Vidhu Vinod Chopra says Broken Horses , his Hollywood debut as writer, director and producer “started as a big joke. Abhijat (Joshi, writer) and I watched Martin Scorsese’s The Departed . We were travelling from New York to Boston. Both of us preferred the original Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs . We said this isn’t good but everybody is raving about it. I went for a bottle of beer and when I came back Abhijat said ‘sir, let’s do Parinda !”(laughs).
In Bengaluru for a promotion, the director continues, “We were drunk enough to start writing. The film was supposed to be set in New York. When I went to New York with Abhijat, I realised I don’t know the city at all. I told Abhijat, we can’t make this film because if the idea was to show the world how originals are converted then we will fail miserably because Martin Scorsese knows New York and I don’t.
“Also for me the worry was that everybody will laugh at this Bollywood comes to Hollywood. In a way this film is a beacon. If this film was stupid, not only would I be the laughing stock, which is an easy problem to handle, but the whole industry. So I told Abhijat, let’s dump it. The next morning I thought why don’t I take this story to the elements I know, which are water, desert, earth, wind, fire. I got very excited and I started rewriting the story with Abhijat. Nicholas Pileggi, who had written GoodFellas , was my consultant for the film. He came the next evening for a meeting because he had notes on the New York film. I told him we have made a little change and I narrated this completely new film! He said ‘you remind me of somebody I have met and this film should be a tribute to him’. He mentioned Sergio Leone. We were like ‘Oh My God!’ That is why, in a way, the film is a tribute to Sergio Leone. And that is the actual story of how Parinda became Broken Horses .”
On why he chose to make a Hollywood film, the director of classics such as 1942: A Love Story and Khamosh said, “At a personal level it is very interesting to do something completely different.”
Chopra says fear didn’t enter the equation. “What is there to be scared of? I am lazy and I make very few films. I have made eight or nine films in 40 years. What else is there? Not just me, anybody. You have to create new mountains to climb because otherwise you are just sitting on a chair and your life goes by.”
The auteur comments on the fact that he has made so few films. “I think one of the reasons I make better films is because I spend more time writing them. If I didn’t spend five years writing Broken Horses it wouldn’t be the same. James Cameron wouldn’t have said what he did.”
Cameron called the film an “artistic triumph”. “It was a complete fluke,” says Chopra. “I don’t know the man. He read the script and loved it. Since he had read the script, he wanted to watch the film. It was a big theatre, he sat in the front row and I sat right at the back. After the film, he got up and came towards me clapping. He came up to me, hugged me and for an hour and a half he went crazy.”
62, going on 22
Saying he worked with Hollywood technicians, Chopra said, “The only Indian names are Vinod and Abhijat. My cameraman is Clint Eastwood’s cameraman — he did American Sniper, Mystic River... All came on board because of the script and because they all loved Ekalavya the Royal Guard the last film I had directed. In Hollywood they only respect talent.”
Admitting it was a validation, Chopra said, “I am 62, I feel 42 and there I felt 22. You get validated like that when you are 22!”
Saying he spends a lot of his time writing, the writer-director, adds, “I spend a lot of time with my kids. My son has turned 16, my daughter is 14. For me clearly family comes first. Actually it is health, family and then cinema. That is what is written in my office. Unless you are healthy, no family nothing makes any sense. If I was dying of cancer now, I wouldn’t give a damn about Broken Horses, my family or this interview!
Ticking off what he looks for in a director as a producer, Chopra says: “I look for heart. For me that is important. What are we saying? We had something to say in PK, in 3 Idiots, in Ferrari ki Sawari… in whatever I have done, you must have something to say. I look for good good human beings to work with. I cannot work with cheats.”
Working with RD on 1942
It was very difficult. He was a completely broken man. He lived alone, he had no inspiration. I went to him for 1942 a love story. His first composition for kuch na kaho wasn’t good. Normally I speak my heart. He asked how is it and I said let me think about it I will tell you later. He said yaar tu think nahin karta hai, bol. I thought I will tell him nicely since he was going through a bad time. But I said it is rubbish and started abusing. There was a picture of S.D. Burman. I said I am looking for him. He is dead. I believe you are the best. You may not believe that, the world may not believe that. Don’t give me this…. Nobody wanted to take him. HMV said we wont buy the music if you take RD. He asked am I doing 42? I said dada give me the music. He said give me one week. I said take a year. He hugged me. I went back a week later, there was nobody there. I thought he will say I don’t want to do this. I went after one week and he played an SD Burman tune on his harmonium. I stopped him. He said I haven’t played the song yet. I said dada this is the first note of the song. And that is how Kuch na kaho was composed.” About the urban legend of Rahman completing 1942, Chopra said “Rahman has nothing to do with it.”
