Vikram, how do you look back on twentyseven years of Ghulam?
Looking back, twenty seven years, I can’t believe how time has passed us by. Seems like yesterday. The making of Ghulam is a movie all by itself. Perhaps I should write a book on it.
Wasn’t Mahesh Bhatt initially roped in?
There is a story behind the story but I will leave that for the book. Boss (Mahesh Bhatt) told Aamir that should he not be directing Ghulam. Then there were two other directors in the company. Tanuja and me. Aamir chose to work with me because we had worked together before and had been good friends.
What was it like working with ‘Mr Perfectionist?’
Aamir has been wrongly called Mr. Perfectionist. He likes to put in a lot of thought on what he is doing or how. But if he sees that there is a director or writer who is putting in as much or more thought than him, he feels more secure. And then there is no long stretches of discussions.
So Aamir let you do it your way?
I remember shooting in Ballard Estate for a sequence and I had thought it out to be in a certain way. I was trying hard. Finally Aamir said, “Yaar Vicky main duniya ko pakata hoon tu mujhe pakka raha hain.” We really cracked up on that one.
Did you have to try hard to convince Aamir to sing?
It did not take me much to convince Aamir to sing for Aati kya Khandala. He and I were driving down from the shoot and I told him that the song only made sense if he sang because the song was more like a dialogue than a normal song. He agreed.
In hindsight , don’t you think you should have allowed Rani to dub her own lines?
In hindsight, yes Rani should have dubbed for herself. But then, as they say, if you could bottle hindsight it would sell like gold.
Where do you position Ghulam in your repertoire?
Ghulam for me is a labour of love. It was a very hard film to make. In all the films I have made it was the toughest one. And truth be told it would not have been possible without the support of Aamir. He stood behind him like a rock. Not challenging but supporting my decisions. Ghulam will remain up there in my repertoire.
If you had a chance to do Ghulam again what would you change?
I would change nothing. There is nothing like a perfect film but a lot of perfect things and people came together to make Ghulam. Either by accident or by design.
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