At 34, Mohit Suri calls himself the 'Youngest Veteran'. With three films on the anvil, the filmmaker smuggles time from his hectic schedule to chat with SpotboyE. Here are the excerpts...
Three months after the debacle of Hamari Adhuri Kahani, you are at a crossroad with three films in your kitty. Doesn't that create confusion in your professional life?
We've reached a point where announcements are made before something is finalised or before it happens. I'm a workaholic and I don't do anything else. I continuously work with my writers or then, I'm directing a video. So, it's correct that I'm at a point where I'm developing three films, but I don't know which one takes off first.
Reportedly, one is with Karan Johar, which reunites you with him after a bitter fallout...
Yes, there is a film with Karan that I am writing and will direct for him. I've been in the process of finishing it. We come from two different mindsets. It's a love story and a musical at that. So, people will expect something spectacular.
Apparently, Karan and you had differences over The Intouchables remake, and he asked you to drop out of the project.
Karan is not the kind of person I'd ever fight with. It was taking very long to find the right cast for The Intouchables remake. I wanted to make it in a certain way. I told him I don't want to do it anymore, not right now for sure. Over a period of time, your likes and dislikes and you as a person change. The Intouchables stopped exciting me, though I took a year to write it. It's a great film, but it didn't have the angst I was looking for. So, anyone else can make it if Karan wants it. We as a team are focusing on the new love story I am developing. I don't want to get into announcements right now, because we need to be sure of it.
What's the status on Half Girlfriend?
It's in the offing. I have yet to do the casting. Also, we are still writing. It'll take a bit.
Haven't you already cast Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor and Kriti Sanon for the three lead characters?
Have I? Okay...These are the people who had shown interest in the film initially, but that was when we started work on it. I believe in narrating a script complete with dialogue and then formally start working on it.
What about the Bhatts? Is there a film with them too?
Yes, there is one. That's my home company. I will always work with them.
Each time you face a flop with the Bhatts, stories about breaking away from them circulate. And then you're back with them. What's the real story?
I will never leave Vishesh Films. You don't detach from family. I don't have parents. Apart from my wife and kid, Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt are the only semblance of family I have. Their clan is the only family I have. I will be there for them, always. It's their choice if they want to work with me. Working together means they and I have to be excited about the story.
Is the film in question Aashiqui 3 with Hrithik Roshan?
They haven't offered me to direct it. As far as I know the Bhatts, if they are not happy with something, they don't start it. We had a script ready for Aashiqui 2, but it took us more than a year to start the film. We'll see if they ask me to direct it.
With Half Girlfriend, you debut as a producer. What prompted the move?
No one wants to burden the film beyond a point. If you do that, you are sacrificing your creativity. And, as a result, you do safe films which are not safe at the box-office anymore. By producing a film, I co-own the product and make money on it all my life instead of taking home a lump sum. Half Girlfriend has the angst I'm looking for. It's not a romcom, but a love story between a man and a woman who breaks his heart all the time. It's in my space, a young film which I connect with this.
Do you feel with the last two films, especially Hamari Adhuri Kahani, your brand value has taken a beating?
I'd be lying if I said the pressure of diminishing brand value doesn't affect me. But I'm not affected by box-office. I come from the Bhatt School of filmmaking where Mukeshji and Bhatt saab have taught me to make brilliant films in less money. That brightens up a film's chances to make profits. My grandfather was a producer too. And he always said that at the end of a film, producer ke ghar mein ek AC to aana chahiye. AC in his days was a sign of luxury. A night before the release of my films, I ask my producers if they have made their money. If they have, I'm making my next film for sure.
So...
The greater burden is to live up to a name that you create. I've taken 10 films and 10 years to become a brand name. Most people become brands in two-three films. I've learnt that you don't let go at any point, no matter how much your films make. Don't take your audience for granted. Aashiqui 2 was a young love story, but dark and intense. I cast Ritesh Deshmukh as a villain and Sidharth Malhotra as a brooding hero in Ek Villain. Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi in Hamari Adhuri Kahani were perfect for playing mature lovers. If I continuously make Aashiqui 2 all my life, I'll creatively die, which is scarier for the brand value. My brand value lies in touching people, differently, each time.
But the trade feels that Ek Villain and Hamari Adhuri Kahani didn't add to your brand value...
Ek Villain did great business. It was my kind of a potboiler, where my heroine dies in the first scene. It was angst-ridden, but it was me. I didn't make it depending on a big star. My cast lived up to it. Hamari Adhuri Kahani's business is as good as Murder 2. It was a mature love story and it did well in that space. I don't want to fall into that Rs 100-crore trap and get typecast as a filmmaker. It's a relief that it didn't become another Rs 100-crore film. Living up to numbers can be creatively stifling. Now, I can make whatever I want.
Do you think you could have made these films better, and they were not as good as a few of your previous films?
I think all my films could have been better. I'm severely critical of my work. It's surprising the way certain films have worked. I don't like most of the stuff I do.
The films lacked edginess, don't you think?
When you saw a boy crying in my films, getting angry and you heard a song that went with that emotion, it was me. Over a period of time, I became more silent and the music reflected the inward thinking that I was also doing. The man inside the filmmaker has matured. I have a wife and a child now. I'm not the same bachelor leading an aggressive, controversial life. I see life differently now. I can make people cry with happiness now.
Emraan has been a constant factor in most of your films as a director. Given that his chip is down, would you still work with him?
We've done eight films together. Art doesn't follow patterns. Emraan and I virtually started out together. He saw my sensibilities when no one had seen them. I cast on the basis of an actor's capabilities, not his/her marketing potential. I would never have been able to get the intensity I did in Awarapan had it not been for Emraan. I can never disregard Emraan's contribution to my career. Whenever I have a role for him, I don't care for the tides, I'll cast him.
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