Posted by: Hansal Mehta
Posted on: December 30, 2006 at 12:06 PM
I hate the past. But I still cannot help looking back. Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar is perhaps the most bittersweet experience of my life. A film whose highs and lows began way before it even started.
Sometime in August 1997 music baron Gulshan Kumar was brutally killed by unidentified assailants. There were many unsuccessful attempts on film personalities before this and it was a fearful time. Dreaded gangsters and ‘eminent’ film personalities were named in many conspiracy theories that followed this shocking murder. But who were the guys that finally pulled the trigger? What were their compulsions? What was their motive? These questions kept plaguing me as I tried to visualize the murder.
I think of myself as a voyeur pretending to be a film-maker. I love making films about internal conflict arising out of shocking tales that one reads in newspapers. I love all the agony aunt columns because they discuss issues related to human inadequacy and give you a peek into private worlds. So coming back to ‘Dil Pe…’, I was intrigued by the idea of making a film about the man who actually pulled the trigger on Gulshan Kumar. I wanted to be there on the scene of the crime to see his face. I wanted to see the killer and his victim before that defining moment. The idea for ‘Dil Pe…’ began to take shape.
My killer would be an ordinary migrant in the city of Mumbai. I wanted him to be a casual textile mill worker (casual – daily wages worker). I wanted my character, that of the voyeur, to be this workers best friend. I wanted him to be a marriage videographer (this was a term used for people who covered marriages, I don’t know if the term still exists). Not many people are aware that before I began my journey in television and films I used to shoot marriages. And before shooting marriages I worked in a textile mill! My story was about Mumbai – a city where for every fulfilled dream there are a few thousand shattered dreams. My story was about one such shattered dream and about the extent of internal destruction it could cause to people who seemed most innocent. My story was about desperation leading to people finding opportunity in the midst of maximum adversity. The idea was taking shape in my mind. But I was still making my first film ‘Jayate…’ then. The idea was too radical and I had no hopes of finding a producer to back this thought. But the idea kept troubling me. Everyday a new thought kept cropping up. A story was taking shape.
I shared my idea with two of my closest friends and associates then - Manoj Bajpai and Anurag Kashyap. If I remember correctly ‘Satya…’ was being shot then. We had very little idea about what life had in store for us. A fledgling director, a passionate writer and a struggling actor. We got drunk that night. I gave Manoj and Anurag a handsome signing amount of One Rupee. We decided that we would make this film. And we continued drinking…
I made ‘Jayate…’. It never got released. ‘Satya’ was successful. Manoj Bajpai aka Bhiku Mhatre became a star overnight. Anurag Kashyap became a celebrated writer. He was also ready with a script that he wanted to direct. I think it was called ‘Mirage’. It was later rechristened ‘Paanch’. I had an unreleased film and was back to doing television. I guess all of us drifted apart then, charting our own respective destinies. ‘Dil pe…’ was put on the back-burner. No money, no career, nobody to back the story and the director…
I was shooting for a short story called ‘Ae Mote’ for a slot called ‘Rishtey’ on Zee TV. As the title suggests it was about a fat man. It was a fat man’s love story. Saurabh Shukla was playing the main protagonist. Television budgets were extremely restrictive and schedules were very demanding. I had to complete the 45 minute story in 3 days. The last day of the shoot was crazy. I had around 25 minutes of the story left to complete. It was going to be a long, extended shift. We began at 7 am and the shoot lasted around 30 hours. At 10.30 pm we were exhausted. Saurabh was trying to kick the smoking habit. He had been successful until then. An exhausted Saurabh asked me for a cigarette and sat down with me. He was going through a depression because of some confusion over a story that he had written for Ramgopal Verma. I think the film was ‘Kaun’. What seems trivial today was a big issue then. I am digressing again. Back to ‘Dil pe..’.
I think a director’s job is mostly about managing creative talent. Film-making is more about handling varied temperaments, assuaging anger, managing frustration and motivating people in the face of extreme adversity. Film-making is about making talented, disparate individuals focus on a singular vision. To keep Saurabh awake I decided to take his attention away from the impending schedule and exhaustion. I sat him down and narrated my story to him. Suddenly, he was awake. I had pressed the right buttons. He offered to write the film – FREE. The only condition was that he would play the marriage videographer. ‘Dil pe…’ was back in my life. We finished the shoot and kept meeting over the script.
