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It's a Ghai thing

TECHNOSAVVY TREND Subhash Ghai: `Time for literature based cinema'

Subhash Ghai admits to there being three Ms in his life. "Not Madhuri, Manisha and Mahima," he chortles, referring to the divas he introduced to tinsel town. "The three Ms are machine, man and mind. A machine cannot create on its own; it needs the hand and mind of man."

"That is the reason for opening Whistling Woods, (www.whistlingwoods.net) an international film school. We train people to successfully marry art and technique.

"These days films are very techno savvy but in the process content suffers. If you look at a dance on telly today you can see that the editor has taken over. You cannot see the dance for the lighting and sound. The poetry has been demolished; the soul is gone. " Ghai demands.

That is not to say that the showman of Bollywood is totally against technology. His films are known for their lavishly mounted set pieces — who can forget Rishi Kapoor spinning around on a giant LP record in a song sequence in the reincarnation saga Karz?

Ghai, who prefers directing to production, says: "We are releasing two films — Apna Sapna Money Money (November 10) and Good Boy, Bad Boy. On October 24, I will announce new projects, including my film."

Which brings us to the disaster called Kisna. "I knew right at the inception that this was a film that would succeed or fail spectacularly. I wanted to make a film about India between 1930 and 1947. But India has changed from then to now. After a trial show, a youngster came up to me and asked, `Why did the boy not go with the English girl? Why did he choose to remain in India in poverty?' When I heard that, I knew the film would not work, as youngsters were not able to relate to the basic premise of the film. But mark my words, Kisna will prove to be a classic."

He regrets the fact he has never worked with the Big B. "I would love to work with him and the minute I write a greater role than anything he has done before, I will approach him."

MINI ANTHIKAD CHHIBBER

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