The student and the teacher

Anees Bazmee started as a dialogue writer for the film, Hum Farishte Nahi Hai but it was his movie Swarg that got him recognition as a writer. Hulchul saw his debut as a director, and he never looked back. His kitty of successful films includes Ankhen, Pyar Toh Hona Tha, Deewangee, Welcome, Singh is King, No Entry and now the upcoming Mubarakan.

Seemingly, Anees is planning a sequel to No Entry, and he already has locked the script.  “We are busy with Mubarakan currently. The No Entry sequel script is ready. Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor and Fardeen Khan will be the cast along with ten girls. Boney has liked the script. Dates and other formalities have yet to be worked out. I am eager to direct this film,” he says.

Talk to him about his journey so far, and he gets nostalgic.  “I joined as an assistant to sound recordist Pradeep Suri, and I fetched merely Rs 5 then. I had to help in running our home, so I had no choice. I then joined Raj saab (Kapoor) in the film, Prem Rog. That was my film school, and I learnt a lot. I dabbled in poetry and so managed to get his attention. He loved the shayarana andaz, and with him, I further cultivated my poetic skills,” Anees reminisces.

Anees laughs as he remembers one incident.  “I remember Raj saab was drunk and we were carrying him to his room. This great genius kept repeating words like maile, kuchchle, devta, phool. We kept wondering about his murmurings and dismissed it as drunken stupor. But to our surprise, the next day on the sets there was a puja scene, and the dialogue was Maile kuchchle phool devta ke charnon mein nahi chadaye jate! (Ruined flowers can never be offered to God). It was then that I understood what Raj saab was murmuring the previous night. The genius of this person lay in his passion as a filmmaker, and even alcohol could not derail his thought process,” he says with pride.

Talking about his association with the maverick filmmaker, Anees tells us more.  “If you thought that Raj saab was a simpleton like his on-screen avatar, you couldn’t be further away from the truth. In fact, he was very strict, and if he got upset, one yell from him was enough to silence RK studios and the street outside.

“Raj saab was an institution of filmmaking. Whatever I have learned is in those three years from his honesty, passion, dedication, determination and devotion. If I can even have an iota of those qualities, I will be a successful man. No matter the fate of a film, he always knew the journey was worthwhile,” he concludes.

It seems like a perfect ode to the teacher by the student.