|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sreya Basu chats up Mahesh Bhatt, who has explored
various facets You have always dealt with man-woman relationship through your films like Arth. What do you think is the problem of today’s couples that’s leading to frequent failure in relationships?
Talking of Tum Mile, the story of estranged lovers uniting is nothing new in Hindi cinema, apart from the excellent visuals of the Mumbai flood in the film. What is that ‘Mahesh Bhatt’ element in the film? Tum Mile deals with the love storm that rages in our hearts ... it’s a love story told in the backdrop of storm ... it’s not just the July 26, 2005, floods, but the storm and flood in man-woman relationships that rises all the time. The storm outside ebbs away, but that within devastates us ... leaves lasting scars. It’s not about ‘excellent visuals’ of Mumbai floods, but about a scarred relationship that gets a second chance to balm the wounds. It has an emotional quotient that has almost evaporated from Indian films. Also you dealt with live-in problems in Tum Mile Live-in relationships in most Bollywood films are all about song and dance. They don’t deal with the problems of live-in couples. This film deals with that problem. I think from the age group of 25-30, there are couples who are struggling to find their own fate, struggling to stay rooted ... there’s a problem of career, family, money and then there is the question of marriage or settling down. And at that time you do not always make the right choice. With Tum Mile we tried to make a love story, which the young can relate to. Why do you always make films with Emraan Hashmi? Emraan Hashmi is family ... he is our discovery. We have groomed him, shaped him up for Bollywood, and till the time he is becomes complete (... waise sampurn toh koi nehin hota hai ... zindagi bhar chalti rehti hai ...) through our medium, we won’t take a breath of relief. And also, we cast Emraan in most of our films because he suits the roles in the kind of films we make ... we don’t cast ‘stars’ in our films, but ‘actors’ who fit the bill. And let me tell you, he is much more than the ‘serial kisser’ tag the media has given him. But it’s also not that we make films only with Emraan. In Jashnn, there was Adhyayan Suman in the lead. But since that film didn’t work, you don’t mention it. We have never shut the door of our company for anyone. But fact is, media mentions only those who succeed, not the ones who fail. Pakistan singer Noman Javed created a buzz that Pritam copied his song in Tum Mile. He even posted a video of the song featuring him It’s unfortunate that Noman Javed, whom we gave a break in Jashnn, was trying to suggest to the world that the tune was somehow linked to him. But there is absolutely no connection ... the entire soundtrack is Pritam’s and if there’s anyone who can claim its creativity, it’s Pritam himself. It’s very unfortunate that a person whom we trusted, ended up with this kind of a thing. We were trying him out as a possible voice and behind the back he did something treacherous. I pulled him up and he was very apologetic ... because he was caught. But director Kunal Deshmukh and producer Mukesh Bhatt were both very graceful not to make an issue out of it. Finally, how do you view the man-woman relationship in today’s times? India essentially is a
society where traditional values are held sacred. The institution of
marriage is something that won’t be whisked away because of a
handful of people, who choose to go for a live-in relationship. But
that doesn’t mean that live-in relationships have no place in the
scheme of today’s changing society. But deep within the hearts of
these people, there is a longing to make that relationship permanent,
because the quest for permanence is the quest of mankind. And the
institution of marriage is the hint of that. I feel the couples, who
are unwed, have problems that are more complicated than those of the
married people. When people get married, they have a sense of closure:
a chapter ending and beginning a new phase. But most of the unmarried
couples don’t have that. The fights are over insecurities and short
turbulence of relationships. So I think young people, who are
experimenting with live-in relationships, will have to curve out their
own paths. — IBNS
|
||
|
|
||
Man-woman
relationship is too complicated. I think the problems of unmarried
couples are worse than those of married ones ... not only in today’s
times, but always. One of the problems with couples today is that they
don’t know what to expect of a relationship. Be it Murder,
Gangster, Jannat or now Tum Mile, we have tried to
highlight this issue in different lights.