Not run of the Milan

The year 2010 couldn't have been better for filmmaker Milan Luthria. Not only was Once Upon A Time In Mumbai (OUATIM) an unexpected superhit, but the year also brought with it a buddle of joy in the form of a baby girl, who's picture is now Milan's phone screensaver. The filmmaker who is gearing up for a rather bold film on the South bombshell Silk Smitha, looks back on the year that was:

WHO: Milan Luthria
WHAT: Talking about the year that was
WHERE: At his Bandra office

Pic/ Satyajit Desai

All gang-ho
This year has done everything for me, and even as it draws to an end, it only seems to be getting better. I never expected to OUATIM to be such a big hit, especially since everything seemed to go wrong when we were shooting for it. Kangana (Ranaut) showed up a few days late because she had a problem with dates.

Towards the end, we thought that we would have to suspend shooting because Emraan's (Hashmi) baby was due anytime. We didn't know whether the audience would be happy seeing two popular actors playing dreaded dons or whether they would be able to connect with the 70s line. But the fact that the film ticked is proof enough of the changing tastes of the audience. It is very heartening to know that a good script does work.
u00a0
And films like Bheja Fry, Aamir, Khosla ka Ghosla, Peepli Live have proved that you don't always need heavyweight actors or shoot in exotic locales to to make a film a hit. Karjat works just as well. Since I don't shoot in fancy places, I make sure I visit them on vacations.

Changing room
As a filmmaker I have always believed in experimenting. My next film is going to raise a few eyebrows because it won't be sugarcoated. I'm glad that the audience is opening up to watching reality in cinema, be it in Jessica or OUATIM. They're fed-up of romances like DDLJ and it is time we buried those same old plots. Rubbish, however well-packaged, doesn't sell anymore. Convenience is not a word that you can associate with filmmaking anymore.

Retro rise
We could well draw a few lessons from the 70s. Filmmakers of that era managed to tell deeply emotional stories, while entertaining the audience. Deewar, Sholay, Shakti, Muqaddar ka Sikandar etc were all dark films, yet they were big hits of the time.

And while the 70s as a theme is very popular in our industry right now, we're not churning out the same kind of cinema. I find serious films that are devoid of entertainment highly boring. We, as an industry, need to go back to the basics and focus more on scripts, performances and music.