This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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What is the single-most satisfying compliment you've received for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag?
There was this lady who had got in touch with me after seeing Rang De Basanti. She was pregnant and she had told me there was a 2-month old life within her which she felt proud had experienced that film. Now she messaged me after seeing BMB. Her son is now 7 years old. He saw the film with his mother. She asked him what the film was about. The child said, 'Never give up.'
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (BMB) has surpassed all expectations to become an inspirational take. What are your feelings at the film's triumph?
I am short of words. I am still processing the reactions, trying to come to terms with what is being felt and said. It will be a while before I understand the full impact of Milkhaji's life. What I do understand at the moment is that the impact cuts across all sections of people. The other day Farhan Akhtar and I were in a coffee shop when a young NRI couple spoke to us. They said they had seen the film twice-over already. They said they felt proud to be Indians. Then the waiters came forward and said how much they liked the film. Farhan and I get such responses everywhere. It's most humbling.
Milka Singhji is also very happy with the outcome?
I still remember my conversation with him four years ago. I said I'd like to make a film on his life and times. He spoke about athletics a lot. We were speaking and I just heard myself saying, 'I've a feeling your life goes way beyond athletics. I feel there's a Milkha Singh in all of us. Knowing about your life has touched the Milkha Singh in me' the challenge for me as a director was to put the Milkha in me across to my audience. There is a lacuna in our aspirations in all of us. Somewhere a sense of incompleteness qualifies Milkhaji's brilliance. I wanted to capture that incompleteness.
Are you in touch with Milkha Singh?
Oh yes. I just got his daughter Sonia's book. I have written the Foreword to it. She has put my Foreword first then Milkhaji's son Jeev Milkha Singh's Foreword. What a marvelous gesture! The love that Milkhaji and I shared and the acceptance in his life are what I'll carry in my heart forever. The three people who were responsible for the movie happening are Jeev, producer Rajeev Tandon and the film's editor P S Bharati. I was totally uncertain of how to go about it. These three have shaped my vision.
Milkhaji feels there are many unsung athletic heroes. Do you think more film on such lives need to be made?
It will happen. But we have to give it time. Evolution of new ideas has its own curve. When a film like Milkha gets made and it gets acceptance on such a level, filmmakers and producers are bound think about a new genre being opened up.
Your earlier film Rang De Basanti too inspired and changed lives?
Right from Aks, you know I would never do a film that doesn't express my thoughts ideas and ideology. It is important for me take my own conscience very seriously while making my films. I get very emotionally attached to the projects I do. To me Rang De Basanti, Delhi 6 and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag are part of a trilogy. They are very personal expressions. Rang De Basanti addressed the issue of corruption and the participation of the youth. Also, I am very close to the air force and my college days in Delhi went into Rang De Basanti. It was not a new thought. But it was a true thought. And true thoughts are eternal. Delhi 6 encapsulate by childhood in Delhi. In the film I saw everything from a child's viewpoint.
You had to change the ending of Delhi 6. Do you think that diluted the impact?
In hindsight we can keep speculating. Even Rang De Basanti could have been improved on. We are looking at re-releasing Delhi 6. It addresses religion and caste, issues that have always troubled me. And BMB addressed the theme of Partition. I never understood why the country had to be divided on the basis of demography. Tomorrow we might have separate Gorkhaland or a Jat-land because a lot of our people operate on a tribal mentality. I feel it's time to build a highway among countries. Europe has fought so many wars. They have seen World War 1 and 2 and the holocaust. But now Europe stands as one nation with a single visa and a single currency. They've understood the value of peace, cultural exchange and working together. BMB is somewhere for me a healing process.
What started this healing process?
Two scenes in BMB were very important for me. I wrote these scenes first. The first one is the prologue in Rome where Milkha looks back to see his tortured childhood. Then in the end he looks at the same childhood. But this time the child is smiling at him. So the healing process is complete. For me that was the film. In-between we interpreted his life and dramatic form to make it cinematic.
You were vehemently opposed to an interval point in your films, and had decided not to interrupt your films. But BMB has an interval?
