing a project for AB Corporation Ltd., starring the two Bachchans, Amitabh and Abhishek.

How does Rakesh Mehra explain his special equation with Amitabh Bachchan? ``Having come from outside Mumbai I interacted with him purely on an equal level. Of course, I respect him. But I didn't start shivering the minute I saw him. I think that's what he liked about me. I didn't go and congratulate him after every shot'', says Rakesh who admits he grew up on a staple diet of Bachchan flicks. ``I used to bunk school to see his films,'' confesses Mehra.

Rakesh's father Om Prakash Mehra deliberately chose to work as an usherer in a movie theatre back home in the Jama Masjid area of old Delhi, so as to be close to his pet passion: cinema. Rakesh grew up in an atmosphere where movies were like the air that we breathe. His eyes become moist with muted memory as he remembers the excitement at home when the Mehra family bought its first long-playing record of K. Asif's ``Mughal-e-Azam''.

``That was Asif's dream project. My dream project is a film of today. All of us - Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, Raveena Tandon and Nandita Das - had great fun making ``Aks''. We did exactly what we wanted to in the film. It was done in the way it has been done because I know no other way of telling a story. ``Aks'' was like a roller-coaster ride. We wrote a screenplay and followed it as if it were our Bhagavat Gita, Quran and Bible.''

It is to Rakesh Mehra's credit that he got everyone he wanted, from Amitabh Bachchan to Amol Palekar, to agree to do the film.

``The casting director gave me a list of first options for all the roles. Fortunately I got all the first options. I couldn't really think of anyone else for any of the characters. The USP of ``Aks'' is that all these gifted actors from diverse schools of acting have come together so harmoniously.''

Mehra has a point. Amitabh Bachchan is as different from his cold-blooded adversary in the film, Manoj Bajpai, as Raveena Tandon is from Nandita Das. And yet they all come together to form a cohesive unit and tell a story that rips apart pre- conceived notions of Good and Evil.

For a first-time director , making a film is never easy. But everything fell in place for Rakesh Mehra. There's a quality of gentle assertion in his personality, accentuated by his long- flowing hair and beard.

Mehra never laughs out aloud. He is more of a listener than a talker, more a person who observes and absorbs than one who is aggressive. One advantage that Mehra has is technical wherewithal. His years of experience as an ad maker have given him a chance to keep himself abreast with technical developments the world over in every aspect of film- making.

``Fortunately'', smiles Mehra, ``I was able to remain extremely selective in making ads and I was very fortunate in that I had to wait only a couple of years to make ``Aks''. I never assisted any director in Mumbai. Even when I was making ads there were stories swimming in my head, and all the while I was dying to make a film. In fact I feel if I had started my career in movies as an assistant I may not even have met the star of my film.''

``Everyone in the cast was thoroughly co-operative.''

``When I watch my film I wonder if I have achieved what I set out to. I think I have said what I wanted to in ``Aks''. To be homest, I don't know even know why I decided to make this film. It just happened.''

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