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"I would like to remake Deewar"
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With `Satta', Madhur Bhandarkar projects the female protagonist as the selling point of his film yet again.
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VIEWFINDER: For Madhur Bhandarkar, content is king.
MADHUR BHANDARKAR, who helmed the critically acclaimed and successful (they hardly ever go together do they?) Chandni Bar paused when asked if there was any film he would like to remake. "You mean like Devdas?" Bhandarkar zeroed in on Deewar as "it has a strong script and a well knit screenplay."
In town for the promotion of his new film Satta, which is opening this week, Bhandarkar smiled when asked about his choice of Raveena as the leading lady. "Everyone has been asking me this question. I chose Raveena because I needed a girl with attitude."
About choosing Tabu for Chandni Bar, Bhandarkar said, "I could not visualise anyone else as Mumtaz who ages from 18 to 37. Tabu has the fragility and sensitivity to bring my Mumtaz to life." Bhandarkar said he was lucky Tabu did not even wait to hear the whole script. "At interval itself she said she would do it."
Satta shares a lot in common with Chandni Bar - a strong woman protagonist, a relatively modest budget, newcomers and a realistic treatment. "The sensibility is not filmy. I have gone in for a raw, real look and feel for Satta. It is not well lit. I would describe it as a naturally shot film."
Bhandarkar is all for working with newcomers as they are "raw and one can discover their hidden talents. Also casting newcomers gels with the realistic look I try to give my films." Tabu and Raveena on the other hand "surrender to the director and I was able to extract good performances from them."
Bhandarkar prefers to work with small budgets because "one can experiment. The risks are less and so are the losses." Bhandarkar says he "owes a lot to Hyderabad. I learnt a lot here as associate director to Ramgopal Varma (from Raat to Rangeela) and I admire Ramuji's innovative technical skill."
For Bhandarkar content is king. "Movie making has evolved and we have to move with the times. We cannot be stuck in twenty-year old time warp. But technique should never overpower content."
Bhandarkar is emphatic when he says he is "not against escapism in cinema. I enjoy David Dhawan's films. But to each their own and my vision tends towards reality. People have asked me why I show depressing things in my films and my answer is why not? People do not have any problem watching morbid stuff on telly or reading sordid stories in the papers but when it comes to films it is a big no-no."
"I am not making a statement or hoping to change society with my films. I am neither a politician nor a social worker. I am a filmmaker and this is my vision." Bhandarkar, whose subjects "come from the heart," prefers to direct the films he has written. "If the idea does not come from me, I cannot be excited about the project. And there is always the possibility of the writer's vision not coinciding with mine."
Bhandarkar's next film Aan, is about the police force. So can we expect a Bhandarkar take or would it be Ardh Satya or would it be like the countless chor police films we have seen? "The film is a multi-starrer (Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Jackie Shroff, the Big B dropped out due to date problems) with a bigger budget. It would be slightly larger than life. It is a positive look at the police fraternity, at the problems they face."
Like all Bhandarkar's movies, Aan is well written and Bhandarkar promises, "The stars will look like the characters and not the other way around."
Counting Guru Dutt for his "amazing sense of emotion, Bimal Roy for "his sensitivity in handling pathos and realism," Vijay Anand for his "sheer versatility and Mani Ratnam ("he is a living legend") among his favourite directors, Bhandarkar fights shy of advice to aspiring directors.
"Hey, I am a newcomer here, what can I say apart from stick to your convictions and do not lose focus of what you want to make." Are all the wannabes listening?
MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER
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