In July 2001, when the trade pundits were yet to pick the winner between Lagaan and Gadar , a young urban love story quietly touched the hearts of youngsters. Perhaps, in Hindi film industry the word sleeper hit was coined for Tum Bin. Fifteen years later, audience might not be missing Sandali Sinha or Priyanshu Chatterjee but there is a sense of nostalgia for the style of storytelling that Anubhav Sinha attempted when Bollywood was going through a change of heart. Sinha calls it ‘sahaj’ or unstrained as we sit down to talk about Tum Bin II , scheduled to release later this month. “There was no melodrama in technique as well as writing. It didn’t rely on trolley movement, the characters conversed largely through eyes and ghazal was used as a narrative device,” reflects Sinha adding that the new film is not a sequel but a franchise, a follow up. “In 2001 when Tum Bin released we got 90 to 100 screens. India had around 1000 screens at that time. Two weeks before us were Lagaan and Gadar , Aks released with us and after that there were Yaadein and Dil Chahta Hai . So we got just a week with 95-100 screens. Despite a good response, it didn’t move to the second week. We also celebrated, and moved on,” recalls Sinha. There was no culture of sequels then. After few years, when the film found an audience on television, he started getting compliments again. “It continued till 2010-11. It was then that I started talking to fans directly on Facebook. That’s when I realised that it was much bigger than we thought. It was around the same time that the phase of sequels was starting. So I started talking to producer Bhushan Kumar.
In the interim, the anatomy of love stories has changed. “Strangely, we have stopped making pure love stories. There is only Imtiaz Ali, who is making pure love stories.” Over the years, the obstacles in love stories have also changed. It is no longer about achieving parental consent or eloping to subvert social divide. “Now, the obstacles are between boy and girl. Like a message found in the cellphone.... While everybody is aspiring to achieve the old fashioned love– the boy is expecting the same from the girl and the girl is expecting the same from the boy – the distractions are so many and the greed to succumb is so high that nobody is getting there. If it lasts six months, it is considered a long relationship. Earlier, at times, it used to take six month just to know the name. I have written a very old fashioned love story. It is about making sacrifices. It is about waiting for someone for years.” One reminds him the dangers of being described as dated but Sinha feels the emotion should remain old fashioned because it is what we still want to achieve. “The selflessness has kind of disappeared from love. And this story celebrates selflessness.”
From Tum Bin to Dus and Tathastu to Ra. One, nobody can charge Sinha of repeating himself. “If you go back further, I started with a Satya -kind of television show, Shikast with Manoj Bajpayee and Ashutosh Rana. From there I moved to Sea Hawks and then shifted to music videos. I have always gone with the story which I liked at that point of time and when I retire my filmography will be interesting. I still want to do something like Shikast – little dark space in relationships – on big screen.”
The kind of response Ra.One got from kids , one was expecting a sequel of the sci-fi film first. “Shah Rukh and I talk about it and someday we will sit down and do something about it but right now I want to make 2-3 small films because Ra. One took four years of my life. It was not that it was not worth it but one wanted more output at the box office.” Perhaps, it is also because it didn’t turn out to be a game changer that it was touted to be. “There were certain mistakes made by me. It was a particular genre but because I was dealing with such a big star I tried to pull in more people and did not limit myself to one kind of audience. I got all the flack for the flab. I didn’t get the flack for the lack of ambition. One can get away with some flab but I think I got overboard with it,” admits Sinha.
AMU daysRecently, Sinha was invited as a guest of honour during the Sir Syed Day celebrations at Aligarh Muslim University, where he studied mechanical engineering. “I grew up in Banaras on Kabir and other Hindi poets and then I got introduced to Faiz, Hasrat Mohani, Allama Iqbal and Majaaz. They took me to another facet of literature and drama. These two cities made me and shaped my vocabulary.”
Talking about his experience at AMU, Sinha says, “I chose not to remain a minority there. I mixed up with the majority and became one of them. And I achieved relationships where I could sit and say anything to them about their society, culture and religion, and it was accepted. Even this time I said that time has come when Muslims should not keep quiet. When a Muslim does something wrong, they must speak up and say that it was wrong. Similarly, when someone called the university a nursery of terrorists, I was very hurt and I wrote a blog on it.”
He is happy to report that he met a student who wore hijab and was part of drama club. “We also had female members but they were from Leftist Muslim families. She said when she rehearses and performs she removes it and said that her family is okay with it. This is a massive change.” He was allowed to address the audience without wearing the traditional cap. “When I reached the podium, the students started shouting topi, topi! I said they made a very long sherwani for me. So there was no cloth left for topi! And the hall melted into laughter.”
This side of his life has not found a reflection on screen. “There will be one story where I would be able to juice it all. I owe this to Aligarh. Probably, these are times when not many would listen to it but they should be told. I grew up in times when there were communal riots every year and we had doubts against each other. But when I went there it didn’t turn out to be another Pakistan and now when I went there the Vice Chancellor ended his speech with Jai Hind and the auditorium resounded with Jai Hind.”
Sinha was in Delhi to attend a CII event where he participated in a panel discussion on censorship. “I don’t think certification according to age groups will help. If a director would ask for 14, the Board (CBFC) could very well say that it deems the film fit for 18 category and if you want 14 you have to make these changes. What we need to do is open our eyes, smell the coffee and just understand what the society has become. Today, I can discuss many things with my 15-year-old son which I could not talk about with my father.”
And if somebody wants to turn the clock back, Sinha says, it could not be done democratically. “It is a matter of concern that we can’t make political films and are busy discussing the duration of a kiss. On the night of the day when Karan Johar arrived at a deal to get his film released peacefully, India played a hockey match with Pakistan. Did you stop it? The same night somebody was listening to a Mehdi Hassan ghazal. Were you able to stop it?”