As a storyteller you don't want to break the flow of your story. But to be practical if I didn't plan an interval, others would have broken the narration. Also, considering the length of BMB an interval was required. Delhi 6 didn't need an interval. When you make a movie there are innumerable variables. For the movies to turn out right you've let them breathe.
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music of BMB is pitch-perfect. Did you at all feel the absence of A R Rahman who did the music in Rang De Basanti and Delhi 6?
You know, Rahman inspires me in many ways, and not just for his music. When you look up to someone the way I do at Rahman, I can never feel that person's loss because he's always there. You won't believe this, but on the day we completed the music of BMB Rahman was the first to call me and asked, 'Mr Mehra, are you done?' I don't know how he knew it was done. I am going to show him BMB to Rahman as soon as we both have time. Having said that, I must say I had an amazing connect with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for BMB. All three have such varied talent. One is a jazz musician, the other is a rock guitarist and the third is trained Hindustani-Carnatic musician. The time I spent with them went way beyond work. I've spent innumerable hours with Shankar Mahadevan. He is gifted beyond words. He is synonymous with music. We didn't care whether the songs would work in the charts. We just did what we had to.
Milkha is a huge revenue earner. Does that give you an additional empowerment as a filmmaker?
Most certainly. I have seen both success and failure. And success does change a lot of things including the investment for your dreams. Having said that I must tell you that even after Aks (and its box office failure), there were corporate houses willing to back Rang De Basanti. A success like BMB not only empowers the individual filmmaker but the entire film industry.
What is your opinion of filmmakers who insist on giving audiences what they want?
I think the audience is very unfairly projected by the numbers game. It is insulting to presume audiences don't want to think while watching a film. They've always accepted change, innovative ideas and experiment in cinema. They've proved it again with BMB. I am feeling a sense of completeness. However it is part of my larger journey as a filmmaker. It cannot be a destination.
Where do you go from here?
There are so many things to explore. I am yet to explore romance in my life. And that's what I have in mind. I want to explore love as eternal in Mirza Sahibaan. I have my own definition of time…Then there is another project called Raja. It has been evolving for 7-8 years. Now I feel I am close to closing the subject
What is Raja about?
On the face of it, it's a caper about the search for Lord Krishna's flute and the search for the lost city of Dwarka. You know that Dwarka was submerged in water? It was discovered n 1984 by divers. People want to hear stories. My Naani always said that Ram and Ravan were two faces of the same personality. Cinema is a modern day tool of storytelling. And we need to use that tool the way we most honestly can do. Films are not like recycled commodities. Ek banaa diya aur ussko replicate karo. Anyone who practices any art form has a responsibility towards that art. Whatever form of expression you have chosen you have to express yourself honestly. When you're telling a story somewhere deep down it has to be an extension of your personality. Finally when you make a film you are investing a permanent part of yourself into it. So yes, it is a responsibility .When I say I am feeling complete as a filmmaker it isn't only because of BMB. It is a culmination of a process that started in Rang De Basanti and continued in Delhi 6.
Other bio-pics on sports persons coming up. Do you think films on sports personalities may become a formula after BMB?
There is nothing like formula. There are just good and bad films. How wonderful to have films on other sports heroes. The human angle must be explored. To me the point of connectivity with Milkha's story was his lost childhood. Whenever I see films about the World War 2 made by the Western filmmakers and how beautifully they've learnt the lessons of the holocaust I wonder why we don't make the same kind of films on the Partition. In spirit I find the Partition and the Holocaust to be similar. The biggest sufferers in these blood-baths are children. Somewhere Milkhaji's story and its theme of suffering during the Partition connected with the entire global community. That's why Carl Lewis reached out to Milkhaji after seeing the BMB. There are persecuted minorities and ethnic communities all over the world.
Why do we have so few commendable films on the Partition?
Because we need to grow out of patriotic jingoism and to stop looking at the other nation as the enemy. The other day we had a screening of BMB in Delhi for the politicians and bureaucrats. It was a theatre filled with government officials. And I saw such a deep connect with the film. It's a healthy sign.
If you had to make another bio-pic whom would you choose?
At some point in my career I'd love to make a film on Mother Teresa or Swami Vivekanand. Whatever I know about them proves that they gave us light to guide our paths.
Article written by staff at Bollywood Hungama. Read more
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