So says Makrand…

Makrand Deshpande is ready to tell the world “Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu.”

The other voice Makrand Deshpande

There is little science about Makrand Deshpande's craft. Lots of poetry and a heart in the right place constitute his style. His directorial ventures have been more often appreciated in social vacuum than being the talk of the town. Hanan , Danav have not been the kind of films you would talk about with friends. Or he with his grandchildren later.

Now, Makrand is back, just whispering Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu . And if the reaction of the audiences at the recently concluded International Film Festival of India is anything to go by, the world is ready to smile too. After all, when Shah Rukh Khan tells a girl she is beautiful, you cannot help but smile.

Soaking in all the compliments but retaining his earthy humour, Makrand, who even pasted the posters of the film at IFFI himself, says, “It is an almost entirely new team that is responsible for

Shahrukh Bola …. I was like a dartboard, a sponge for all of them. It is my fourth, or is it my fifth, film as a director. I have worked hard, real hard for it to reach the audiences. No, actually, Shah Rukh has worked very hard for this film to be possible. If he had not reached the heights he has, this film would not have been made.”

So, where did it all start?

“At a traffic intersection,” Makrand says, the mischievous glint in his eye very much in evidence. Rubbing his slat and pepper beard on a somewhat sunken jaw line, he says, “I have made films earlier which have not reached a great number of audiences. People often tell you what not to do, nobody tells you what to do. So, again, I came back and decided to make this film. As a director, nobody could tell me what to do!” His sense of humour is very much intact, despite relatively little recognition from the film world for a talented theatre pro. “This film relates the story of a street girl, a flower vendor who by chance meets Shah Rukh on the road. She wants to sell him flowers. He merely drops the glass down a bit and says, ‘you are beautiful'. This changes the girl's life. I know people will draw comparisons with Guddi or Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon , but this is my film. The only person who can claim credit is Shah Rukh. It is an ode to him. He was generous enough to give us a couple of shots for the films. We even started the film on his birthday!”

Shah Rukh's shots

Yet Makrand claims, he cannot work with stars. “I have never worked with stars. By nature I cannot wait for them. I don't have so much time. As for Shah Rukh, we did not need him for more than a couple of shots. He agreed to do it on the basis of one SMS. The question of paying him did not arise. He loves books. And I gave him a few on Tagore. By the way, even Jagjit Singh sang a ghazal for the film for free! I have been lucky.”

Makrand, dressed in white trousers with floral prints and a shirt bright in red, is honest about the film's prospects. “I did not make it for the Berlin or Cannes film festivals. I am trying for a box office release around February-March next year.”

Until then, he is ready to talk of his directorial experience with Shahrukh Bola …. “Being an actor helps as a director and to write the film. An actor has his own rhythm. As a director who is also an actor, I understand my actors' rhythm, their weakness and strength. I am not excited by actors as such but by the characters they play.”

He has a couple of unfinished films as a director to take care off in the next few weeks. And of course, he doffs off the hat to don the greasepaint for Priyadarshan's Khatta-Meetha . “I always try to be do something that excites me. Sometimes, people feel I am a little mad. I tell them you need to be a little mad to create something new and beautiful. Imagination cannot be less rich than reality.” Beautifully said by Makrand. Hopefully his film would be as beautiful.