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'Raiders of the lost ark...is a typical Manmohan Desai film'
ritvik : mukesh, you say bharat shah has been framed but
why him alone? We have Rizwi, we had Sanjay Dutt earlier and are they not framed
by the police? Mr Mukesh Bhatt : Bharatbhai as I know has
been a man of great repute for the last thirthy years he has been pioneer of the
diamond exports of our country, you cannot compare him with a Sanjay Dutt or a
Rizvi. he is being victimised by our political system for a thing which he
himself has been a victim of, that is to say urban terrorism. If a man gets
threat calls for the last couple of years from the underworld and does not get
a security back up for himself or his family will be forced to succumb to the
pressures of the underworld. It is easy for the ministers who are constantly
surrounded by commandoes and are under Z security to talk to a businessman to be
courageous and brave , ask them to remove their so called commandoes and show
the courage. I know this will never happen.
anilwawa : Between The RBI fiasco and Bharat Shahs arrest,
the Hindi Movie Industry seems to be facing a terrible crisis.Can you recall any
time when the situation was worse? Mr Mukesh Bhatt : I think
so we are in the worst ever situatiion, right now, Bharatbhai is a man of
vision, and he put his money on talent even if the person concerned had no
collateral securities to give to the financier, his latest film Paagalpan which
has no starcasts or a big director to reckon with has been supported by him, this
talks volumes of the vision this man has which unfortunately RBI or IDBI for
that matter cannot fathom.The terms and conditions laid down by the
institutional finance people areso stringent that only a Yash Chopra or a
Subhash Ghai who do not need finance can avail the funds. Isnt it a joke?
Rajan : Welcome Mr. Bhatt. It has been a long wait of
nearly 30 hours before we could chat with you!!!! Mr Mukesh
Bhatt : Hi Rajan sorry for the delay as I am fighting too many
fronts at one time, we are unfortunately living in a country which in quiet a
mess, so I am naturally drawn into this mess created by our system
Administrator : Guys, Mr Bhatt is in the Chatroom. Please
direct your questions towards him.
jamesbond : When will Bharat Shah get out of jail???
Mr Mukesh Bhatt : I feel God has the answer the trouble in
this country there are very undemocratic acts like the MOCCA, which as per the
whims and fancies of the system can be used as per their discretion, this kind
of an act can never be there in a place like America which is a true symbol of a
democractic country. Bharat Shah is not a part of organised crime or an
extortionist but a big businessman who has helped the country earn foriegn
exchange worth crores in the past decades. It is sad that a man of his stature
should have been booked under such an horrendous act as MOCCA which is only
meant for extortionsts, anti national activists or criminals.
jaishriram : Sir, why honest man like u defend crook
corrupt like bharatshah? is it because he finance your movie? shame on
u? Mr Mukesh Bhatt : How can you call a man of the status of
Bharat Shah a crook without even knowing him? I have known him for the past 20
years and I suport him fully because I know him personally. The government in
the last 5 years gave him the highest of awards 4 the work done by him and now
just because he has become a victim of circumstances and painted black by the
media you all have been drawn to accuse such a lovely person as a crook while I
know that this man who deals in gems is really a gem.
Noorulla : Mr.Mukesh with all the big budget movies
around, is it possible for anyone to make such movies without money from
underworld? Mr Mukesh Bhatt : Movies over the last 50 years
have been made the biggest of them for example Sholay, Razia Sultan, Roop Ki
Rani Choron Ka Raja, Shaan etc without the funding of the underworld as you
presume. The film industry is always making films on the funds given by a set of
regular financiers over the last three to four decades and the so called big
budget movies as you have seen above have been made by makers of great repute
who will at no cost think of even talking to any person even remotely connected
with the underworld leave alone taking finnace. This whole bullshit of
underworld financing the film industry is the hype created by the politicians
for whatever selfish motivations they might have to tarnish our image.
Rajan : Bankers are conservative and film people are rash.
