PICTURE SPEAK

STAR MAKER: Vidhu Vinod Chopra at home in Mumbai

PICTURE SPEAK

BAND OF BROTHERS: Chopra with (clockwise) Bachchan, Khan and Dutt at his home

It couldn't be more ironic-despite a reputation for being obsessive and driven, he has trained some of Bollywood's finest filmmakers: Rajkumar Santoshi was his assistant on his first feature film Sazaye Maut (1981), Sudhir Mishra was his assistant on Khamosh (1985), and Sanjay Leela Bhansali worked with him on Parinda (1989) and 1942: A Love Story (1993) over eight long years. Chopra recalls with some pride, "During an awards show last year, 17 people thanked me in their speech." With reason, says Mishra. "He's an amazing inspirer of a team, treats technicians like stars and is probably one of the fairest people when it comes to financial dealings." Kirkire, who has written for Parineeta, Lage Raho... and Eklavya, echoes it: "He is an ideal producer, loves talent and supports it. There is no hanky panky in credits and he always pays more than you expect."

CHOPRA AND HIS STARS    He doesn't pay them until the film is over, but they still swear by his dedication

VIDHU VINOD CHOPRA Director, producer, informal institution. His next film is Talisman, a fantasy epic by Ram Madhvani, who directed Let's Talk and assisted him in Eklavya, and Rajkumar Hirani's Munna-bhai Chale Amerika, the third in the franchise. AMITABH BACHCHAN "He saw my student film in 1977, patted me and asked when do we work together?" recalls Chopra. The biggest star of all time was then at his peak. "My struggle ended on day 2". But it took them almost 30 years to do a film together. SANJAY DUTT For Dutt, Chopra is a rock, one of the few who stood by him during his dark tada days. They have worked on five films since Mission Kashmir including the two Munnabhais, and will stretch themselves for each other. SAIF ALI KHAN "I thought he was a long-haired, foolish fellow. But after Parineeta, I was stunned," says Chopra. He fought for the role of the brooding prince in Eklavya, demanding that Chopra see him perform. His intensity won him over.

DIRECTORS' SPECIAL    Some of Bollywood's finest have learnt from him, finding wisdom and protection

RAJKUMAR HIRANI Director of Munnabhai mbbs, Lage Raho... He first worked with Chopra when he cut his promos for 1942: A Love Story. He never quite left, editing Mission Kashmir, then writing and directing the Munnabhai films. "It is very difficult to find humsoorats (like-minded people) so I try to keep them as long as possible," says Chopra. PRADEEP SARKAR Director of Parineeta The ad film maker assisted Chopra on Mission Kashmir. Though he was visual superviser on Eklavya, he has since left to direct an as-yet-untitled movie for YashRaj Films. "Am I upset? No, I don't like to bind anyone with a contract, and it gives me more time for myself," says Chopra. SANJAY BHANSALI Director of Black The director worked with Chopra for eight years, on Parinda and 1942: A Love Story. "Kareeb was written for him but at the last minute, he pulled out, saying he wanted to direct something else," says Chopra. Bhansali went on to make Khamoshi, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas and Black. SHANTANU MOITRA, SWANAND KIRKIRE Music director and lyricist of Parineeta, Munnabhai... Chopra gave Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy a break with Mission Kashmir, and when Sarkar made him listen to Moitra and Kirkire's Raat hamari hai, he immediately called them and put the song in Parineeta. The two have worked with him on Lage Raho Munnabhai and Parineeta, with Kirkire even acting in Eklavya, a movie for which he wrote the dialogues and songs.

Chopra, who speaks with a faint American accent (a result of learning English from Hollywood movies and trying to imitate Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart), is a throwback to the auteurs of the past. A graduate of film direction from Pune's Film and Television Institute of India, where he went straight from a childhood spent in Srinagar's Wazir Bagh, his movies were always unusual. His 1978 documentary, An Encounter with Faces, was nominated for an Oscar, and his subsequent movies, Sazaye Maut and Khamosh, hinted at a supremely talented filmmaker who didn't believe in compromising for commerce. Parinda, a grim and grimy mafia film, established him as a cult classicist. He made only Rs 8 lakh on that movie-"on my first and last advertisement for Pepsi, with Remo and Juhi Chawla, I made Rs 50 lakh"-but his name was etched in Hindi cinema tomes. "See, all I want to tell the film people is this: you don't have to lick anyone's a**. Just make a good movie, everything will fall into place," he says.

PICTURE SPEAK

FUN FRANCHISE: Dutt and Arshad Warsi shooting Munnabhai Chale Amerika in Karjat, near Mumbai

All this would seem delusional until one sees his track record: he made Parinda before the Mumbai underbelly became the object of Ram Gopal Varma's unswerving ministrations, and produced Munnabhai MBBS even though he was out of pocket by Rs 4 crore before the movie released. Of his contemporaries-Chopra is a surprisingly youthful 54-he is probably the most successful filmmaker. While Kundan Shah went on to make some memorable television and cinema (Nukkad and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa), Saaed Mirza has made some of the best independent films in India (from Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai to Naseem) and Mishra made the moving Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi in 2005. Chopra has straddled the worlds of art and commerce quite easily, though he glares when it is suggested to him that he is a shrewd businessman. "If I was would I have had the b***s to make a movie in which the screen goes black for two minutes," he asks referring to Eklavya. The film has his signature look in place (complete with pigeons and floating scarves) and compelling performances by an enormously talented cast headed by Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt. "He's passionate about cinema," says Khan, "in a way that everyone should be."

THE BEST OF CHOPRA    30 years and 12 films. Chopra's career had a foxy finesse, moving from the tense thrillers Sazaye Maut (1981) and Khamosh (1985) to the pretty 1942: A Love Story.

ENCOUNTER WITH FACES 1978 Chopra's feature on conversations with Mumbai's street children was nominated for an Oscar. PARINDA 1989 Established the Vidhu Vinod Chopra cult. Was a trendsetter with his trademark camera technique and sharp editing. 1942: A LOVE STORY 1993 Highly hyped romance set against the Quit India movement, with music by the late R.D. Burman. MISSION KASHMIR 2000 Chopra's cry for his beloved land. Was a tense confrontation between terrorism and the state. HAMLET MEETS MACBETH Saif in Eklavya

It has been an exacting film for him and his team-ask a sleep-deprived former model Rachel Rueben who was chief assistant director for Eklavya, and she will only dimple prettily. Chopra was at his fussy best. He painted Devigarh's exterior seven times to get the exact shade, spent over Rs 10 lakh and 10 months to get Bachchan's beard right after discarding 40 versions, and imported blood to get the perfect colour for a scene reminiscent of Godfather's horse-head-in-the-mattress. For one crucial scene, he shot for seven days outside Bikaner, handling 30 camel handlers and 40 light boys. "How do I strive for excellence when the standards in Bollywood are so mediocre," he says, quoting Salieri, the king of mediocrity in Amadeus.

Chopra dreams of going back to Kashmir to start a film school-perhaps therein lies the key to his character. He is a Punjabi patriarch more at home in Kashmir than many Kashmiris, a Bollywood director who feels he belongs to the West. Despite his ivory tower existence (in his case it is not just a metaphor, walls in his office and bedroom are soundproof); his disdain for a Bollywood lifestyle (his idea of party time is to put his children, Agni, eight, and Zooni, six, to sleep after reciting the Gayatri Mantra); and his leisurely habits (the man actually has a siesta every day, for God's sake), Chopra seems to be finally in sync with the times. Or as he says, only half in jest, perhaps the times have caught up with him.

Index