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You are coming back as a director after quite a long time. I agree that after Bluff Master, which I had directed, I concentrated on our home productions like Chandni Chowk To China, Taxi No 9211, The President is Coming etc, it has taken me quite a while to come up with my next directorial venture Dum Maaro Dum, which took me two years to put up together after Shridhar Raghavan wrote the subject. How would you describe Dum Maaro Dum? Dum Maaro Dum is a well-written thriller about a realistic cop. I liked it when I read it at one go because it is full of twists and turns, with interesting characters at the heart of it. We have used a new narrative style. It is a good suspense thriller about good-looking boys and girls. Do you set out to drive home the message that you should say no to drugs with Dum Maaro Dum? As a cinegoer, I always go to seek entertainment when I watch a film. If side by side, one is able to take something out of a film, I feel it would be great. Though my film does not set out to overtly say no to drugs, it will tell you how you will suffer if you get addicted to drugs.
Are you setting out to glorify drugs with a title like Dum Maaro Dum? We are not in any way setting out to glorify drugs or glamourising it because at the outset, the film’s merit is that it will be a good suspense thriller and if people find a positive note when they watch it, I’d say that it will be an added bonus. Can you elucidate? There was a subtle track on widow remarriage in my father’s Sholay but I do not think that he made it to promote widow remarriage. I feel as a filmmaker that a message is just a byproduct when you set out to make a film, because per se you do not set out to make a film with the sole intention of driving home a message but to entertain the audiences. To what extent do you feel a star helps you sell a film? Though we tend to say, "yeh star hai to film hit hai", I feel there are many factors that make a film a hit, besides just the stars. We must get beyond the fact that a film is a hit because of the star. Tanu Weds Manu did not boast of any big star but did a business of 40 crore. Stars enhance a film because the persona of a star does help it, but a film like Band Baaja Baraat, which also had new faces, clicked at the boxoffice. Why should we put too much pressure on stars? How would you compare yourself with your father Ramesh Sippy? I think my father is the finest technician of his time. I do not think any one today can be called as good a technician as my dad. To bring technical side in the service of emotion is quite tough. You’d rather go in for an experienced heart surgeon rather than a new young doctor, because filmmaking today is as complicated as a heart surgery. Though I, too, keep emotion of the story as an important tool in filmmaking, you just cannot compare me and my dad in the same breath as individuals. Even if you say that I am even one per cent of what my dad is, I’d feel great. You cannot compare people of different time periods. I observe more similarities in our temperaments. The best thing about my father is that he is patient with me too. He started as H. S. Rawail’s assistant way back in 1961. I had started as his assistant with the serial Kismet and Gaatha. You learn on the job. It was then a different world when cinema was everything. What is wrong with cinema today? Where are great producers? Today a financier calls himself the producer. We have turned the film industry inside out. Today cinema ails because we need great writing, grand music and an able director, who can judge. Today an actor who used to charge Rs 100 has hiked his price to Rs 500 but recovery has not improved at all. Though down South, the mega stars have the same draw for every film in which they act, why do you think the opening for a star’s film is different for different films in Bollywood? Though earlier, 90 per cent of the money had to come from the film industry itself, today luckily a producer has many avenues to recover his investment. Abhishek Bachchan has not become a bad actor all of a sudden just because his last film Game did not run at the box office. Why do you think Mr & Mrs Khanna was a failure but Dabangg, which also starred the same Salman Khan, was a big hit? It also depends a lot on the producer. Arbaaz Khan is a very sensible guy. I know because I have worked with him in Kuch Na Kaho. Why do you have this fetish to work with Abhishek Bachchan in every film of yours? It is not a fetish. I enjoy working with him. When Sridhar, who had also earlier written Chandni Chowk To China, came up with the subject of Dum Maaro Dum, I felt that the character of the cop suited Abhishek to the T. Do you admire any filmmaker today? I admire young filmmakers like Raju Hirani, Sriram Raghavan, Vikramaditya Motwane and Manish Sharma, who have made terrific films like 3 Idiots, Johny Gaddar, Udaan and Band Baaja Baraat respectively. Why are you not directing films for outside banners? Why don’t you ask Aditya Chopra why he is not working for outside banners? (Laughs). Jokes apart, I have a comfort level when I make films for my own banner and I do not want to step out of my comfort zone, though I do keep getting offers to direct for outside banners. We have made Dum Maaro Dum with Fox Star Studios while we had made Bluff Master with Reliance. How would you like to evaluate your journey as a filmmaker? I am quite happy with the road I have traversed till now and the adventure of each film that I have directed has been fantastic. I cannot wait back to do it again. There has never been a dull moment and the journey will continue. I hope that I will keep on improving. Today, I am definitely more confident about my craft than earlier. Though I was never in the shadow of my dad, I’d not at all hesitate to say that I am on his shoulders. Right from the scripting stage till the editing stage, he has been a part of every film that I have made till date. His contribution is tremendous. Though the editor, the cameraman, the sound engineer, my dad and I work together as a team, the final decision is that of mine, when it comes to a film that I am directing.
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