Can there be a meeting point? It can only be a flash point at one point or the
other? If you agree, how can institutional finance reach film industry? Mr
Mukesh Bhatt : I feel that the industry people are much more
organised and professional in their job than you imagine. The bankers need not
be over cautious when they want to fund any producer who has had a track record
of producing five or more movies in the last 1 decade, the producer who has had
the capability to make and deliver a film without the institutional finance and
paid higher interest and still survived is definitely capable of doing a better
job paying les interest and functioning in a much more corpotarised way.
Noorulla : commenting on your reply to Ritwik, if Bharat
Shah the self made billionaire and honest person, wanted government security and
not finding it, he runs to arms of underworld!!!Tell me Mukesh, what prevented
him from having his own security people? I am sure that Sanjay, Rizwi and others
would say what you tried to say in Bharat Shah's defence. Mr Mukesh
Bhatt : We in our country dont have such high profile private
security agencies as you imagine it to be and Bharat Shah has not gone into the
arms of the underworld as you say he is a victim of the underworld and mind you
Bharat Shah on his own steam is so big by himself that he would never need last
of of all the underworld in any way to support him.
anilbhai : Dear Mr. Bhatt, my mind goes back to that ever
so often seen scene where a villain first offers a victim money to participate
in an illegal activity and when the victim refuses, threatens his wife or
kids.Most ppl I have met, possibly myself included, have the impression that
this is what holds true for most off screen situations in
mumbai.Comments? Mr Mukesh Bhatt : Your family is of prime
importance to you and any person who has a family is more vulnerable to
sucumbing to presures from the so called members of the underworld, anybody on
this planet would be humanly weak when it comes to the lives of his wife and
children.
kitty : do you beleive that bharat shah has absolutely no
links to the underworld? if yes, on wat basis are you saying this? Mr
Mukesh Bhatt : I 100% feel that Bharatbhai has no 'so called
links' with the underworld he is one of the many businessmen threatened on phone
by the underworld and made to do things under pressure. Which I feel is very
natural as if you would be in his place you would be doing the same. What can
you tell a person when the entire so called system has collapsed? Do you know
that as we are talking today a producer by the name of Dilip Gulati was brutally
stabed by some criminals who enetered his house forciby at 5:30? The crime rate
in the city has sky rocketted, the police say that the things are in control but
the actual fact is things are not, in the last one week 25 producers have got
threat calls from the underworld. What are the police doing To give the
confidence and a feeling of security to the people who are being terrorised? You
see this country is in an economic shamble, this supreme court has gone on
record to tell the ruling party to do something desperately about people dying
of starvati
samik : are u making any films with aamir khan Mr
Mukesh Bhatt : Not as yet
lsinghvi : Hi Mr Bhatt what are the movies you are
producing and who are the directors working under u r banner currently Mr
Mukesh Bhatt : At the moment I'm producing two movies the first
one is called Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar starring Amisha Patel and Jimmy Shergil and
directed by Tanuja Chandra. The second film is called Raaz starring Dino Morea
and Biapsha Basu, directed by Vikram Bhatt. Both the films boast of one thing
and that is having subjects which are very fresh and will cater to the youth
between the age group of 18-25 which is the generation which goes to the cinema
halls all over the world.
Raja : If you could make a film with any star cast you
wanted - what do you think is the ultimate star cast today? Mr Mukesh
Bhatt : Well I have always believed in giving my first priority to
the subject matter and then think of the stsarcast as i ALWAYS felt that it is
the subject of the film that finally works but as you have asked me about a
star who makes a diference I would put my money on Hrithik Roshan, not only
because he is a star but because he is a very sincere and a dedicated person who
will allow a director to make the film he wants you to make. And ultimately only
that works.
infrno : I think the film industry has become a FAMILY
BUSINESS, where everyone is tryong have a LEGACY SYSTEM. Hrithink is a great guy
but what about Tusha Kapoor. The guy has below average looks and the only plus
is that he is Jeetu's son. Do you think it makes sense ? Mr Mukesh
Bhatt : It will be unfair for me to comment about Tusshar without
seeing his film.
