Mahesh Bhatt speaks to SANDEEP HATTANGADI about the fleeting nature of success ‘Success is Mahatma Gandhi and fame is Amitabh Bachchan’
Last month, Mahesh Bhatt confirmed on his 70th birthday that after two decades he would be returning to direction. Interest is naturally high as not only has Bhatt been the director of many searing and successful films like Saaransh, Arth, Zakhm and more, the film brings his daughters Pooja and Alia together on screen, along with original Sadak actor Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Roy Kapur.
When we meet and greet Bhattsaab, he is dressed in his staple all-black, even as he affirms that he might get into direction with Sadak 2.
The maverick filmmaker reflects on the #MeToo controversy and agitatedly says, “People who can’t respect women should be done away with. Even our film Jalebi is about freedom and emancipation of women. After all, goddesses are creation of men and so women should be more respected. Casting couch and exploitation are a part of this industry and should have been done away with a long time before, but this movement was a long time due.”
Speaking about sexual harassment he adds, “It is all about power. And such kind of incidents can happen at the office place or with students but they tend to bear it silently since they have to meet the same people everyday and have to compromise.”
Bhatt believes the issue of sexual harassment is not unique to Bollywood; however it seems to draw excessive attention here. “Only the film industry is singled out because there is a lot of glamour attached to it. There is a lot of hypocrisy because those who light lamps in a temple might be the same ones who indulge in eve teasing”. He adds, “Now there are so many female directors, writers, producers and music composers and singers who are a big part of the entertainment industry and so many women-centric films are being made today.”
He muses, “In our times, films were made on emotions and drama which were autobiographical in nature like my
Arth and Saaransh which were successful and are even acclaimed today. I could highlight the drama because I had endured the pain and for Saaransh I had seen the Shivaji Park area, since I used to live there.” He takes on the claims of nepotism, affirming, “Our Bhatt family has been in the industry for a long time and we didn’t send Alia or Pooja to any producers, but the producers themselves came to them and since they were hard working and had a knack for good films, they are very successful. For Highway, Alia read the entire script one night and was so impressed that she immediately gave the nod to the film.” In fact he sets the record straight saying, “We have given breaks to so many actors like Anupam Kher, Rahul Roy, Anu Agarwal. In fact, Anupam always says that if on that fateful day when he came to my house, if I hadn’t opened the door for him and finalised him for Saaransh, he would have still been languishing in the industry. He is always thankful to me.” Ask him how he is always so straight-talking and he laughs heartily saying, “I was like this from my childhood and my mother and grandmother always admonished me because I was a hyper kid and couldn’t stand still for a moment.” Speaking about the fact that he had an absentee father, he gets a tad sombre as he reveals, “I was always teased by my mates about my father and where he was. I would say he has gone for shooting and they would tease me as to is my father always shooting and never returns home? I would be very embarrassed and my mother would make me understand.” He concludes with sharing his definition of success, “Success is Mahatma Gandhi, everlasting for long and fame is Amitabh Bachchan. Success is everlasting but fame is transient and nothing is forever in this industry,” he signs off.