Director’s cut

With Anusha Rizvi distancing herself from Peepli Live after a conflict with Aamir Khan,
Ranjan Das Gupta looks at similar cases from the history of Indian cinema

AFTER Anusha Rizvi decided to distance herself from Peepli Live due to too much interference by Aamir Khan, the latter is planning to withdraw the film from Oscar nominations. Nothing new as far as Aamir Khan is concerned as a creative director. Amol Gupte, who scripted Taare Zameen Par, also disassociated himself from the film due to too much interference by Aamir Khan.

Anusha Rizvi has gone on record saying, "I am very grateful to Aamir Khan for coming out and producing Peepli Live but now the film appears to be only his contribution and I and my husband have been fully sidetracked. If we, the writers and directors of the film, don’t receive credit for our work what is the point in remaining associated with Peepli Live?"

Breaking his silence on the issue, Aamir Khan says, "The film is neither mine nor Anusha Rizvi’s. It belongs to the audience, which has accepted it so well. If Anusha Rizvi feels that she has been neglected and wants to distance herself from Peepli Live, it is her discretion. I am seriously considering withdrawing the film from the Oscars."

The producer-director conflict is not new to Indian cinema. Raj Kapoor gave Shambhu Mitra and Amar Mitra the right to direct his most memorable acting venture in Bengali and Hindi, Ek Din Ratre and Jaagte Raho. While shooting the Hindi version, he developed serious differences with his director duo and ultimately directed the last part of the film himself though he did not take any credit for it officially.

When Teesri Manzil was about to celebrate its silver jubilee, its producer Nasir Hussain announced that the film was his baby. This annoyed the director and editor, Vijay Anand, who also had a major say in the scripting of the film. The non-compromising Vijay Anand moved away from Teesri Manzil. He never directed any film for Nasir Hussain after that. Even Shammi Kapoor protested against the unlawful act of Nasir Hussain, who felt overshadowed by the towering Vijay Anand of Hum Dono and Guide fame.

Whom does a film actually belong to? Says, Ashutosh Gowarikar, "A film is, of course, the property of its producer and at the same time the intellectual property of the writer and director. There should be a good harmony between both the producer and director, else the film suffers. Each should receive individual credit for his contributions in making a memorable film, including the artistes, music director, lyricist as well as technicians."

Though termed an intellectual and sensitive director, Aparna Sen is notorious for not lending credit to her producers and over-budgeting the films directed by her. Shashi Kapoor, who discovered her and gave her the coveted break as a director with 36 Chowringhee Lane, was hurt when the former started publicising and declaring that the film was her creation and property.

When asked about Aparna Sen a couple of years ago, Kapoor smiled and said, "Jis Gali Mein Jana Nahin Us Ka Patta Puchna Nahin (never ask whereabouts of a lane you don’t want to tread into). No wonder, he never gives permission of publishing the script of his most acclaimed film to any publisher recommended by Aparna Sen. It is well known that no producer has ever repeated her as a director. Pritish Nandy openly removed her from directing Gulel and permanently stopped the production of the film after serious differences. Bipin Kumar Vohra, who produced 15 Park Avenue after Aparna Sen was removed from directing Gulel, point blank refused to produce any more films to be directed by her.

More prolific was the case of Bipin Kumar Vohra and Goutam Ghosh during Yatra. Not only did Goutam Ghosh over-budget the film, he created many hassles and developed major differences with Rekha, the female protagonist of the film, who refused to shoot under his direction. For the main song sequence, Rekha saw to it that Goutam Ghosh was removed and the song was picturised by veteran cinematographer Ashok Mehta. A frustrated Bipin Kumar Vohra did go on record stating, "I will never produce any more films to be directed by directors from Bengal."

In the cases of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Adoor Gopalakrishan, there have never been official conflicts with them and their producers. Says, R.D. Bansal who produced a number of Ray’s films like Devi, Charulata and Nayak, "Satyajit Ray was a towering personality who overshadowed everyone else with the sheer dint of his merit. Yet, he never took any of his producers for a ride, respected them and officially credited their contributions."

Coming back to Peepli Live, it is a tragedy that such a brilliant film may not represent India at the Oscars at a time when Indian cinema is receiving the maximum recognition in the West. The inane conflict between producers and directors mars creativity to a large extent. As Dev Anand rightly says, "When Chetan Anand, Vijay Anand or Raj Khosla directed films for Navketan, I always ensured that they receive maximum credit for their creative contributions. It is definitely not just for a producer to hog the entire limelight, neither the director to declare that the film is solely his or hers."

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