JIGS : MR MUKESH BHATT HAVE U EVER MER ANY UNDERWORLD ? I
DON`T THINK ..... BUT I WANNA LISTEN FROM U ? Mr Mukesh
Bhatt : Fortunately not:-) And nor do I ever want to meet anybody
in my wildest dreams!
AKS : Mr.Bhatt ...Hows Bolloywood now a days without
Bharatbhai Mr Mukesh Bhatt : In shambles because he is one
person who had the talent and vision to back people even if they are new comers
and a person who went out of his way to help producers whose movies were stuck
due to finance on a purely human front. Money was not everything he saw in all
the projects he did, for example I know how he completed Actor Vinod Mehra's
Gurudevfilm after he had died, without the family feeling any financial burden,
he singularly saw to it that the film was completed and the family got their
rightful share. This great quality I am confident cannot exist in institutional
finance HAHAHA ;-)
kannan : what do u think of the entry of directors from
the south..like Manirathnam, shankar etc..to the hindi film industry..? Mr
Mukesh Bhatt : There are better off in South and should stay put
there. I garauntee disaster for them on a national hook-up. They can cater to
the tastebuds of their own territory and not the enture nation.
Sanjeet : Sir,why do you always make films with Vikram
Bhatt & Tanuja? Mr Mukesh Bhatt : I like to work with
people who are on the same mindset as I am, it makes things easier for both the
parties.
filmfan : Why the Indian film industry still revolving
around trees,colors and sentiments Mr Mukesh Bhatt : Because
the people in the industry and also mind you majority of the audience are full
of regressive minds. It is easy to condemn a Hindi film but what can you do if
your audience is full of people who are not very open to change. You get what
you want in life. But I feel now slowly and steadily times are changing with
regressive stories are falling like dying pens and only people who dare to go
into new areas in their scripts will be appreciated and successfil in the Box
Office the recent example is of my own film Kasoor which boasts of no starcast
but surely on the strength of a fresh subject became successful at the box
office.
mb2001 : Mr Bhatt,are you optimistic about bollywood's
future Mr Mukesh Bhatt : Yeah, It is definitely going to
grow 100 folds in the next decade I am absolutely confident of it because I see
tremendous new talent budding left right and center ready to trake off and make
films of great substance.
Sanjeet : Why do you only copy hollywood films-is making
croroes and crores is the only thing that is important? Are you going to them
those crores with you? Why not make some more memorable films and look for
repectablity and profitabilty? Mr Mukesh Bhatt : I'm quiet
shocked about the question of respectablity you are asking me, I am indeed one
of the most respected filmmakers of the country whether you like it or not and as
far as talking about concepts of Hollywood movies I want to tell you one thing
is that if you have seen Raiders of the lost ark of Steven Speilberg which was
one of the biggest hits of Hollywood and directed by none other than the great
Speilberg a typical Manmohan Desai film. So I wouldnt be surprised if
Speilberg had seen Manmohan Desais earlier films and made a compliation of all
his highlight sequences and put it in his film. And mind you, there is nothing
wrong in at as along as the audiences the world over are entertained by the
film. We are here to make money and there is nothing wrong in making money and
also at the same time entertainining our audiences which is of promise
importance to me.
Mr Mukesh Bhatt : My message to everybody who is reading
this is that please for Gods sake look at Bharatbhai's case as one of a victim
because the enture system of our country has collapsed. Till the politicians
stop interefering in the work of the police things are not going to be good
because yhe por policemans hands wil be tied by the politicians who is always
interested in his own personal agenda than the welfare of the people of the
country, the police as the judiciary should be alowed to function independantly
and look after the welfare of the people of the country without any sort of
hindrance from the political scenario than only they will be a sense of
confidence, security, seeping in to the minds of the common man. The issue of
Commissioner Tyagi as we all are reading in todays newspapers is a glaring
example of how one political party is opposing the other to protect the officers
who were on duty under their rule. Isnt it sad that even after the Srikrishna
Commission report it has taken 9 y
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