Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, recipient of Rotary Club of Bombay’s Kalpana Sham Munshi Lifetime Achievement Award in Performing Arts

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, recipient of Rotary Club of Bombay’s Kalpana Sham Munshi Lifetime Achievement Award in Performing Arts

 

You see, asking for words of wisdom is too big for me; you need three lives to understand wisdom. Because one life is too little to understand the world, life, society, people, and the universe. Whenever I meet Rotarians, I feel they are specially blessed people. You can be fortunate in becoming a billionaire, you can be fortunate in becoming a lead star or a lead cricketer. But you cannot be fortunate without serving society. And the way you serve society and share your success with deprived people, that makes you God’s children, real children. And hats off to all of you.

Thank you very much for honouring me with this award, and especially to my great friend Farhat to whom I can never say no. We have known each other for so many years, and there are so many friends here. They know my story. When I was in college, I used to stage plays, write plays, read plays, and read stories. So, when my father said, “What next,” I said, “Next is the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.” He said, “Go ahead.” At the university, I saw world cinema for the first time, because I was an ordinary, simple boy from Delhi, the son of a doctor. And I was quite impressed by Hindi cinema myself. But when I saw world cinema, I could connect with the world. There is so much power in cinema and it tells you about people, their culture, the police officer, lawyer, doctor, etc. It tells you about what they are, what they think, how they think, how they react, how are their kids, how are their parents. You can’t read this in a book or newspaper. Whatever you read, you make your own perspective.

But cinema gives a different perspective of people in their society. I still remember one thing: how cinema is effective to each nation. I have been to America many times since 1970. Before 1985, I remember, they used to treat us like Indians in immigration, side mein khade ho jao; you all have been there. And particularly you come to

know your reality at the immigration point. They think that we are East Indians. They think that we are Pakistanis. You must have heard this. And I used to feel very humiliated for that. If I belong to India, why don’t they recognise India?

And one day, it happened. In 1985, I think, when I went to Los Angeles, there was an immigrant point, and the immigration officer saw my passport and he said, “Okay, okay, okay. Oh, you are a film director.” I said, “Yes, sir.” “Did you make Gandhi?” I said, “No, I did not make Gandhi.” “What a great film and what a great country – India.” He gave me my passport. And after this, I could see that India had been introduced to the Americans.

THE FILM GANDHI, PLEASE NOTE IT DOWN, ONE FILM CHANGED THE WHOLE PERSPECTIVE OF AMERICANS AND WESTERN PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE WE ARE. We are rich people, we are fortunate people, we are unfortunate people, we are poor people, fine, but what kind of people we are. I remember seeing The Ten Commandments in my childhood and I was introduced to Christianity, and it told me what kind of people they were, what commandments they had and how they lived and we started respecting the Pope. I’m talking about when I was in the sixth standard. So, films become representative of the perspective of the people’s school of thought.

We may be very critical, we may be fighting, we may be different. We may be having debate between ourselves on social, political, and other different platforms. Fine. Every country has that. But, if we see the world where we stand today, we really stand there. And when they say you’re Indian, they look at you with respect. So, let’s give a big hand to cinema also. The films we make are a reflection of society; 1940s films were a different kind, ’60s are different and ’80s are different. So, if you see the values changing for the last 100 years and today’s generation, we have improved 15-20%. But kids today are about three generations ahead of us. Three generations ahead. And I’m sure that all of you must be facing that kid who is 10 years old and thinks he knows better than you. He doesn’t care for you; you are history for them. You’re a historical human being for them. Then, this has happened because there is the digital evolution or revolution or whatever you can say, the net, and it is bringing the whole world closer.

 

But the fact is that we have to accept that this generation has changed. In the 1940s, pati was parmeshwar. In the ’60s, jab ladka ladki ko haath lagata tha in the film lagta tha inki shaadi hojayegi. In the 1980s when a girl would hug the boy, ya baarish mein bheegtey thhey, toh bolte thhey inki shaadi hojayegi. In the 1990s, ladka ladki ne hug bhi kiya, kiss bhi hua, pata nahi shaadi hogi ya nahi. In 2010, shaadi hone wali hai, par kabhi bhi mandap se bhaag sakti hai ladki. So, today’s generation: Why do you need marriage? We can be in a live-in relationship. So, the things have changed, and cinema looks at that. We have to understand the changing society. And, there are two things. One is the shashvat, one is the kshanic. Shashvat is the sadhayva. Sadhayva means forever, like sun, moon, mountain, life, birth, death, old age, child. These will continue forever, for a thousand years, and it will remain for a thousand years.

Those are called shashvat, sanatan. But there are changes which are called kshanic. The moment to moment, year to year, after every decade, you will find a change. And I personally feel very strongly, that in 2070, when we are not there, we will have a huge photograph in our home. In 2070, children will be speaking in Sanskrit. Ask me why? Since 1947 after Independence, we have been speaking English for a long time. One who speaks English is intelligent, why? Because English medium schools were lying empty, and we sent our kids to them. It became a preferred language. The privileged language was English. We will have our mother tongue, but the privileged language will be English and is still going to be for another 30 years. So now your grandson or your son’s grandson, when he speaks Sanskrit, other people will feel that he has a privilege. That will be a privileged language prevailing in society.

Because there is the philosophy and psychology of ancient wisdom, the solution of many problems about which we are confused. We are confused on Twitter, Instagram, everything. But it has solutions for everything. So that will be connected with the ancient wisdom and ancient language, because it is the mother language of all the languages. So, that is why I calculate as a dramatist. I am a playwright. I write plays of human interaction.

