Raju Hirani is India's most sought-after director today, both commercially and critically. He got his beliefs from his father and his stories from his mother. He takes his time to write and perfect his script and will not make a film till he is convinced himself. Days ahead of leaving to shoot his next film P.K., he talks about the unconventional wisdom of his father, his large-hearted mentor Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his most cherished evening with Amitabh Bachchan. Excerpts:Let's talk about your childhood.
I was born and brought up in Nagpur. My dad used to run the first typewriting institute there after which he started selling office equipment. Even though I grew up in this small middle-class Sindhi business family, I drifted into theatre and started enjoying that. I would go to college for three hours in the morning after which I would give demos and work with my dad. After work in the evenings, post 7pm, I did theatre with a group we formed called 'Awaaz' and it became a passion. I would act and direct and sometimes even write and translate some Bengali plays. Every year, we would put up two shows in a semi-professional way and we would go around selling tickets.
Coincidentally, I had to make a choice between giving the law exam and the FTII exam, as they were both being held on the same day. I gathered a lot of courage and went to my dad to tell him that I did not want to become a chartered accountant or a lawyer, but wanted to study cinema. My father encouraged me to do what I was interested in. I applied twice after my graduation for the direction course, but was rejected. I was told that lesser people applied for editing and so I applied for editing not knowing what the hell it was, and was selected.
You lost your father last year. Do you miss him?
I was trying for so many years to bring my father to Mumbai, but he was a fiercely independent man and did not want to move from Nagpur till six months back, when his health started deteriorating. He would fall ill and not tell me. But he realised that he needed support and so decided to move here. But we lost him two months after he moved. He was rational and was constantly rebelling. I learnt to fight conventional wisdom from him, and that is reflected in my films. A lot of my stories and beliefs came from him. There is not a single day when I don't miss him.
Explain the beliefs you learnt from him?
In Munna Bhai MBBS, there is a scene when Sunil Dutt gets down from a train and a thief steals his money and all the people want to hit him, but he saves him. When I was a kid, a man came from Raipur and told my father that he had come to shop in Nagpur, but somebody had stolen his money. He was a Sindhi and needed 2,000. That was a big amount at that time, but my father gave it to him asking him to return it after he went back. In the evening, we were all sitting around at home, when we discovered that the same man had come to many members of the family and asked for the same 2,000. My father realised that he was a thug. Next morning he got up at 5 and visited all the lodges and found him and caught him. Then he did not know what to do with him, but did not want to give him to the cops. He took him to the Sindhi Panchayat, where one of the guys started hitting him. My dad said that he could also have done that, but instead he caught him and said, 'You are a small stupid thief. These people sitting in the Panchayat are big thieves and they don't even get caught. If you want to become a thief, be a big one.' Somewhere there, he had compassion and empathy.
I used to be scared of ghosts and believed that they existed. My father asked me if I had seen any. He took me out of the city at night to a dark, dingy village and he got out of the car and started calling out for the bhoot to come. I was shit scared but came out. From that day, that fear went away totally. He was rational. I guess my father gave me the belief and my mother, the stories.
How did you get to making feature films?
I was doing ad films for a long time, till I met Vidhu Vinod Chopra. I had made promos for his earlier films, and so I knew him. Coincidentally, his ex- wife Renu fell ill and was diagnosed with cancer, so he called me up to edit Mission Kashmir. I had stopped editing for others by then, but knew Renu well and decided to do it for Vinod. With Vinod it is always a 24-hour commitment and I edited his film for five months. All through making ad films, as well as editing, I continued to write my own script. During these five months, I really enjoyed myself and saw Vinod's passion for films. When I returned, I took a sabbatical from making ad films to complete the script of Munna Bhai. I was socially totally unfit and never assisted a director, so had no contacts in the film industry.
I went to Vinod to ask him to put me on to Anil Kapoor to cast him. Vinod being Vinod said I can't recommend you without knowing your script. He heard the script and agreed to produce it. The film got a poor opening, but caught on quickly. I was thrilled that I had made the one film I had dreamt of making.
You are the most sought-after director in the country and yet you enjoy doing your own editing?
I love editing and find it meditative. Aamir Khan used to find it funny that I would lock the room for three months and sit and edit myself. I get into a trance while I am editing. It helps me tremendously even when I am scripting as I can see the pauses and extra words. It is due to my training as an editor that I have never had a deleted scene.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is considered a difficult man to work with, but you have made all your films with him. Why?
There is a perception and there is a reality. He is mad, a moohphat and aggressive. But he is a filmmaker himself and understands cinema. He is straight and is a big-hearted guy and is in fact extremely easy to work with.
Are there stories or actors you wish you had directed?
As a script, I would have loved to direct Lagaan. I admire Imtiaz Ali's work and was completely blown away by Jab We Met. I have grown up watching Amitabh Bachchan and I hope I can do a film with him. I had shot a couple of ads with him and told him that I had lost an old cassette I had of him narrating his father's poems. He surprised us and landed up in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's house one evening with his father's poems and narrated the same, sitting on his terrace. That was one of the finest evenings of my life.
After making a Munnabhai and 3 idiots, do you have any aspirations as a filmmaker?
I came with the dream of making one film, have made three and I am shooting my next. I am completely satisfied. If I wanted to make a lot of money, I would have by now, made five Munnabhais. But I feel if I can't better the earlier ones, I will not make another. I want to enjoy the process of making my film and don't get worried at all. The only time I get worried is when my script gets ready and I want to live to see it through.
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