Roshmila Bhattacharya | Mar 20, 2019
Sanjay Leela Bhansali on a 20-year reunion with Salman Khan, first impression of Alia Bhatt, and how his next is a departure from his past ‘dark, intense’ films.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is not in the mood for an interview. “What’s there to talk about?” he argues, a few hours after Salman Khan and Alia Bhatt have confirmed that they are doing his next, a casting coup that will be talked about for months. He relents, eventually, and settles in to field questions:
Twenty years after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Salman and you are reuniting for Inshallah. Share with us the moment when he gave his nod to your film...
It was a beautiful, breezy evening. We were sitting in the lawn of his home, and as soon as the narration ended, Salman turned to me, saying, “When do we start?” It took me back to my two-and-a-half-hour narration of Khamoshi: The Musical. We were in his bedroom then and he kept looking at himself in the mirror. I was wondering if he’d even heard me, but when I finished, he told me exactly what he’d liked in the story, making me realise that he is very sharp, and one shouldn’t presume anything with him.
We’ve had a few issues in the past but whenever we met, even sporadically, we took up from where we’d left off without dwelling on the past and the difference of opinions we might have had. My fondness for him is pure, and Salman, once he offers his friendship, even if you don’t meet or talk in five years, he’s there waiting for you. He’s never told me that he’s liked a shot, a song or a film I’ve made, but has expressed his appreciation for my work to others when he didn’t need to.
Has he changed in all the years that you have known him?
Oh yes, today he’s a mega-star, totally inaccessible, with the cult status of Rajinikanth sir, yet deep down he’s still a simple guy with a pure heart and a noble soul. After Khamoshi, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Saawariya, he and I needed to make one film together, if not 10 more. I’m glad Inshallah happened. From my understanding of him, as a man, an actor and a superstar, I know this is the right film for us to come together. I’ve been working on it for the last year-and-a-half, starting three months before Padmaavat released, to take my mind off things that were happening at the time. I wrote and reworked till I felt it was ready, then, went to him. It’s my 10th film, I want it to be my best.
How different is it from the films you have made so far?
It’s a younger film, the kind I’ve wanted to make for a long time after all the dark, intense, over dramatic ones. Life is not only about dark nights, it’s also about beautiful, sunshiny mornings. It’s a new chapter for me as a filmmaker.
Is that why you opted for Alia?
Alia is an extremely young actress with a lot of magic. She fits the role beautifully. When she was nine, she’d come with her mother (Soni Razdan) to audition for Black. I saw the sparkle in her eyes. I told Soni I wouldn’t audition her for a child’s role because I knew she was a Hindi film heroine. Later, I went to Soni and Mahesh (Bhatt) and told them I wanted their girl, but that project didn’t happen. Inshallah, this one will be a beautiful journey.
And how much have you grown and evolved as a person and a filmmaker?
Oh, I am so much better today. My first film didn’t do well and Sawaariya and Padmaavat were riddled by controversy, but I have got a lot of love from both the audience and the critics. My films have worked at the box-office and been celebrated at award shows and that’s taken away the initial anxiety of whether I would be seen, heard and accepted as a filmmaker. Also, working with different actors has made me all steel and iron, I don’t let anyone tell me how to make films, I tell my stories the way I want to tell them. And the hunger I was born with, the quest for excellence, still drives me to put in 10-12 hours at work every day.