‘Once I finish a film, I let it go and move on’

<div class="section1"><div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="32.1%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /><img src="/photo/443701.cms" alt="/photo/443701.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">Raj Kumar Santoshi</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">MUMBAI: To Rajkumar Santoshi we raise a toast for fashioning a brilliant Angry Old Man.His Khakee is mainstream Hindi cinema at its best, and its lodestar Amitabh Bachchan gives what must be his career-best performance. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">It is a cop flick, with the Big B playing an upright cop on the verge of retirement —whose cv lists little, other than bristling under a halo—who takes a last stab at glory.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Bachchan, who last made our pulses race in the 1970s and ’80s, had long lapsed into a benign, goateed dispenser of general knowledge. But Santoshi’s Angry Old Man explodes into our consciousness with a volcanic rage, seething at his own impotence in the face of political machinations. He is visibly ageing and vulnerable, and that’s why we’re with him all the way.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Could Santoshi draw out this fire for Bachchan’s clean-up act, partly because it may have reflected the actor’s real-life situation, firefighting for ABCL?</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">“I think so, but the credit goes entirely to Amitji,’’ Santoshi insists. “Initially, he was worried about looking old, and letting his wrinkles and paunch show. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">But it was his greatness that he realised he could accept his age and still be a hero. His best work was about 20 years ago, and he has long been hungry for a meaty role. This is my tribute to him. Many tell me it is Amitji’s career-best performance. For me, this means nothing less than an Oscar.’’</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">All the same, Santoshi won’t hazard a guess if the timing’s just right, with the public post-Telgi disillusionment with corruption in high places. “It’s hard to say,’’ he confesses. “If a film has an inherent energy, it can set a trend in any circumstance.’’</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">We meet Mr Santoshi at his office on Friday, the evening his opus has opened, and he is flooded with congratulatory calls and sms-es. Isn’t he tempted to visit theatres to see how the public reacts?</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">“Never. If I see at what points the public claps, I’d fall into a trap and keep repeating myself,’’ he says. “Once I finish a film, I let it go and move onto my next.’’</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Formerly assistant to Govind Nihalani, Santoshi has been a maverick director, veering from the violent Ghayal in 1990 to the ‘feminist’ </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Damini</span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""> and </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Lajja</span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""> , to the lively comedy </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Andaz Apna Apna</span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""> to the Legend of Bhagat Singh. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">And after a decade of Paki-bashing and Muslim-bashing in our mainstream cinema, it is a relief to see a film that resolutely stands by a Muslim accused of being a terrorist, but pending trial. “I see people clapping at Muslim-bashing films and wanted to bring them back to their senses,’’ he says.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Santoshi has a reputation for making big-budget films and taking forever to wrap up. What is the funniest story he has heard about himself? “Salman Khan once told me that if he ever had a call from the underworld to work in a certain film, he would ask that the film be directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, so that he would not be troubled in a long, long time,’’ he reveals,with an endearing grin.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">As he sees us to the door, we pass a poster of Che Guevara. “I’ve always wanted to make a film on Che Guevara,’’ says the soft-spoken director. “I find the idea of protesting against injustice greatly appealing. It keeps me alive.’’ If you had any doubts that this wasn’t your average Bollywood director, this is it, then.</span></div> </div>