Saurabh’s take on the story was fascinating. He saw it as an ‘end of innocence’ story. He saw it as a film about the city taking its toll on an innocent migrant. Gradually, the characters of Ram Saran Pandey - the garage mechanic, my protagonist and Gaitonde, his videographer friend were born. A brilliant character that Saurabh created was Tito, a loud, good-for-nothing ‘Dubai-return’ wannabe. As the screenplay and many other memorable characters took shape we realized that we still did not have a producer for the film. The screenplay was funny, very dark and dealt with characters that were always bundled in contradictions.
We were still dreaming, but in vain… Saurabh spoke to a friend who agreed to back the film. The budget of the film was Rs. 20 lakhs (US$50,000). We were going to shoot the film on 16mm. The producer’s only condition was that Manoj Bajpai should play Ram Saran.
After much hesitation and awkwardness, my worst fears came true. Manoj refused the film. He wanted to be part of a much bigger film. He wanted to support me but in a bigger endeavor. In despair I approached the very gifted and under-rated Aditya Srivastava for Manoj’s role. Aditya agreed. The producer backed out. By then I was hell-bent on making this film. I was tired of television. I was desperate to hear the whirring sound of a film camera. I was desperate to make a film. I was desperate to make ‘Dil pe…’ . And the only way to make it was to produce it myself…
An entire book can be dedicated to all the people who came together to realize ‘Dil pe mat le yaar!’. My co-producers Anish Ranjan and Ajay Tuli. They believed in my dream. They never let me worry about the constant lack of funds. We lived the agony and ecstasy of this film together. We had many fights, many arguments but ultimately we were driven by the desire to make a great film. We disagreed on a regular basis and had completely dysfunctional personal lives while making this film. My assistant director Kanika. Her father had sent her money from Muscat to book an apartment in Mumbai. That money helped us shoot the first schedule of the film.
Tabu and I met over another script that I wanted to make with her. That script never got made into a film. But I found a friend in Tabu. We became internet pals. She accepted the role without even asking for the script or her role. I narrated the script to her in half an hour. The great thing about this wonderful actor is that she approached her character without being judgmental about it. It was easy to call her character a bitch. She just played Kaamya. She is a special actor and a very special person. Hers was perhaps the most under-rated performance in the film.
Aditya Srivastava showed no disappointment when I told him that Manoj would be doing the role offered to him. He accepted the role of Tito for a pittance. He even contributed money towards making the film. I think Tito is one of Indian cinema’s most memorable characters. It was a great performance by a very magnanimous actor.
Saurabh Shukla was admitted to hospital while we were writing the script. He went through the entire pain of making this film with me. He was a stranger to me before the film. I found a brother while making the film. Thank you Saurabh. Without you ‘Dil pe…’ would have been another unrealized dream gathering dust in my store-room.
This film cost me my friendship with Manoj Bajpai. But I guess passion has its price. We react to situations at the heat of the moment and lose sight of ourselves in the process. Our personal situation, however, cannot detract from Manoj’s contribution to the film. His performance was faulted by many but I rate it very highly. It was earnest, energetic and straight from the heart. It was a difficult character that only an actor of Manoj’s caliber could pull off.
I could go on and on and on… Vishal Bhardwaj for his eclectic and very original music, Abbas Tyrewala for being more than just a lyrics writer, Anurag Kashyap for encouraging us through the film despite not being a part of it, Divya Jagdale for surprising us with her spirited performance as Gayatri, Remo the choreographer who made his debut with the film, Asha Bhonsle who sang the title track with such energy, all the very talented actors who played bit parts in the film just to be part of it. There are many people to thank and many people to condemn. But that is not the point.
The protagonist of the film begins with a journey that is soaked in fantasy. Ram Saran’s world is invaded by the beautiful Kaamya (Tabu). He believes that this ambitious and beautiful page 3 journalist actually loves him. Such is his innocence. Little does he realize that he is just an interesting story for her. His world of fantasy soon leads to despair. Then to desperation. Gaitonde, the videographer is a loyal friend with an unhappy marriage and a terrible bank balance. The only assets he has are a run-down, red scooter and an even more run-down video camera. As Ram Saran’s world spirals into a desperate realm Gaitonde changes. Loyalty is replaced by opportunism. Opportunity leads to betrayal. Little does he know that he is in turn being betrayed by his guest Tito and his wife Gayatri. There were multiple layers of betrayal and desperation in the world we had created.
