Dharmesh Darshan is a content man. His biggest hit, Raja Hindustani, turns 20 this year. The landmark movie made him one of the best-known filmmakers of his generation, but he loves all his movies alike. In a conversation, the director talks about his idea about movies today, his life after movies, Mela, and of course, Raja Hindustani.
It’s been 20 years since Raja Hindustani. How have these years been?
It’s been a long journey and I feel it’s a great gift by God. I was just 28 back then and it happened very early. When I look at directors that are doing very well at the moment, they’re almost my age —late 40s.
When films release today, they’re publicised, and there’s so much of media attention that people don’t remember movies after 20 days. So, considering the fact that no film star produced this film, 20 years later it’s surely a merit.
A still from Raja Hindustani
Go on…
I find that new directors are forgotten very fast. The company or studios know the actors but they don’t remember the directors of hit films. Despite being low-profile, I have done a few films like Lootere, Raja Hindustani, Dhadkan, Bewafaa and even Mela.
I also feel that the kind of films I did, haven’t been replicated, so perhaps people are missing them. The sensitivity, the romance, the music, performances, glamour — today, it oddly becomes one-dimensional. Lootere was my debut hit film, but it gets eclipsed because of Raja Hindustani’s success. Lootere was great and it did a lot of magic for our careers. After video piracy, it all crashed.
What went wrong with Mela?
Mela is still one of the most successful films in the heartland of India. Nothing went wrong. A myth had perpetuated that it suffered in comparison to Raja Hindustani. Not every film can be Raja Hindustani. So if it didn’t do as well in urban areas, it’s still more successful than it is perceived to be. Of course, it was a disappointment after Raja Hindustani. I did my best.
A still from Mela.
Mela was done more as a return gesture to Aamir Khan for his co-operation in Raja Hindustani. He wanted me to get Faisal Khan on. I could’ve said no, but I decided to be very humble about it. But I’ll maintain that it was successful in parts of India.
Are you apprehensive about making movies in an era that doesn’t define your kind of cinema?
What’s my kind of cinema? I’ve felt my kind is more elegant. I never made any outdated, emotional kind of movies. I’ve made entertainers and romantic entertainers. If I hadn’t, they wouldn’t have played so much on satellite channels. I feel people miss these films. Contemporary filmmakers are coming across as confused because they’re trying to make movies by beating the times. People don’t exactly like this. So I’m happy not doing it.
Your personal life has played a huge role in your filmmaking.
As a director who’s done hardcore romance movies, I’ve also done slice of life movies like Aap Ki Khaatir. The only thing is that I lost my parents five or six years ago. Being single while losing them one after the other, I lost the passion for films. However, I felt Bollywood also became messy in the last few years. It’s a lot of talk and chasing film stars all the time. I believe in equality.
Stars are stars but the kind of director I’ve been, no star got me films, say five years ago. Directors were at the mercy of these stars.
Are you writing these days?
Of course I’m writing. But I’m not the kind of director to work on scripts all his life; I’m not a slave to that.
I have a life beyond films, just like actors have so many choices to do things beyond acting in movies, and I think it’s absolutely fantastic. For the last 18 years I’ve worked, I was only bothered about filmmaking. Today, there’s so much I do. I read a lot, I do a lot of writing, not just scripts.
