Anubhav Sinha: My career has died three times by now, but I have great films that will live a long life – Exclusive | Hindi Movie News

The road to self awareness is a very difficult one, but when has Anubhav Sinha liked simple things? An engineer by education, he was bitten by the filmmaking bug which made him land in Mumbai to become a director, and since 1991, he has been working on that dream. His journey started as an assistant director on TV shows, he became an independent director in 1994 with a show on Zee TV and went on to direct one of the very popular shows on TV – Sea Hawks, starring R Madhavan, Milind Soman and Om Puri. Soon, he moved on to direct music videos, and by the end of the millennium, he was into feature film-making. His debut film, Tum Bin, was one of the biggest hits of 2001. Since then, he has directed films of various genres like Dus, Ra.One and Tum Bin 2. But, he finally discovered his voice with sleeper hit Mulk and then followed it up with films like Thappad, Article 15, Anek and Bheed. He gets candid about his journey in conversation with ETimes.

With your last release Bheed, were you able to analyse why the film didn’t do well at the box office?

Honestly, no. I could do that with Anek. Not Bheed. Because with Anek, I knew a lot of people who did not get it. It was not comprehensible. They said, you don’t understand what you are doing, how much you have to lose. Those who got it, they loved it. But that was a very small percentage. So maybe as a political viewpoint, I got too evolved, stroke indulgent, whilst I was in a very alien territory. I was in a very alien territory to begin with. And then I was too evolved and too convoluted and indulgent.
But Bheed was really straightforward. I was at the screening of a friend’s film and somebody shook my hand and asked me how I was. I replied ‘ I’m good,

bas filmein nahi chal rahi hain

(I’m good, just that my films are not working). And his reply was, ‘F

ilmein to kisi ki nahi chal rahi hai, at least tu acchi to banata hai

(No one’s films are working, at least you are making good films). So that’s my consolation. Also I got spoiled after I had three back to back commercial successes.

When the trailer released there was a lot of talk about boycotting the film…

You should know from the beginning that this will happen. It doesn’t come as a surprise or absolutely unanticipated. You know this will happen. This happened to Thappad, which has no political view at all. But they were very angry that how can you question patriarchy. So they got very upset. Then they go and attack your Instagram and Twitter and IMDb. They go and hurt you on IMDb. But then you live with it, no? The climate is not good for people who can stand on their feet.

Had you anticipated the backlash for it?

All the time, starting 2017 when I made Mulk.

Does your family get affected by the films you make?

Yeah, family, friends, all. But a man’s gotta do what he’s got to do. There are no safer routes in life. Once you cower down, you’ll be asked to kneel. Once you kneel down, you’ll be asked to lie down on the ground. There’s no safer route.

Will you ever go and make a Dus or Tum Bin again?

I don’t know. Never say never. I make films that I feel like making. I don’t second guess the audience, that the audience will like it. Because to me it’s very difficult to know what the audience is thinking. Sometimes you’ll get it right, sometimes you’ll get it wrong. Sometimes you’ll end up making a good film, sometimes you’ll end up making a bad film or not so good film. So the best that you can do is go behind your belief and give it your best shot. I don’t think you can do any better. So I don’t know, maybe sometime later there is a great love story that starts haunting me and I end up making a musical love story like Tum Bin or maybe I want to do a style film, a style action film. I don’t know, not today. But I never say never to these things because that was a part of me too. Who knows I might end up making a superhero film.

You’ve turned producer with films like Faraaz (Hansal Mehta) and Afwaah (Sudhir Mishra). Are you as indulgent with them and do you visit them regularly on the sets?

No, I don’t go to their shoots. No, I went to Hansal’s shoot for 15 minutes and I didn’t enter the set. I sat outside for a while and I came back. Sudhir bhai, I had to go because he was unwell. So I had to sort of assist him for 3 or 4 days, he was unable to run around. I don’t make films because I will make them remotely. I won’t make it.

Do you think the audience has changed since you made your first film?

No! Audience doesn’t change. They’re the same people. Back in the day Chakra was a hit, Ardh Satya was a hit, Coolie no.1 was a hit and Mard was also a hit.The audience is a very eclectic mix of people and it has remained so and that is the beauty of the country. They’ve got such diverse people. So, that doesn’t change. It could be a different climate, it could be a different wind direction, but it’s very temporary, it’s very ephemeral. Else, imagine Article 15 was a hit and so was Dream Girl.

Do you also think we’re tired of the star system in the industry?

No. It works. Doesn’t it? Do you think Article 15 will do Rs 65 crore business without Ayushmann Khurrana? No. Of course not. Don’t be in denial. Indian society loves heroes. And most societies across the world, we love heroes. Now you’re adding my name, so they also see me as a guy who makes a certain kind of film against the stream. So that’s again, sort of, heroism. But society loves heroes.

And do you still get inspired by Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Hansal Mehta?

Of course. Inspired by, jealousy, envious of… So they are hugely talented people. I wish I had half the talent of Vishal and Anurag. I’m jealous of Vishal all the time. Anurag, recently, after I saw Kennedy.
Don’t take us very seriously. You know, would you be as serious about a poet? The poem you read on Monday was good, the one he wrote on Thursday was not good. That’s okay. Filmmaking is such a collective team effort, sometimes you lose track, sometimes you forget, sometimes you’ve chosen a wrong subject to begin with. And there is so much that goes on behind the film. As long as a guy is convinced he is making the film with the heart in his right place with good intentions, it is fine. Sometimes he will make superb films. Sometimes he will not. I mean, besides exceptions like Scorsese and all, every filmmaker has been like this.

How do you react to public criticism?

I don’t think I have received public criticism as such. In fact I have received a ridiculous amount of love from the media and public. Not many are aware that my career has died three times by now. After Tum Bin, I had Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai and I was called one film wonder and I died. Then I made Dus which was a hit and then I made Cash. I was called two film wonder and I died. Then I made Ra.One, no one understood the film. Some felt it was good, some felt it was bad. I’m more interested in how long a film lives. Tum Bin has survived 22 years, Dus has survived 18 years, Ra.One has survived 11 years. Now the fate of Ra.One has changed and people are calling it a hit. They had destroyed me in 2011. If I was a weak man I would have killed myself, so much flak for Ra.One. I was dead meat anyway. More than me, people were gunning for Shah Rukh Khan. They wanted to bring him down and they did. Between Tum Bin, Dus, Ra.One, Mulk, Thappad, Anek, Article 15 and Bheed, I have great films that will live a long life, I can retire.

Do you ever have a relook at your films and feel you could change this or that?

Absolutely, in every film. In Ra.One, even more. In the last 2-3 weeks, I’m getting the feeling of creating a new superhero.