What they didn’t tell you in the Netflix documentary series, The Roshans? Went over to meet Mr Nagrath at his office to figure!
(Left to right) Hrithik, Rajesh and Rakesh Roshan in the The Roshans. Pic/Netflix
It’s when Rakesh was 17 that his music-composer father, Roshan, passed away. The son had no choice but to look for a job in the Bombay film industry.
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Pretty much the headquarters of which, back then, used to be a building called Naaz, in South Bombay, that housed practically all the main producers/distributors’ offices.
The building obviously had limited access. But if young Rakesh did manage to meet anybody there, he would be treated really well. He was, after all, son of the great Roshan Saab. Such was the legacy that his old man had rightly left behind.
Since he had to introduce himself as Roshan’s son to gatekeepers posted outside anyway, Rakesh thought—may as well adopt his father’s first name as his own surname. That’s how Rakesh Nagrath became Rakesh Roshan!
Of course, Rakesh had a fairly long innings as an actor. He has 94 films to his credit on IMDb. He tells me, “Out of those 94, though, I got 70 films, mainly because I’d constantly call up producers to cast me. And then I figured, why don’t I just turn producer myself, instead of calling them up?”
Kaamchor (1982) was his big break as producer. Jaag Utha Insaan (1984) is the movie he produced after, that didn’t do as well.
This is when he received a letter from a fan, urging him to stick to the letter K for the title of all his films. Whenever that’s the case, those movies necessarily perform better.
The fan cited examples from even Rakesh’s acting career. Consider Khel Khel Mein, Khatta Meetha, Khandaan, Khubsoorat… That advice stuck with him.
This is how all of Rakesh’s films, as director, his debut Khudgarz (1987) onwards, have been titled with K. Later, Karan Johar picked up the same habit. As did Ekta Kapoor for her TV shows.
Having watched the Netflix documentary series, The Roshans, I went over to meet Rakesh in his quiet office in Andheri West. There are two big chambers inside.
The second one, with a resting bed and a sprawling work-desk belongs to Rakesh’s father-in-law, late filmmaker J Om Prakash (1926-2019). All of whose movies, incidentally, used to be titled with the letter A!
If not with K, I joke to Rakesh, he could have just titled all his movies, Badla! It’s fascinating how he’s told so many stories, with the same core/central idea.
Which is that a person is wronged in the film’s first half. And they return to seek revenge in the second half.
Now, those leads could come back, reincarnated (Karan Arjun), as lookalike (Kaho Naa Pyar Hai), post cosmetic surgery (Khoon Bhari Maang)…
This isn’t to suggest he’s been directing the same film over and over again. The story is in the telling/treatment, isn’t it?
Rakesh tells me, “Take Khudgarz. It’s literally [Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s] Namak Haraam (1973). Nobody could see that! People wanted to sound intelligent, so they compared it to [Jeffrey Archer’s novel] Kane and Abel.”
As director, Rakesh has a cent per cent record of commercial success at the box-office. Clearly, he knows more than a thing or two about tapping into the pulse of Indian mainstream audiences.
What’s equally interesting is the old-world financing of all his films, right up till his last movie as producer, Kaabil (2017).
He raises funds directly from the 14 distributors placed across the country, including overseas who, in turn, ensure a great release, since they’re also personally invested in the project. Rakesh says, “Till date, I’ve not put in even R5000 of my own money to start a film.”
Along the way, he dreams up locations, and puts in his personal money to offset going over-budget. As he did with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000), travelling the world, to find pristine places he’d apparently seen in his sleep. Hence, Christchurch, Queenstown (New Zealand), Krabi Islands (Thailand)…
Rakesh had mortgaged his home and car while filming Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. “This habit actually started with Kaamchor,” he says. He’d mortgaged his Mercedes Benz for R2 lakh during the making of that movie.
Kaho Naa Pyar Hai, of course, gave us a new term. That is, Hrithikmania! A phenomenon was born. That’s Rakesh’s son, Hrithik, who wasn’t even aware that his father had staked his personal property for the dream debut.
Rakesh would’ve liked to be a star; his son became one, instead. It’s a bit like Salim Khan, whose son, Salman, fulfilled the father’s dream.
I wonder if it often takes two generations to eventually hit bull’s eye in Bollywood. Rakesh says, “[The second generation] has certainly seen the struggles closely.” That probably helps.
Although we might be at a point in the times of YouTube, OTT and social media, where the idea of stardom itself is under question. What with, say, Shah Rukh Khan suggesting he’s the last such of the era.
Rakesh feels, “Stardom has a lot do with music. Right from Shammi Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, you could simply identify a star with their songs. Aaj kal gaane khatam ho gaye hain [we’ve lost those songs].”
Also, for the person who actually propels that stardom, Rakesh says, “A producer has to be a jack of all trades. He must understand lyrics, music, casting, story/screenplay… The young generation at studios these days are inexperienced [on such matters]. They only know marketing.”
Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper
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