Originality is completely lost in the industry: Subhash Ghai

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai hasn’t donned the director’s cap for almost eight years after the release of his film Kisna: The Warrior Poet. “Some might feel that I was away because I was upset about the failure of some films. But that’s not true.
The eight years that I was away from filmmaking were dedicated to my other passion – education. I have no regrets. Now that I am satisfied with the scene, I am back into filmmaking.You can say that I am back to my shop!” he says.
Reports suggest that Ghai’s comeback film, the remake of his film Hero, stars Jackie Shroff’s son Tiger Shroff. Ghai doesn’t confirm the news though. He says, “There is a constant fear of your content being stolen these days while revealing your plans or next projects. While you spend quality time working on the subject to bring about the best on screen, somebody else already copies and releases it. Therefore I won’t reveal much right now. But yes, I do have three projects in the pipeline out of which one will be directed by me.”
Some senior actors and directors have remarked that the younger generation recreates and rehashes ideas rather than coming up with something original. Ghai says, “It definitely hurts. Originality is completely lost in the industry. I always tell my students to be original,” he says. “In our times, the director would control the film. Nowadays, stars control the content of the films or the financers control the whole thing. They take the easy way. Get the rights of a film made down south and remake it. That is the limit of their thinking process,” he adds.
His film school has been marred by controversy. Ghai defends it saying, “Nobody appreciates that one film school from our country has managed to feature in the top 10 film schools in the world. Instead of appreciating the efforts, they are dragging it into political controversies. It is unfortunate that the school is being perceived in the wrong light and has been dragged into unnecessary politics.”