04 February,2010 07:01 AM IST | | Sarita Tanwar
The usually reclusive Vidhu Vinod Chopra on letting his work speak for itself
Walking into Vidhu Vinod Chopra's three-storeyed home-cum-office is tougher than getting into a 5-star hotel post 26/11. There is a small army of security guards at the gate. After an interrogation by a stern looking but polite guard, you are waved in. One of them follows you up three flights of steps (the elevator isn't working) then leaves you with a smiling secretary who welcomes you into the office. A few minutes later, VC strolls into his office, dressed casually dressed in a tee and linen pants. We settle down for a chat...read on for excerpts.
So...how is life post-3 Idiots?
After the film's success, I locked myself in a hotel roomu00a0 in a dry state (Ahmedabad) for five days and just wrote. I only came to Bombay after I finished. So nothing has changed really.
Really? After delivering the biggest hit of all time?
I'm still the same. For instance, I have a mobile which I use only to keep in touch with my family. I usually never reply to SMSes. Somebody from the movies called me about 4-5 times. As usual, I didn't pick up the phone. I SMSed him asking, 'What is it?', and he wrote back, 'Yes, now why will you pick up the phone?' I asked him, 'Did I pick up the phone after Eklavya? But it didn't bother you that time.'
True. You have always been quirky and arrogant. You don't need success for that.
(Matter-of-factly) Yes. In my head, I have been successful right since Parinda. Maybe not for others. My company has been like a boutique production house.u00a0 We have made the kind of films I wanted to make. We have not set out to make big hits. When I made the Munnabhai sequel, one of the distributors came and told me, 'Item toh aap ne daala hi hoga.' I told him, "Haan, daala hai." He asked, "Arre sir... kaun hai?' I said, 'Mahatma Gandhi." He panicked.
What does success mean to you?
It means making a movie you believe in. To have the courage to make a film you believe in. It means being able to do what you really dreamed of doing. You can call it eccentricity, madness, or anything else, but I have made films I wanted to.
Irrespective of whether they seem commercially viable?
Yes and let me explain why. When I made my first major film, Parinda, it flopped. I got a call from a Punjab distributor Gurdeep Singh Dhillon, and he said, 'Mar gayaa, main toh mar gayaa ji. Apne Madhuri nu maar dita. Saara hall bol raha tha dream sequence hai, but mujhe toh pata hai, woh toh real mein mar gaye. Tusi please end change kar do.' That was the first time big stars die before the climax. I was trying to say why violence does not pay. That guy's office closed down. But today, Parinda is considered a cult film. Eklavya didn't work here but in the US they are calling it the work of David Lean. When I go to the US and meet people they know and respect me because of Eklavya. So what should I say? Ki Bihar mein nahin chali? How do you judge success?
By the money it makes?
Let me tell you about an incident. I won't name the person, I am trying to be very good today... there was a man from the industry who always met me -- bent at the waist, his hands joined -- and asked, 'Bhagwan, kaise hain?' Then once at a party, he greets me with a wave, 'So, Vinodji, sab theek chal raha hai?' I told him, 'Tera toh bahut achcha chal raha hai, teri picture hit ho gayi hai' and he asked, 'How do you know? You don't follow collections.' I told him, 'Teri reed ki haddi dekh ke mujhe pata chal jaata hai. Jab flop hoti hai toh tu jhuk jaata hai lekin ab tu seedha chal raha hai.'u00a0 So I want to say that the backbone of this company is not connected with bank balance. We were straight then, we are straight now. And hopefully, we will stay straight.
You surprised everyone with 3 Idiots instead of a Munnabhai sequel.
Tell me how many companies in India or abroad will not make Munnabhai Chale Amrika for four years because they are not happy with the script? Even if I make rubbish, people will make it for Rs 200 crores. But in my heart, I will know that I've made rubbish. I want the people of this country to know that this is not just a man who goes, 'Shut-up, shut-up, shut-up.' This is also a man whose life and work speak for him. People like Sanjay Bhansali, Raj Kumar Hirani, Sudhir Mishra, Nana Patekar, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Pradeep Sarkar, Shantanu Moitra, Vidya Balan and some 500 other people have started with my company. Most people have been working for 20-25 years. No one leaves.
Sarkar deflected to Yash Chopra. Did that bother you?
If I tell you that I was not hurt, it would not be true. But I haveu00a0 met many people like that.u00a0 When I came to this city, I took a homeless boy into my house. I got him admission in a school. He would ask if he could do chores around the house, and I told him, 'No, just concentrate on your studies.' I was not in the position to help a lot of people, but I wanted to change the life of at least one person as my contribution to society. At the time, I had rented a one-room apartment in which I had a rented fridge, a Sony tape recorder and some tapes of Farida Khannum and Begum Akhtar. He stayed with me for seven days, phir chori kar ke bhaag gayaa. I was very angry and I took a knife and set out to find him. When I came home, Renu Saluja and her friend started laughing. They said I looked mad. I looked in the mirror and saw a guy with long hair, raging eyes and knife in hand. She then told me, 'This is the first guy you have met in the city, and look how much he has changed you. You will meet so many of them, Vinod, you will not remain who you are now." This was in '77. She was right. But only partly. I met a lot of people who wronged me but I didn't change myself because of them.
