Interview: Anubhav Sinha

It was Anubhav Sinha who devised the easiest way to ensure a hit. When Dus released in 2005, it was declared a hit on the first Monday and Sinha was throwing a party on Tuesday night. All it needed were the first three days for the film to rake in the cash. And now with Anubhav’s follow-up flick (Tathastu, released in between, was made years ago) titled Cash, you can expect the man to be counting the crores again. Pratim D. Gupta spoke to the Tum Bin man about his new release, which even has the curiously titled song Mindblowing mahiya.

Dus made the most of the pre-release buzz taking the first weekend by storm. What is the gut feel about Cash?
Well, the buzz is even bigger this time (smiles). Hopefully Cash will open bigger than Dus.

The two films look very similar with the guys walking on the streets all guns blazing and the girls in item-number mode. Will the sense of deja vu affect the movie?
I can understand where that’s coming from. Yes, both the films are action flicks and have a similar style. The music is pulsating. And both are multi-starrers. So the basic elements of both Dus and Cash are same but the subjects are entirely different.

How different?
Well, Dus was about terrorism, Cash is about everyone chasing three diamonds. It’s an out-and-out heist film.

When Cash is almost like a sequel to Dus why not repeat the entire cast?
Well, Zayed, Suniel, Esha and Dia are there. As for Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) and Abhishek, I would love to have them in all my films but I knew they were not available during the period I was
shooting the film. So I didn’t approach them because it would have been difficult for them to say ‘no’ to me.

Doesn’t Ajay Devgan look a bit too old to be part of the brat pack?
Ajay is great fun to work with. It’s a pleasure to work with a man like him. As for his age, well, he is young and very naughty at heart. I don’t know why he has consciously built this serious image around him. We have also tried to make him look like a brooding angry man.

One of the highlights of Dus was its technical finesse. What about Cash?
Cash is a step further in that direction. This time we have added animation to the movie.

Does it come in one segment like Kill Bill or in patches like Hum Tum?
The animation is there throughout the film. It is used very differently from the way we have seen animation being used. For example, in a scene where we see four cars drive away, we show it in animation. It’s a new approach visually.

You are making another action caper after this — Chase. Where do you intend to stop?
That will end my fun trilogy. The adolescence of my career will get over with Chase. Then I will move on to more serious cinema because I do consider myself to be politically conscious.

What films are you planning in that direction?
The adaptation of a play called Accidental Death of an Anarchist, written by Nobel Prize-winning Italian author Dario Fo. I have bought the rights to the play. Then I will be making another film on the investigation of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Then my company will be co-producing an Italian film.

With Bond babe Caterina Murino?
No. I am in talks with Caterina Murino for a Bollywood film.

Despite Dus and Cash, many still remember you as the maker of Tum Bin?
I know. I myself am itching to do a fantastical love story but there has to be a story. I want to make a film with Tabu or Konkona some day. After Smita Patil, they are the goddesses of acting today.

Where did you get this love for fast action thrillers?
There is no direct inspiration, but I love watching the movies of John Woo, Brian De Palma, Michael Bay and Tony Scott. It was from their movies that I learnt to make these fun, fast thrilling films. I added good music and dance to them. Of course, in my films there is no blood. I have also made sure that there are no emotions in Cash. The one emotional scene in the film lasts for one-and-a-half minutes.