WHAT IS MY PROFESSION? I WRITE ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VARIOUS PEOPLE. I WRITE THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE, THE JOURNEY OF THE PEOPLE. HOW DO THEY MOVE? HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT THEMSELVES? SO, PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY ARE OUR MAIN SUBJECTS, WHICH PUSH US TO WRITE PLAYS AND STORIES OF VARIOUS KINDS. WE NARRATE IT AS THE AUDIENCE LIKES, BECAUSE WE ALSO WANT TO SURVIVE.

So, I belong to a very beautiful profession. Because I know you all. I know religious people. Villagers also. I know the street girls. I know the lift men also. I know, I mean, every man, every farmer of this country, how does he feel? Because I have lived in villages. I’ve seen them. So, I can write their stories. I can write with their mind. A person who is not educated can be smarter than the person who is educated. Our 11 top pillars in India – Birla, Tata, etc., who have become economic pillars also – their fathers and grandfathers were not educated. They never went to university. They came from villages to the urban city. They wanted to make Rs 10 into Rs 100, and then 100 into 300.

They found people to understand different things. They had wisdom. They had common sense, intelligence, and wisdom to use the knowledge of other people to benefit themselves. Look at the people, the roots. Our great-grandfathers were not educated, they were wiser people. Now we are in a competition of intellect, competition of the various kinds of races, economic races, political races, power races. So, we are different people now and the younger generation is going to be totally different. So, the change is inevitable, it will always happen. That, as a filmmaker, is my study.

And baaki rahi meri baat… Everybody is a starter; I also started as a struggler. I also went through the humiliation, opposition, acceptance, but I went on working hard, I went on learning. The one basic quality which I had was that I have always been a great student; even today I am a student. Trust me, today I run an institute, a film school of India, called Whistling Woods. It has 1,100 students and 3,000 students have passed who are dominating today’s whole media industry. They are at top positions in the media industry, part of the Whistling Woods Alumni. I used to make films, I was proud of it, but I am prouder that today I am making film makers.

I asked my mother one day, “What is the final success?” She said, “Final success is when you get success in your profession and then you share your knowledge, experience and money with other people, that is called success.” And that is why Rotarians are here. That’s why I feel honoured and privileged to be with you. But you have to be determined to groom this younger generation.

I remember when I introduced newcomers into stardom, like Madhuri Dixit… Do you know that Madhuri Dixit did not know how to dance? Are you surprised? I had cast her in one of my initial films called Uttar Dakshin, I produced and then later cast her in Ram Lakhan because I had reintroduced her to the industry and groomed her as an actor. Bahot bholi thi, sabhya ghar ki ladki. Filmon ka kuch nahi pata tha usko. Bass kathak vagaira seekha tha. Toh ek baar, during the Uttar Dakshin shoot, Saroj Khan called me. She was introduced in the film Hero by me. She called me to Chennai, saying this girl can’t dance. So, I reached Chennai, saw the shoot, saw her dance and that she didn’t have the body language to dance. And she was looking really, very, very, raw. I went to her, and asked, “What is the problem, Madhuri?” She said, “I do not know what she is saying, Saroj Khan.” I said, “Follow her and do exactly as she is doing.” And trust me, that girl who worked so hard, she has become the top dancer on the big screen. Today she’s a big star.

 

ROTARIANS ASK

 

With due respect to the word Bollywood, can’t we remove it and find something indigenous? Why do we keep insisting on Bollywood being considered as Indian cinema?

We all have been very upset about the whole concept of Bollywood. It happened in 1987, when Ram Lakhan was released and a few of my friends were also there. That time, the BBC asked me if they could cover my party and I said they were welcome. I thought they would cover how filming has changed, upgrading, and styling.

So, BBC made it and my cousin who taped it, said, that in it, the anchor said, “In India, in Bombay, the people there only know how to copy from Hollywood. They imitate our films, our style, our suits.” And she had shown all the purses and shoes of the ladies, clothes, hairstyle. And she made fun of the whole party. Then, she said, “When they are imitators, why not call them Bollywood rather than Hollywood. They are the copy of Hollywood.” So, they insulted us, but we are funny people. We took it as an honour, and we said, we are Bollywood.

The influence of films is very much on weddings now; weddings imitate films. Any comment on that?

Like I said, the ’40s and ’60s were different. Love is one thing, weddings are one thing and dekhava is another thing. The world has become cosmetic, more on the exhibition side. I am spending so much money. The competition is between richer people. I have no idea what the exhibition is. It has become a business; it has become show-business now. Let us not mind it, let us enjoy it. Thank you. 10-20 years back, we would go to see who the director is, the maker is; it was a Yash Chopra film, Subhash Ghai film, Mani Ratnam film. Today, the audience has become fragmented. With the influx of OTT, the audience has become fragmented. Is it just marketing?In the ’90s and 2010, there was an era of filmmakers.

When the trade used to respect, trade means the investor, the investor used to respect filmmakers. And people also used to watch the filmmakers. After that, after the corporatisation, post-corporatisation, so many companies came over. Though I was the first, Mukta Arts was the first company, but I wanted to open a film school. I wanted to educate the younger generation. But when they came, they came from the stock exchange with public money. Now, when the public money comes, you need to answer every quarter. You need to answer every year, balance sheet. The moment the whole business went into the balance sheet, things changed.

All the executives came from the FMGC sector, so the whole business went from filmmaking to numbers. So, it has become an industry of stars today who bring numbers. That is why directors have taken a backseat.