‘Star didn’t think Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was good enough to come immediately after KBC.’
‘Except for Ekta, no one imagined it would become such a hit.’
IMAGE: Smriti Irani in Kyun Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
Anurag Basu is all set to gift us a romantic weekend, with his new film Metro…In Dino coming up for release.
Ironically, he had chosen a very different genre to start his career, more than three decades ago.
Anurag goes back in time and tells Rediff Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya, “During my brief stint on television, I was able to tap a different kind of audience, who were not an extension of me. That was a different high.”
You were a part of Ekta Kapoor’s ‘K’ shows, Koshish… Ek Aashaa, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. After the path-breaking soap on a contemporary woman Tara, how did you get drawn into these?
It started with Koshish… Ek Aashaa, which revolved around a young girl who is tricked into marrying a mentally challenged boy.
She refuses to give up on her husband and eventually gets him cured, unmasking the person responsible for his condition who has been scheming to kill him.
Ekta was very confident of this soap, which started airing on Zee TV from March 2000, I was not.
Since my aesthetics are very different, I didn’t understand this kind of content. But I decided to trust her vision.
Koshish… Ek Aashaa was adjudged Best Soap Opera at the RAPA Awards and Ekta started churning out one successful soap after another.
It was a wonderful journey with lots of learning.
During my brief stint on television, I was able to tap a different kind of audience, who were not an extension of me.
That was a different high.
Ekta is all set to bring back Kyun Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahi Thi as a 150 episodes serial. What are your memories of the show?
Kyun Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was Ekta’s brainchild.
I was helping her with the casting which is why you see so many Bengali actresses, like Jaya Bhattacharya and Kamalika Guha Thakurta, who were a part of my gang, playing Gujarati characters.
Even Smriti Irani had worked with me earlier, but it was Ekta who decided to cast her as Tulsi.
She was the one who identified the subject and deserves full credit for the soap’s phenomenal success.
IMAGE: Varun Badola and Sandhya Mridul in Koshish… Ek Aashaa.
Did you think it would run for eight years, starting July 3, 2000, and winding up on November 6, 2008?
I don’t think even Star Plus did. In fact, the channel didn’t even think it was good enough to come immediately after KBC.
They slotted Neena Gupta’s Saans for a repeat run at 10 pm with Kyun Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi following at 10.30 pm.
Except for Ekta, no one imagined it would become such a hit.
Not even me till I heard the title track playing in every home when I entered my society complex.
A bigger surprise is that television content, which was changing every two years back then, from Tara to Thriller At 10 to Koshish… Ek Aashaa, has hit a pause since.
Even after 20 years, we are still churning out the same content.
Characters with different names are grappling with the same crisis.
Why so?
I have no idea. It baffles me.
Will OTT bring about the much-needed content change?
OTT is only trying to tap TV for bigger numbers.
It won’t bring any change, woh jaldi aati nahin (that doesn’t happen easily).
Both TV and OTT will co-exist.
IMAGE: Simone Singh and Anup Soni in Ajeeb Dastaan.
Would you be interested in doing OTT shows?
Sure, why not?
Today’s Web series are no different from the finite series Sriram (Raghavan), Tishu (Tigmanshu Dhulia) and I were making back then.
They were five-eight episodes and technically not too great, but the stories were very strong aur unhe banane mein bahut mazaa aata tha.
I got offered a movie because of one such show.
Which one?
Ajeeb Dastan. Bhattsaab (Mahesh Bhatt) had seen it and I got a call.
Anurag, you started out wanting to be an actor…
(Cuts in) No, no, I never thought of making a career in acting.
My parents (Subroto and Deepshika Basu) had their own theatre group and I would perform on stage.
But I enjoyed writing and directing plays more.
Starting out as my father’s shadow, I went on to direct plays independently in college.
IMAGE: Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat in Murder.
But we saw you as the hero’s friend in a bit role in Partho Ghosh’s 1993 action-drama Dalaal.
Dalaal, with Mithun Chakraborty in the lead, was a Hindi-Bengali bilingual. Since I spoke both languages fluently, I was hired as an assistant director to prompt the actors with their Bengali dialogue.
I was in college then.
One day, they needed some young guys to play the hero’s friends and I was one of those rounded up and made to stand at the back.
I don’t know if Partho Ghosh even knew my name.
I was just one of the many ADs who were there in the crowd scene.
I never met him after Dalaal and was sad to hear that he had passed away.
One of your earliest hits was Murder, an erotic thriller starring Emraan Hashmi, Mallika Sherawat and Ashmit Patel.
I was doing some other film with Mukeshji (Bhatt) and Bhattsaab when Murder made a backdoor entry and I had to finish the film fast.
We shot and delivered the film in four-five months. Even the casting happened quickly.
We never imagined it would be such a big hit.
I produce my own films today and the discipline with which I make them came from my training with Vishesh Films.
IMAGE: Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor in Barfi!
Barfi! would definitely rank amongst the best Hindi films in the last 15 years. Ever thought of taking the film forward?
Many people have suggested this, but I don’t know how.
I can make a similar kind of film, but I don’t have a story right now.
From all your films, which one would you say is a special baby?
Jagga Jasoos. A lot of people come up to me at airports and talk about the film which released eight years ago, in July 2017.
I guess many young people who approach me now were kids then and the film had appealed to them.
Their late reactions, the fact that people are celebrating Jagga’s birthday on the Internet, is overwhelming.
If you ask this question to Pritam and me, both of us will pick this film.
Pritam and you have been best friends for years despite being polar opposites in many ways. What cements this bond?
Actually, hum donon ek jaise hi hain.
We are both so disorganised, and much to the exasperation of our producers, we don’t know when to put a full stop to the creative process.
We keep working on our films and songs.
(Laughs) We are friends because I pretend I understand music and Pritam pretends he understands the creative process.
That’s what keeps this relationship going.
You don’t have to pretend, you have a ear for music and he has an instinctive feel for scripts.
He does. Tani and Pritam are the first ones I narrate my scripts to, for all my films.
IMAGE: Kartik Aryan and Sreeleela on the sets of Aashiqui 3. Photograph: Kind courtesy Kartik Aaryan/Instagram
You have another release this year, Aashiqui 3 on October 17, and buzz is that for your lead actors Kartik Aryan and Sreeleela, the romance has spilled over into real life. There is even talk of a wedding soon.
(Laughs uproariously) Really? We never got that feeling.
I think it is just a rumour, mujhe nahin lagta aisa kuch hai.
There was a film titled Imli that you were to do with Kangana Ranaut some years ago. What’s happening on that?
Some shades of Imli have gone into Metro… In Dino, so I don’t think that will happen now
You launched Kangana in Gangster in 2006. Any chance of reuniting in future?
Every year or two we keep making plans, but the film doesn’t happen.
Par hoga, kabhi na kabhi to hoga.
IMAGE: Amit Kumar with his father Kishore Kumar. Photograph: Kind courtesy Amit Kumar/Instagram
Is there a subject you have been nurturing for years?
The Kishore Kumar biopic.
I can’t say much before a formal announcement is made except that it will my next film.
Why did the film take so long, given that it is your passion project?
It is difficult to write about a person you have never met and only read or heard about.
To portray him convincingly on screen, I had to get inside the head of Kishore Kumar and that happened slowly, thanks to Amitda (Kishore Kumar’s elder son Amit Kumar).
I didn’t want the story to be just a string of anecdotes.
I wanted to understand him as a person.
And while it took time, the process of visualising and writing this film has been amazing.
Now, I want what is on paper to translate better on screen.
