Feature: Lone rangers

Three of the most successful film-makers this year are now planning to do it their own way, writes Pratim D. Gupta

They are the only three directors to have hit Bollywood bull’s eye this year and yet Mani Ratnam, Vipul Shah and Anurag Basu are all thinking beyond their immediate success stories. None of the three makers of Guru, Namastey London and Life in a… Metro has a film in hand even as you read this. Why? They all want to turn full-time producers first before wielding the megaphones again.
Mani Ratnam, of course, has no choice. He has had a huge fallout with producer Bobby Bedi which means that the two are not making Lajjo together. Yes, the much-awaited Aamir Khan-Kareena Kapoor starrer based on Ismat Chugtai’s novel has been scrapped for good. And because Bedi holds the rights, Mani Sir can’t even make Lajjo with another producer. So, Mani Ratnam is poised to strike out on his own and make another film with Aamir in the lead. “It will be interesting to work with an actor like him,” he had said on a recent trip to Calcutta.
For Vipul Shah, it’s choice rather than compulsion. Before he sits in the director’s chair again he will be producing movies for other makers under the Blockbuster Movie Entertainers banner. For Namastey London, Vipul had co-produced the film with Nitin Manmohan’s Adlabs banner. But from now he wants to be on his own. “I am producing Anees Bazmee’s next film called Singh is King starring Akshay Kumar in the lead,” reveals Vipul. “Even as I script my next directorial venture I want Anees’s film to go on the floors immediately where I will only be involved as a creative producer.”
With Life in a...Metro emerging as the most talked about Bollywood film this quarter, director Anurag Basu plans to turn full-time producer. “I did production for Metro but at the end of the day it was a UTV film,” he says. “Now, I want to start my own banner. Shob korbo aami aar credit dite hobe anyader… I have already started TV production and now I want to produce my own films.”
It won’t be that easy for the director in demand. While UTV insists that Anurag is scripting the sequel to Metro for them, Mahesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films wants him to make Suicide Bomber for them and Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts wants him to make “something like Gangster” for them. “I really don’t know what I will be making next; I am writing four scripts — a thriller, a love story, an action film and a horror movie. The only thing he is sure about is that this one will be for his own banner.
So why this sudden urge of young directors to turn producers? While Anurag feels he should get his due for all the hours of hard work he puts in, Vipul feels it is the logical back-up option for a creative mind. “Every director wears out or burns out or just goes out of fashion, so he should have his second line of work ready. Also, a director does not always have scripts ready to direct. So, if you are producing the activity does not stop. And finally, there are commercial benefits also,” smiles the Namastey London maker.
The kind of benefits being reaped by Bollywood honchos like Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Ram Gopal Varma.

Pratim D. Gupta