Ghai doesn’t want to direct films in a hurry
It’s been four years since Subhash Ghai last directed a film. His last venture was Kaanchi, which failed to make an impact at the box office and didn’t garner any great response from the fans either. Since then, the 73year-old filmmaker has refrained himself from donning the director’s hat.
Even his upcoming project — a biopic on the life of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) — will see him as a producer and not a director. Ghai says that the failure of his 2014 film has taught him a valuable lesson: “not to do anything hurriedly.”
“I made Kanchi, and it didn’t work. It was because there was pressure on me to make a film, and I made it in a hurry. That’s why it didn’t work, and after that, I decided not to direct just for the sake of directing,” Ghai explains.
The filmmaker insists that he is happy as a producer, and will not direct until he finds an interesting story or a subject. “I’m happy with whatever I am doing now. I want to direct when there’s an interesting story, or the subject is appealing. I’ve realised that as a director, you are responsible for the story you are telling. That’s the kind of film I want to direct. I want to be responsible for a story that I am going to tell, and for that, I need to be sure about the story I am telling,” he says.
Ghai, who is known for helming popular films such as Ram Lakhan (1989), Khalnayak (1993) and Pardes (1997), further argues that his career is “not over” as a director, and his fans will soon see him take charge of the camera. “People told me that I was ‘over’ after I made Taal (1999). They said that a film without a villain wouldn’t work. But they were proved wrong because Taal was a hit. I have great scripts with me [his production house]. I have scripts for Aitraaz 2 and Khalnayak 2 also. But I’m not sure if I would be directing them. As a filmmaker, I have evolved,” he says.