Inside the wonderful world of Raju Hirani
The man responsible for introducing the world to the many talents of Rajkumar Hirani is Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The two are like chalk and cheese. Hirani smiles at the assertion, his subtle way of validating they are different on the personality front. He talks about how their collaboration came about. “First time, I met Vinod was during 1942 A Love Story (1992). Sanjay Leela Bhansali was working with him then. Sanjay and I had graduated together from FTII [Bhansali like Hirani also studied editing.] He [Sanjay] asked me if I would like to edit the promos of 1942. That’s how I met Vinod. He had tremendous energy. He still has it. If he loved something, he would get up and say it; if he hated it, he’d abuse you on the face. When he saw the edit of 1942, he was happy and gave me a hug.”
But when called in for Kareeb, Hirani saw the infamous, better known side of Chopra’s. After seeing the first cut of the promos, Chopra is believed to have said, "This is shit". Hirani asked for some time to please the boss. He was greeted with a "wow" on his second attempt.
“Vinod is Vinod, I can’t really describe him,” says Hirani. “Since he is also a director, he is easy to work with. He doesn’t come in the way. What I like about him is that there is passion for cinema. When you are doing a job passionately, then it is easy to work with someone. If the interest is only ‘how much money will I make from this?’, then it changes everything.”
In 2000, with the death of renowned editor Renu Saluja, who edited all of former husband Chopra’s films until Kareeb, Hirani was roped to sit in the studio to give shape to Mission Kashmir. But Hirani was apprehensive as his earlier experiences working in the film industry were not encouraging. “Whoever I edited for, I didn’t get paid,” says Hirani. “In fact, a couple of times I had to pay money to help filmmakers with release. I drifted away [from the world of movies].” Barring Anant Balani’s Jazbaat starring Suchitra Krishnamoorti and Rohit Roy, none of the films which Hirani edited released. “I knew I couldn’t survive in Mumbai like this,” says Hirani. So he said goodbye to cinema for the world of ad films. He established his own production house, Canvas Films, in 1994. It runs till date.
But the urgent call from Chopra to edit Mission Kashmir made Hirani take a break from the world of commercials. “For five months, I didn’t do anything but work on the film and enjoyed the process a lot,” he says. Hirani mentions working alongside cinematographer Binod Pradhan and associate Ram Madhwani during the period. “Nobody said do it fast or do it this way,” says Hirani. “Everybody just wanted the best job done."
The experience got Hirani thinking about where his priorities lay. He realised that he’d come to Mumbai “to make a film”. He dedicated a year to further develop his unfinished scripts. After trying to find a producer and later an actor, Munna Bhai MBBS released in 2003.
When Hirani is not making films and commercials, he tries to read and travel. “I don’t watch many movies,” he confesses. “I read but not as much as I want to read.” Hirani gives the impression that when immersed in work he is not that fun to be around. “When I get caught up in the writing of the film, it is a one-track life and I don’t do anything,” he says. “Everybody is very upset with me. My family is like you are here but you are not here.”
For inspiration, he likes “to meet and talk to people”. He adds, “Right now we are digging into our reserves and making films from whatever experiences we have had. We want to revisit life, see more of it, and have more experiences. You have to refuel yourself by talking to people and hearing their stories. Content comes from people and their experiences.”
An experience from Hirani’s own life found its way into 3 Idiots. A day before he was to sit for the entrance exams for chartered accountancy in Nagpur, he informed his father, Suresh Hirani, that he didn’t want to take the exams. “He didn’t blink,” says Hirani of his father. “He was like, ‘OK, What do you want to do?’” Hirani didn’t have an answer. Suresh Hirani employed his son at the typewriting institute. “I remember I was so relieved [to not take the exam] that I went on the terrace and flew a kite,” says Hirani.
Talking about more personal experiences, some of the fondest ones also took place at the FTII campus in Pune, where he went to study editing. Hirani had grown up on the films of Hrishiskesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterji and Gulzar, and also enjoyed Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra. But it was at FTII he was exposed to Guru Dutt. “I saw Pyaasa and cried profusely,” he recollects. “After the film finished, I sat behind for 15 minutes so that nobody saw me crying.”
Ask him about being introduced to international cinema, Hirani says that while he enjoyed [Francois] Truffaut, he “couldn’t handle [most of Jean-Luc] Godard apart from Breathless.'' One of his most vivid memories at FTII includes walking out of a screening of Godard’s Weekend not once but twice. “I walked out after 10 minutes in the first two screenings,” he says. “Third time around I didn’t even bother going.” So when asked to write a 100-mark paper on the film, he couldn’t but curse the stars. Hirani remembers the first line. “Godard is rightly called the bastard of cinema,” wrote Hirani. “He just defies the grammar of cinema.” Hirani scored a B grade.
But going to FTII was not Hirani’s but his father, Suresh’s idea. “He loved films,” says Hirani. “He kept on saying that films taught him a lot such as the value of many things and [importance of] education.” After narrowly escaping the world of numbers as a chartered accountant, Hirani was selling calculators by day. He used his free time in the evening to do theatre. Hirani started working with a Hindi group, Awaaz. Suresh Hirani recognised his son’s interest in performing arts. He told Hirani about FTII. After failing to make it into the direction course, Hirani tried for editing. He was in.
After the massive success of 3 Idiots, it has taken a while for Hirani to return to direction. He was one of the writers on Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012), directorial debut of his assistant, Rajesh Mapsukar, which didn’t manage to win over the audiences. P.K. sees him collaborate again with Aamir Khan. Ask him about working with an actor perceived as interfering, he says, “It is easier to work with intelligent people like Abhijat [Joshi] and Aamir and difficult to work with duffers. Intelligent people talk to you and ask questions. I think he [Khan] helps with his questions. His involvement should not be mistaken as interference. He wants the film to succeed and work. He has no agenda. If he is pushing and provoking you, then it is fantastic. He has tremendous respect for the medium and the director. He will never impose himself or his point of view. He will just express it. I have had so many instances where I have not agreed and he is like sure, ‘You have the final word.’”