Subhash Ghai who was in the city recently for the screening of his film Black & White at PIFF, discusses the appeal of socially relevant cinema with PT

His enviable talent has held many spellbound for a long time, and so has his ability to churn out one hit after another till a few years ago.

However, Subhash Ghai is treading a different path now — that of independent cinema. While his last film Yuvvraaj trod the traditional Ghai route, Black & White, which is being screened at PIFF, is his first attempt at socially relevant cinema. So, is the director stepping into the art film territory slowly? “No, it’s an independent film made by a commercial director. I’m surely not an art filmmaker. People know me as commercial director. It doesn’t matter whether it is called an art film or a commercial film. What matters is I made a good, honest film,” says he, dispelling any notions that he is venturing into parallel cinema.

Black & White has brought him accolades from around the globe. “I get feedback from people all over the world saying that they loved the film. The only people who didn’t like it were expecting a ‘Subhash Ghai’ film. I wanted to give myself a break. I felt socially responsible to make movies on issues. I wanted to make a life-size film, I didn’t want to make a Khalnayak, a Karma or a Kisna: The Warrior Poet. This was very close to my heart,” he says.

So is it for Anurag Sinha, the lead character in the film, who was present along with Subhash Ghai during the screening. “When I passed out from FTII, we were never taught how to be launched. I was quite glad with the subject and the story. It inspired me. To work with Subhashji was more than enough for me as an actor. It was the perfect break I could have had,” says a beaming Anurag.

Subhash tells us what inspires him to venture into the independent cinema territory. “During my days in Pune, one thing I have learnt is that you have to enjoy every kind of cinema. You have to take inspiration from other artistes around the world. I took inspiration from Steven Spielberg, Bimal Roy and Manmohan Desai. You will always learn a bit from everybody.” Anurag shares, “When I was here in FTII, we were made to watch world cinema as part of our work. I saw movies made by Tarkovsky, Pasolini, and Jean-Luc Godard. At first, it was slightly difficult to understand. But, as I saw more films, I realised the kind of knowledge that world cinema offers you is great.”

But, that doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing the Subhash Ghai brand of cinema anymore. He already has Paying Guest Chpaik Gaye on hand, which stars Asrani, Jaaved Jaaferi, Aashish Chaudhary, Shreyas Talpade and Johnny Lever. “It’s a pure comedy. The film, directed by Paritosh Painter, is based on the latter’s play Paying Guest. And, I’m happy to say, as a filmmaker, he has done the film very well.”

And, Subhash is very upbeat about the film. “When I saw the film last week, I died laughing. Shreyas Talpade and Johnny Lever are excellent in the film. It takes a lot to deal with Johnny’s antics, and Shreyas has done a fine job acting with him. As a play, it ran for two years in UK, UAE, US and India. And, I’m sure Paying Guest... is definitely going to entertain audiences from the first frame to the last frame,” says he, exuding confidence that the film will strike the right chord with the audiences. And, who knows the pulse of the people better than Subhash Ghai?