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'Jhankar Beats is not smutty!'
First-time director Sujoy Ghosh is slowly learning the ropes
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Vickey Lalwani
When Sujoy Ghosh learnt that the Viveck Vaswani production Dil Vil Pyar Vyar was similar to his directorial debut Jhankar Beats, he was upset. "When I was writing Jhankar Beats," he reveals, "I approached Viveck. He said he wasn't interested in producing my film. I registered my film title under his company, for which I will always be indebted to him.
"Anyway, after he rejected my script, he launched a film with another director [Anant Mahadevan], which was also woven around R D Burman's music. I was upset, but shrugged it off. Then I heard that their film was about the ups and downs in the relationships of three couples." Ghosh did not know the exact storyline at the time. And Sanjay Suri, who is common to the cast of both films, was too much of a professional, he says, to reveal anything.
Ghosh continues: "Was it just coincidence that their film also had three couples and a dance competition as the climax? But I could not confront Viveck because I did not have proof. I haven't consulted my producer Pritish Nandy Communications about any strategy to avoid duplication. I honestly didn't know what to do."
Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, however, failed to make an impact, and Ghosh is happy to let bygones be bygones. He would rather talk about his own movie. "Jhankar Beats has original music by Vishal Shekhar," he says. And "there is no dance competition in the climax". Clearly, he has restructured the film.
Ghosh's film is based on the lives of three men, Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri, and Shayan Munshi. "It's about how they cope with failures in life," he explains. "Every aspect of life has underlying humour that we tend to ignore. The film propagates the belief that we must face problems in life with a smile."
It took the writer-director eight months to prepare the first draft. "Thereafter, I rewrote it a few times," he says.
Ghosh was a successful software professional when he decided to follow his dream and direct a Hindi film. The initial days were chaotic, he remembers. "Whenever a shot was ready, people shouted 'order, order'! I didn't realise they were asking me to give orders on how the scene was to be enacted. Being new, I did not understand filmmaking terminology."
The entire film was shot in Mumbai, with places between the suburbs of Bandra and Vashi providing the outdoor locations. The indoor shots were mostly songs, of which the 135-minute film has 10. But unlike in some other movies, Ghosh says they are an important part of the narrative. "If you go out for popcorn during a song, you will miss an integral part of the movie!" he warns.
Apparently, Vaswani rejected Ghosh's script because he found the story, which revolves around three youths in an advertising agency working on a condom campaign, who dream about condoms, 'smutty'.
But the director denies this. "If the film was smutty," he counters, "how did respected names like Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, Rinke Khanna, Riya Sen, and a host of others agree to act in it?"
Suri chips in, "What smuttiness are you talking of? How can condoms be perceived as smutty? Our country needs condoms more than anything else."
The film is partly in English [Rahul Bose and Rinke Khanna's roles] and partly in Hindi. It is slated for release in January 2003. "We were planning to release it in December, but Tanuja Chandra's Sur -- The Melody Of Life was first on my producer's list, followed by Sanjay Gupta's Kaante, which releases on December 13."
Explaining his role in the film, Suri says, "I head an ad agency. My wife Juhi and I have a daughter and I am deeply interested in music. The film dwells on the professional, personal, and recreational lives of six people."
According to the actor, it is a myth that Jhankar Beats and Dil Vil Pyar Vyar are similar. "Take my role," he says. "I played a widower in Dil Vil Pyar Vyar. In Jhankar Beats I am this happily married guy."
Suri remembers the day he was offered the role. "I got a call from Pritish Nandy Communications. That same evening, Sujoy came over to see me with a bound script. He wanted a quick answer. I glanced through the script and could sense that Sujoy had something meaty for me. Besides, I am lucky to be working with a stalwart like Juhi Chawla. Her comic timing is perfect. And she keeps complimenting junior artistes."
Rinke Khanna is also upbeat: "I don't want to do the usual masala stuff. I want to play strong characters. In Jhankar Beats, I play a woman who does not take things lying down, has a mind of her own, refuses to bow to any subversion or authority, and justifies her priorities and perspectives very well."
What next? "It depends on the fate of Jhankar Beats," says Ghosh. "If it clicks, producers will be willing to fund me. It isn't every day that you get producers like Pritish Nandy who back a debutant director."
But ever hopeful, he is working on two new scripts.