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Magazine
Bollywood’s Woody Allen
ANUJ KUMAR
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The films he acts in help finance the films he wants to make. Meet actor-producer-director Rajat Kapoor.
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I keep the budgets so low, that the film no longer depends on the box office draw and I don’t have to compromise my creative freedom.
Photo: R.V. Moorthy
Contemporary: A still from Rajat Kapoor’s “Mithya”.
Rajat Kapoor is emerging as the Woody Allen of Bollywood. When the industry was talking in crores, he carved out his celluloid dreams in lakhs. Milking the multiplex boom, his films are winning critical acclaim and box office success with equal ease.
Whether it is his directorial ventures like “Raghu Romeo”, “Mixed Doubles” or films like “Bheja Fry” where he was associated at production level, Rajat has redefined the word budget.
“Like Woody I keep the budgets so low, that the film no longer depends on the box office draw and I don’t have to compromise my creative freedom.”
Thinking small
This at times means thinking small. For instance, he shot “Mixed Doubles” at his home. But the success gives the opportunity to flex muscles for the following project.
With “Mithya”, he has crossed the one-crore mark for the first time. Tangerine Digital Entertainment, a solution provider in the digital space, has already acquired the worldwide rights of “Mithya”.
“I don’t feel the kind of pressure that somebody like Ashutosh Gowarikar may experience before the release of ‘Jodhaa Akbar’. As a creative person, I had a vision and now that vision has been achieved on celluloid. Even if five people watch the film, nobody is going to lose money because the producers have already recovered their money by selling satellite rights, music rights and the like,” says Rajat.
Talking about the subject, he says, “The film deconstructs the meaning of identity. What is I-ness in ‘I’? The idea is rooted in a puranic tale where Vishnu explains to Narad that identity is maya, a pretence, a mithya. However, I have set it in a contemporary world of gangsters, where a bad actor gets caught. He wants to play a big role, but doesn’t get an opportunity. And finally when he gets a chance it changes his life forever, as he is required to play this role in real life.”
Under wraps
Rajat says he completed the script in 1999. “As the film required a bigger budget, I kept it under wraps. Naseeruddin Shah was my original choice for the central role. (Naseer now plays another character). Over the years, I considered Arshad Warsi, Saif Ali Khan but finally settled for Ranvir Shorey,” says Rajat, calling it the role of the lifetime.
Talking of Saif, Rajat says big names are still reluctant to come out of their safe territories. “He wanted me do the film his way. You don’t see a Bruce Willis here who does a ‘Die Hard’ and then goes out of his way to do ‘Sixth Sense’. Today two worlds are operating in Bollywood and the twain shall not meet,” he quips.
Boom time
His world also presents challenges. “This is boom time for small-budget independent filmmakers as the big films are flopping.” But, at the same time, he cautions that budget should not be an excuse for bad cinema. “We need fresh ideas and outlook, even if it’s a remake. There are directors like Shimit Amin, who I believe can transcend both the worlds. Soon we have to look beyond Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak, as they will have become stars and won’t be affordable.”
An FTII graduate, Rajat is also emerging as an interface between the corporate world, which is seeing new opportunities in Bollywood, and the creative pool which has the ideas but cannot go through the rigmarole of raising the finance.
Future films
After “Mithya”, produced by Planman Motion Pictures, Rajat has firmed up a five-film deal with Pritish Nandy Corporation (PNC) where he will take care of the production. One is “Savdhan Meri Jaan”, about the complicated ways of life in Mumbai. The film marks the return of veteran director Saeed Mirza.
Similarly he is contemplating adapting Anna Karenina with Kumar Sahani, who happens to be his teacher. “He’s been wanting to adapt Anna Karenina for the last 12 years. It is pity that the country doesn’t even know whether the likes of Sahani are alive or not and that they could not make cinema just because they don’t fit in the present day business models,” says Rajat.
Between all this, Rajat takes time out to act, which helps finance his career as an independent director. Known for his portrayal of a paedophile in “Monsoon Wedding”, he also received critical acclaim for his role as a self-seeking film star in “Khoya Khoya Chand”.
“As a director when I watch myself act, I feel I am not a bad actor,” Rajat laughs. “Seriously, acting doesn’t take much of my time. Like ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ required 40 days. Recently I completed Saurabh Shukla’s ‘Raat Gayi Baat Gayi’ in 19 days. Direction requires more time and concentration because I am involved with every aspect of filmmaking.”
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