At the cusp of 1980s, when extra-marital relationships were still a taboo, Vinod Pande emerged as a filmmaker who had the guts to show mirror to the society with Ek Baar Phir. Now living up to the title, he is back as an author with Saanvri , a riveting tale of a woman who takes on patriarchy in the socio-political system using her body as a weapon. Unabashed and disturbing, it shows that the rot lies within. “I am driven by dramatic happenings in life. I could not ignore the Bhanwari Devi episode. A friend suggested to make a film on it but it didn’t work out. So I decided to write a book. I thought I have found my ground. I grew up reading Amritlal Nagar’s works like Goongi . It reflects duality and deceptions of feudal society that we have. We talk about women empowerment but it means a zilch at the ground level.”
Over the years, we know Pande as a suave man who brought his experience in advertising and radio in London to Hindi cinema but Pande reveals he spent his growing up years in Meerut district where he smelt the cow dung and tasted tea sweetened with jaggery. “I have also seen patriarchy from close quarters and it took me decades to get over my puerile world view.”
Problem with hypocrisy
Laced with invectives and graphic details of intimacy, Pande confesses he is a little more forthright in his literary work. “I have had an issue with the hypocrisy of our middle class society. We make a virtue out of it. We talk big things but when we start looking into ourselves we find that the maximum fault lines are inside us. We have to address them. We often still use woman for physical desire or as a pawn. The reader will immediately get the duality and deceptions. I don’t do it in rubbing your nose into it sort of way. Like my films, I do it in a subtle way and it has a deeper impact.”
Going down memory lane, Pande remembers how his friends in the industry asked him to change the climax of Ek Baar Phir . “They were pleading with me that it won’t work in our society. How will she leave with her lover...I said dekha jayega . The public is waiting to change if you show them the way. I was unapologetic and uncorrupted that way. I made a film about a relationship as I saw it. It had a deep sense of angst and guilt but the female character came out as a good human being. I didn’t make her die or apologise. It not only became a silver jubilee in Delhi and Mumbai, it worked even in smaller places like Patna, Ranchi and Indore.”
However, people in industry took time to come to terms with his intentions. “Even Amjad Khan criticised me. He felt I was defaming the industry. He chastised Suresh Oberoi for working in the film. It took him a long time to understand my point of view.” Pande remembers in those days filmmakers were trolled over phone. “Random people from industry would call up to criticise my take on relationships.”
It was the time when Mahesh Bhatt was also making his presence felt in a similar space. Pande admits they were considered rivals at that time. It is another matter that Saanvri was released by Bhatt. “When I was working on Yeh Nazdikiyan, his Arth released. He didn’t call me for the trial. We had a common friend and I watched the film with him and then went straight to his house and said, ‘how dare you make such a beautiful film!’ In the evening, Mahesh returned the compliment, ‘Either you are a liar or a very fine human being because I can’t go to somebody’s place and praise him.’ Those were different times. Shakti Samanta and Rajendra Kumar used to tell us stories of actors and directors praising each other. There was no culture of taking appointments.”
The best compliment came from Kaifi Azmi. “We used to meet at Shabana’s (Azmi) place every evening. One evening when he had watched the film, he came close to me and said in his heavy baritone, ‘Vinod sahab, Guru Dutt ka jazba hai aap main. (you have the passion of Guru Dutt)’.” Pande says relationships of forbidden space provide the writer an opportunity to explore guilt, unfulfilled desires, denial and deceptions. “It is lot of meat and I have ensured that even if a character is slipping he or she doesn’t become the villain. My characters always stand tall at the end. It is always about the circumstances.”
Realistic performance
Pande brought an aesthetic grammar to erotica and at a time when melodrama was the norm, his actors behaved in a realistic way. “As a technician, I grew with Star, which was otherwise a debacle. I understood that I have to blend the technique with the emotional pitch of the scene.” He cites the example of adjustment trolley which he introduced to capture slight movement which audience hardly notice but adds depth to the scene.
“Parveen Babi would often say after working with me, she has to listen to complaints of other directors. They would say, ‘Aap ko kya ho gaya, aap acting karna bhool gayi ho’,” laughs Pande. He was witness to some scorching off-screen relationships also. “Stars can be very vulnerable. I have seen them crying while dubbing. We think stars are very heartless people but they are very fragile.” For Pande, turning author is a career option because he had to reinvent himself. “Hamari line hawa ki line hai. In the film industry, there is a saying that when the going is not good, you must stick to stars. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t dilute because I had to look in the mirror.”
However, Pande has not given up on films, only the medium has changed. “I have high hopes from the digital medium. There you can say your thing at a much lesser budget without censorship. My only grouse is my age. Wish, it had emerged earlier!” After the corporate producer backed out, Pande has put his last film Chalu Movie on his website and is already working on his next film. “I am an obstinate sort of guy. In fact, I tweeted recently: It was god’s obstinacy that he always kept kept me on the tenterhooks and it was my obstinacy that I never let go of the tenterhooks.”
What’s new?
Pande finds the modern take on relationships “supercilious.” “I have high hopes from Imtiaz Ali. Also, Tigmanshu Dhulia manages to get the delicate part of human bonds right. Also, it may be superficial, but I like the way the media has accepted Sunny Leone. We are getting less judgemental.”
