Mukesh Bhatt: I’m ready to go back on set with my team of Sadak 2 immediately

Mukesh Bhatt, known for his sharp sense of production, his ability to craft cost-effective and quality content and to call a spade a spade in the business, is gearing up to re-start work on Sadak 2, which features Sanjay Dutt, Pooja and Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur in pivotal parts. The film, directed by Mahesh Bhatt, with a day’s shoot pending, will be on floors in a few days. Over to the producer who speaks about making films in the post-lockdown scenario among other things:
After over two months in lockdown, the entertainment industry is busy oiling its machinery to get back to work as soon as possible.What are your thoughts?
The lockdown is slowly being eased out but the COVID19 scare will continue to be a part of our lives, for at least a year. Let’s face it, we will have to be extra careful because the disease spreads rather fast. Any callousness on our part will cost us heavily. Just today, COVID19 stole composer Wajid Khan from us. The nightmare will continue till there is a vaccine for this.
Does that mean that we will not go back on a set till a vaccine is introduced?
No, we will go back, and really soon. But you need to be disciplined. Most people in our industry are unfortunately not very disciplined. We are chaotic in our functioning and we are driven by the eccentricities of the star system, which must change for the sake of everyone’s survival. A battery of people to pander to their vanity does not ever help the process of filmmaking. The producers, who are dependent on them, don’t usually speak up against this but now, the COVID19 scare has put everyone in one line. I always look for a silver lining. Jo producers nahi kar sakte the, woh virus karke dikhaega! Indulgence led to a lot of wastage on the sets, which was not the case two decades ago. We have to roll back to those times.
One of the several regulations mentioned in the Maharasthra government’s resolution issued yesterday is the presence of a small percentage of people on the set. How do you think that will be achieved?
People who don’t follow regulations, will perish. There is no choice here! You will have to call only those people who need to be there on the set. Not one person extra. I had seen this years ago that my set in Mumbai would have 120 people and when I shot abroad I could do it with 30 people in my team. So, we have to be more disciplined. Money well spent is money earned. I’m not talking about saving money here, I’m talking about saving lives. Unnecessary crowd and spending has to be avoided.
How soon do you see filmmakers heading back to shoot?
Fortunately, Akshay Kumar shot with R Balki which was a drill for all of us. So, if he can follow those restrictions and work according to the health and safety measures, everyone can. I’m ready to go back on set with my team of Sadak 2 immediately. It needs one shift in one day to wrap up work. We don’t even need too many people. It’s a set of seven shots that we need to film. We may not need more than 30 heads on the floor, and we can work without any compromise whatsoever. I’m really worried about filmmakers who are making films on a big scale. You cannot change the look and feel of a film half-way through its shoot. So, VFX will be a probable solution for crowd shots. The new content that we now plan has to be leaner in terms of its requirements. Thrillers, dramas and comedies which don’t need many locations and be shot in a contained manner will be way forward. It will need extensive pre-production work, and disciplined actors.
Thrillers have been the Bhatts’ speciality for years. Do we see you going back to that genre?
Yes, thrillers will be rebooted and we will do it. That has been my strength and my terrain as a producer. I’ve even made a love story like Aashiqui 2 with just a few characters and locations. Murder and Gangster were shot smartly, too. We have acquired that habit and discipline over the years to create engaging narratives, which have a commercial standing and are cost-effective. We had been thinking of the Covid19 policies and how we could work in the post-lockdown world. My new slate is already being planned. The moment we are done with Sadak 2, which is already in post-production now, we will be ready to talk about our next films.
Does this also mean a reunion of sorts with Emraan Hashmi?
Yes, that looks like a coming-together for us. We also plan to work and engage with younger actors like Aditya Roy Kapur who are quite sorted. Indisciplined actors are a strict no-no!