Mr Bachchan is like marijuana
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, 49, takes pride in being the official cook of his house. All his films have been pulled out of his own life, be it the setting of Delhi-6 in Chandni Chowk, where he grew up, to Rang De Basanti, based on his friends in Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), or his upcoming film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag due to his love for sports and admiration for Milkha Singh. While he has achieved his dream of working with Gulzar sahab in his next project Mirza, he will always have the regret of not having worked with Sahir Ludhianvi. Over an hour long conversation with Bombay Times, he talks about the multi-dimensional life of Milkha Singh, why Farhan Akhtar is the coolest guy and what binds his friendship with Aamir Khan and Prasoon Joshi. Excerpts:Let’s talk about your childhood? I was born and brought up in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, a microcosm of India with everything from chaat to McDonald’s to temples to masjids to the Red Fort. As you enter, you have the Gauri Shankar temple on your left, diagonally opposite is the Methodist Church next to which is McDonald’s, little ahead is the gurudwara, opposite to which is Haldiram. Moving ahead is Fatehpuri Mosque and you turn around and you see the Red Fort. The Hindus and Muslims are separated by clear mohallas and you have to pass one mohalla to go to the other. So whenever there was talk of any communal unrest, we would just shut the phatak of our mohalla to feel safe. I grew up watching the ramleela and playing cricket at Jama Masjid. Delhi-6 captured a part of this. My dad used to love movies, so much so that he once left everything to come to Mumbai to join movies. He was a part of the hotel industry and worked with Hotel Claridges all his life, and grew up through the ranks to become the general manager. We stayed at the hotel in the staff quarters. Those days movies of Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt used to celebrate silver jubilees and 100 days at the hotel and I would sometimes, sneak in to see the stars. My dad made friends with Om Prakash, the actor, who would come home late for dinner and do sher shairi with my dad. That was my touch and brush with movies. I studied at Air Force Bal Bharti School, where I became a keen sportsman. I swam a lot and dabbled in cricket. There was an MIG plane at the foyer and I always dreamt of becoming a fighter pilot. That became an inspiration for Rang De Basanti.
How did you get into films? My
first job was as a salesman in Eureka Forbes. While my family income
was 2000, at that time I earned 58,000 in my third month, as I smartly
realised that the fastest way to sell machines was to sell to
institutions like railways and tent houses, which bought in larger
numbers, as against housewives where the effort was higher, but sale
lower. But I realised I was not happy and quit after four months. I then
did garment exports with a friend, after which I joined Ulka
advertising agency. One of our clients Hero Honda was about to sack us,
as they were upset with our work. As a last resort, I was asked to make
an animatics ad film in a budget of just 30,000 by my boss to present
the idea to the client. To our surprise, the client not only bought the
idea, but liked the film so much that they put crores behind airing it.
The film bug had hit me and I felt that Mumbai was calling me. My
seniors at Ulka were kind and gave me an ad film to make for Beltek
Television to help me start my own creative agency in Mumbai. I thought I
had arrived, but till one year later, that was the only film I had made
and was calling home asking my parents to send me 400 for my paying
guest accomodation. I then got to direct a film with Mr Bachchan for BPL
after a few years. Amitji, till that time, was an enigma and had never
appeared on television before. One thing led to another and I got to
make Aks with him.
What was it like to work with Mr Amitabh Bachchan? Amitji was a lovely accident of destiny. Professionally speaking, Mr Bachchan is like marijuana. If you get hooked onto him, you can’t leave him. He always delivers and is always surrendering himself. He has changed with the times, be it his style or his attitude. At the time of working with him in Aks, I told him, ‘You are such a big brand Amitji, but you need to reinvent it.’ That was a time when stars did not experiment with their look or hairstyle. He was clean-shaven at that time and we fought so much around his goatee, which he used for the first time in Aks.
How did you meet your wife Bharti? We met during our advertising days. When I was in Delhi, Prahlad Kakar had told me that I should come to Mumbai and if I did, I could use his office. So, I used to sit on the stairs outside his office, waiting to receive any calls that may come for me. Bharti, at that time, was working with Prahlad and that is how we met. She has edited both Rang De Basanti and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and is my biggest critic, who keeps me grounded.
What binds your friendship with Aamir Khan and Prasoon Joshi? I think we all are pretty strong-headed individuals with similar ideologies, but distinct ideas. We agree to disagree with each other. Their response matters to me a lot, be it for my movies or matters of my life.
How did you think of making a film on Milkha Singh? I spent all my life in the National Stadium practising swimming and cricket and grew up on the folklore of Milkha, as he used to run on those tracks and was such an icon. When India was just born, the only person to have hoisted the Indian flag outside of India, apart from politicians, was Milkha Singh. I loved that about him.
His girlfriend (played by Sonam Kapoor in the film) influenced his life in a big way. Is she still alive?
We did not ask him that. It was a fleeting thing in his life, but she made a lot of difference to his life. From thereon, he went on to join the army and then conquered the world. She is the
turning point in his life and is a beautiful echo in the film. In real life, he is a rainbow of colours and is a true human being, who is not uni-dimensional. His life and the way in which he has gone about it is so inspirational. He had a lost childhood and is a victim of Partition. He witnessed the massacre of his family, including his mother, father, brother, sisters, who were wiped out in Multan. He witnessed the mass funeral of his entire village at the age of 12 and lost everything he had. He came to Old Delhi and lived in a refugee camp, where he got united with one of his sisters, who had earlier got married and fled prior to Partition. His sister, who mothered him, is played by Divya Dutta and is the highlight of the film. He then joined the army to gain respect, ran his first race for a glass of milk and finally went out to create world records and won 77 out of the 80 races he ran. In spite of breaking a world record, he lost the most important race in his life, but he won his life’s race. He loves dancing and cracking jokes, plays nine-hole golf everyday, has a world class golfer in his son Jeev Milkha Singh and has led a complete life in every way.
How was your experience working with Farhan Akhtar? He is the coolest guy I have ever come across. He is completely open and has no hangups whatsoever. He is extremely intelligent and gifted and is a true artist, who is in the business for the sake of art. He has not just played the part, but has become Milkha Singh. The only other person who could have played the role would have been a 28-year-old Milkha himself.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, releases July 12.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
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