‘Success is a lousy teacher’
Mahesh Bhatt on his latest film Awarapan to Vickey Lalwani

How would you describe Awarapan?

In many ways, Awarapan represents my inner core. I have always had this wanderer in me, which has kept on raising his head. This wanderer is an angst-ridden outcaste who is not confined to the safe heavens of society and lives life on the edge. There is a burden of a trauma, which he has not been able to resolve.

In a nutshell, Mrinalini Sharma plays a girl who is a victim of human trafficking and married to a gangster (Ashutosh Rana). How Emraan fights for her freedom and locks horns with Rana, who is his guardian, forms the balance of the story.

We did think of the title Awarapan for Woh Lamhe, but then I realised that it wasn’t gelling well with the story. Woh Lamhe was not the story of a woman but the story of a man remembering the moments he had spent with a woman who had been an important part of his life.

Emraan was dying to be reinvented. He had peaked with Murder and Gangster. But despite his excellent work, his work was still not noticed because he was still doing the same thing—trying to woo some girl who was hooked with another man. The baazar was milking his persona of serial killer dry. The moment a thing becomes accepted, be sure it is dead. We went in for his reinvention, with a firm resolve to demolish his skirt chasing and sex hungry image. I believe in: No guts, no glory (pauses).

Mohit Suri (director) asked him to grow his hair and beard, and gave him a completely new look. He responded and worked with tremendous feverishness. Mark my words; he will astound people. The caterpillar has turned into a butterfly.

The Indian film industry doesn’t have an Indian girl left. They are all made up mannequins from Cosmopolitan and Vogue. Shreya Saran has Indianness in her body.

Beauty is not beauty until touched by the pain of life. Mrinalini brings that. She herself comes from a traumatic past. I think she has had a failed marriage in her real life.

No. But it was talked and heard about in the unit. When she cries for freedom in the film, you can feel it that it comes from within.

How did you decide to bring in Ashutosh Rana from wilderness?

When you are at the rock bottom, you give your best. You have scars on your body and you want to regain your lost glory at any cost and have the humility to begin again. When you are at the top, you are power drunk, inaccessible, complacent, difficult and a bully. Success is a lousy teacher. It can make the most intelligent people think that they can never fail. Look at the duds that Yash Raj films have delivered, recently. It comes from the arrogance that they know it all. Sadly, the market gives the successful man a long rope to hang himself with. I think that I have answered your question.

Sure. It happened with me after I repeatedly dished out successful films like Saaransh, Janam, Aashiqui, Sadak, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. Then came the Mahesh Bhatt of Tadipaar, Gentleman, Chahat and Duplicate. And then I reinvented myself. I gave up direction and today I am glad that I did that change.

The music of Awarapan took off slowly, because it clashed with the huge marketing of Aap Kaa Suroor and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. But the figures today clearly reveal that hype and muscle has taken a beating. Awarapan has hit the front and is leading. Once a consumer tastes my product, he will tell every other person to go and see it. I still remember Mukesh was very nervous because our editing took time. But when he saw it, he stood up, clapped and hugged Mohit Suri. Awarapan will move the people.

Naam, Raaz, Murder, Gangster. Naam, in particular.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.

Trust me. This is the best film of Vishesh Films till date. —TWF

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