‘Didn’t know Shahid during taal’

Melodious music and stunning cinematography — that’s how most people remember

Subhash Ghai’s (far right) Taal. As the film starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,

Akshaye Khanna and Anil Kapoor completes 18 years of its release today, Ghai shares his memories and recalls how no one knew Shahid Kapoor, (below) and that he was a backup dancer in the film.

“He was a member of the Shiamak Davar dance troupe. He looked smart and I wanted a good-looking boy, who could drape Aishwarya’s face during a song sequence,” says Ghai. “I asked for him. But I didn’t know that his name was Shahid, or that he was Pankaj’s [actor Pankaj Kapur’s] son. Nor did I know that he was going to become such a big star in Bollywood,” adds Ghai.

At the time of the film’s release, the filmmaker had to deal with a lot of harsh criticism. However, he says that public affection proved to be the better judge of films than critics. “It was slammed by everybody. There were also comments like Subhash Ghai’s time is over. But then, the audience didn’t take it seriously, and kept going to the theatres to watch the film,” he recalls.

Ghai admits that the film had almost no story. “I knew it was a tough project, for this reason. So I told AR Rahman, that the film will work because of the contribution of only two people — me and him. He gave music that is still loved by all and Apple Music has now put the film’s music into World Music category. That’s an incredible feeling,” shares Ghai.

He [Shahid] looked smart and I wanted a good-looking boy, who could drape Aishwarya’s [Rai] face during the song sequence SUBHASH GHAI, FILMMAKER

PHOTO: WASEEM GASHROO/HT