V. SHANTARAM

I DON’T CONDUCT ANY TRANSACTION IN BLACK

(This interview by JYOTHI VENKATESH appeared 33 years ago in the now defunct film fortnightly Star & Style dated February 4, 1983)

1. Shantaram has always been different from the rest of his filmi colleagues. And he proves it with his wide ranging comments on everything-from Raj Kapoor to Amitabh Bachchan. At 83, the veteran filmmaker is as active and agile as he was fifty years ago. Age has not ruined his face. The grand old/young man of films is in the news once again. For the first time in a career spanning five decades, Shantaram has agreed to direct a film for an outside producer. He is all set to make a film called Ghulabi Dhoop, a remake of the Tamil hit Payanangal Mudivathillaifor producer Subba Rao, who is currently making Ek Nai Paheli. The film will star his grandson Sushant Ray opposite Padmini Kolhapure. When I met Annasaheb, as he is popularly known in the film industry for this interview, V.Shantaram was in an unusually forthright mood and did not mince words as he is one filmmaker who does not hesitate to call a spade a spade. He talked at length about various topics ranging from Raj Kapoor to Amitabh Bachchan and his own future plans as a filmmaker.

What do you think of the kind of films that are being made in our country right now?

A foreigner will think that India is a land of smugglers, pimps and rapists if he were to judge from the kind of films being made by our honourable filmmakers, at least a vast majority of them. Where is Indian’ness in the films being made in India? Our movies reek of western culture and alien ways. Today, unfortunately most of our producers are mere brokers. No one today takes his job as a filmmaker seriously. In our days we used to approach filmmaking not just as a business but as a hobby. We put in all we had and gave everything to the industry, which has made us what we are. Today there is no dedication or commitment on the part of most of our artistes and filmmakers. Commercialism has become the order of the day and creativity has taken a backseat.

What prompted you to take an assignment from an outside producer to direct a film for the first time in your career?

Producer Subba Rao requested me to see the Tamil original of Payanangal Mudivathillai at my preview theater. I did not even dream that he would ask me to direct the film when I went to see it. Later he suggested that I direct the film with my own grandson Sushant in the lead. I agreed. You see, it was never a principle with me that I should not make films for outsiders. The only reason I had avoided making films for outsiders is that if I make a film for outsiders I cannot make a suggestion as to the kind of  film he ought to make  because  as a producer he invests quite a lot of money and  I have no business as a director to  impose my  will on him. When I make a film myself, I take a risk. Subba Rao was willing to give me a free hand in the making of the film. He was even prepared to shoot the film in Bombay even though making the film in Madras itself would have been more feasible as well as commercial for him. You see, at this age, I do not have the stamina to travel from Bombay to Madras and back.

You have introduced a lot of artistes to the film industry people like Chandramohan, Shanta Apte, Jeetendra, Mumtaz, besides your own wife Jaishree and daughter Rajshri. Why did you never bother to utilize your discoveries after they became stars?

The trouble with me is that as soon as I take an artiste for a film of mine, he or she becomes a star over night and it is extremely difficult for him or her to keep himself or herself away from the tempting offers from the outside producers. How can I expect an actor who gets Rs 2500 from me, to keep himself away from an irresistible offer which will fetch him Rs 50,000. Actually, to tell you the truth, freelancing has ruined the entire industry. After Chandramohan and Shanta Apte  fought with me to get released from Prabhat, I have not bound any artiste to my concern. If my wife Jaishree did not work for any outsider it is because she herself did not fancy working in any one else’s film. I just do not have the temperament to work comfortably with stars. I prefer to mould my own rather than put up with the tantrums of stars. I did not think twice before replacing my own daughter in Boond Jo Ban Gayi Moti with Mumtaz, when after working for a few days with me she came and told me that she had given the same dates to some other producer. I did not want to deprive the other needy producer of the dates that were due to him and so I asked her to get out of the film. If I have asked Padmini Kolhapure to work in Ghulabi Dhoop as well as my own next venture Jhanjhar, it is because that girl is a brilliant actress.

What is your opinion of the actors of today? Do you find them different from those artistes you worked in the past?

Once an actor starts getting money, he or she ceases to be artistic and their creativity is diminished. Gone are the good old days of subtle acting and underplaying of roles. Today the actors are prepared to do anything and everything just so that they can retain their gaddi in the filmi hierarchy for the sake of a couple of lakhs of rupees. For instance I was shocked to see the song sequence Mere Angnemein in Laawaris on Chhayageet, in which Amitabh Bachchan makes an unabashed fun of physically handicapped people and blatantly masquerades as someone of neutral gender. I felt like spitting on the face of this son of an illustrious father – none other than Dr Harshvanshrai Bachchan, that great literary figure. You can quote me on this. Amitabh Bachchan is some one who does not need to stoop low for money today and yet he has prostituted and bartered his talent in films like Lawaris. Even if the director in his greed to lure the masses wanted him to stoop to a certain level, he should have put his foot down and refused to do a sickening scene, like the one he did. In our time, the actors were dedicated to their profession and never demeaned themselves to earn a few extra bucks, the way they do today.

Weren’t you the one who set the trend by giving a break to your daughter Rajshri? What made you introduce your daughter at a time when people like Raj Kapoor did not allow their daughters in films?

If you can ask other girls who are also the daughter of some one or the other to act in films, which are being made by you, surely it will be a slur on your part if you ask your own daughters not to work in films. I had introduced my wife Jaishree in Shakuntala in 1943 and my daughter Rajshri in Subah Ka Tara. People like Raj Kapoor and others of his ilk have absolutely no right to stop their daughters or daughters in law from working in films when they themselves coolly go ahead and ask other people’s daughters to work in films being made by them.

Why did you evict those producers who were conducting their business on your premises in Raj Kamal Studios?

Look here. I am a straight forward man and I conduct no transaction in black. I do not take money in black. Nor do I give money in black. You can confirm this with any person who has worked with me. I do not encourage deals on my premises which involve black money transactions. My friends in the I.T department warned me that they would raid my Raj Kamal Studios to trap some of the producers who were indulging in nefarious black deals on the premises of my studios. I threw them out because I do not want the name of Raj Kamal Studios to be tarnished because of a few corrupt individuals who have got nothing to do with either me or the Institution. However, there are a few straight and honest producers who are still operating from my premises. They have put in as many as 35 years in this compound. I have not evicted them.

As the father of the Marathi film industry, what is your grouse against the Marathi film producers? What do you think is Dada Kondke’s contribution to Marathi cinema?

I have found that a vast majority of the Marathi producers do not bother to reinvest the refund of entertainment tax given to them wholly in their future films. Instead they use it to buy land and property. I have suggested to the government of Maharashtra that they should give tax refunds to producers only if they make a second film with the amount they have saved on tax. As far as Dada Kondke is concerned, all that I can say is that he has been successful in bringing back the masses to the cinema houses where Marathi films are being screened.

You are now an Institution in your own right. What are your plans to keep your banner flying high?

I do not like to be called an Institution. I am not. But Raj Kamal founded by me is an Institution. Sushant will be a discovery not of  Shantaram but of the institution known as Raj Kamal. The Institution also has plans of making a period film called Khajuraho Ke Sapne and a bilingual in Marathi and Hindi called Jhanjhar or Aag Ki Lapet.