I wanted the film to look ‘dirty’. I wanted the images to look carelessly framed and the camera movement to be minimal. As the lives of my characters reached various levels of despair I wanted the film to lose color. My cinematographer Sanjay Kapoor understood this need. We used a process called Bleach Bypass that involves retention of silver on the film negative after processing. I could get into a major technical exposition on this process. I would rather dwell on the end result. We used various levels of silver retention with grudging help from the laboratory (Adlabs, Mumbai) to gradually de-saturate the colors through the film. As the film progresses we have almost monochromatic hues, highly burnt out skies and very dark shadows. Today, it is possible to achieve all this using digital technology though I still feel that digital technology cannot replace the amorphous nature of film. Unfortunately, the DVD transfer of the film does not reproduce our technical innovation faithfully. I wish more people had seen the film at the movie halls.
I realize that I have written much more on this post than I intended to write. But there is a lot more to share. Maybe on the next post. If all of you have the patience to read on…
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53 Responses to “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar! - A bittersweet life PART I”
Chaitanya Tamhane on December 30th, 2006 12:54 pm
HM, according to me ‘Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar’ till date remains your most original, realistic and honest piece of work. It was a little gem which came out at a time when such films were rare. And Boss, I loved ‘Ae Mote’ ! I still remember the episode clearly.
sangeeta on December 30th, 2006 1:18 pm
HM,
‘Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar’ was a very honest movie and you put a lot of trust in many new artists. I liked Manoj in this movie, he seemed very convincing in all aspects of his character.
hansal mehta on December 30th, 2006 1:24 pm
dil pe… remains very special. i just feel it came a bit too early. wish there were more multiplexes for this film. also our favorite khalid mohd was extremely unkind to the film as were his other contemporaries. my honesty and passion finally drove me to despair like my protagonist. i hope that some day i could relive the honesty and abandon with which i made this film… i’m glad you people still remember the film… gives me hope…
Honhaar Goonda on December 30th, 2006 1:42 pm
Let’s hope that you will be signing “Chal Padi Chal Padi” sooner than later ;)
I have yet to see “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar”. I have been meaning to watch it, but… anyway, i do love the music of “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar”
striker on December 30th, 2006 4:04 pm
hansal, have yet to watch “dil pe..” but if i loved chhal as much as i did, i’m sure i’ll like DPMLY too.. looking fwd to it. can you elaborate on your short film in ‘dus kahaniyan’?
hansal mehta on December 30th, 2006 4:23 pm
hi striker,
its not very surprising that many of you havent seen DPMLY! you must… i’m sure you’ll get it at a neighborhood dvd rental. according to me DPMLY is far superior to ‘Chhal’!
about ‘dus kahaniyaan’ i’m unfortunately bound by a confidentiality clause in my contract. cant elaborate. sorry! all i can say is that its a great experiment and i’ve had great fun making the short film.
steve on December 30th, 2006 6:05 pm
Hi Hansal..
I did watch it quite a while back.
I remember i was quite intrigued too, as i believe you approached Juhi Chawla for the role which later went to Tabu henna??
I actually wanted to see more darker shades in Tabu’s character, but i guess you wanted to keep her role realistic…
Do remember thinking, ”this is diferent”, but it has been a while and i may need to get back to it!!
Music, esp title song was well cool.
Asha Bhonsle did full justice to it man!
hansal mehta on December 30th, 2006 6:21 pm
hi steve,
yes, i did approach juhi chawla. but that was more because of a misunderstanding with tabu about her dates than anything else. fortunately it all worked out for the better. juhi couldn’t get a handle on the character and tabu was back!
i did not want tabu to portray darker shades. she was just a ‘circumstantial’ bitch… people do things that they believe are right. they never do them with the intention of being dark or evil. its our perception that makes their deeds so. i wanted her to just play her character and do the scenes with total honesty. easier said than done! she did it!
hope this post helps all you guys to revisit DPMLY!
steve on December 30th, 2006 6:26 pm
Oh..ok.
See Hansal, we do still remember your film!!
But whilst on Tabu, can i ask you if you’ve seen ‘Meenaxi’??
Yes I know this has nothing to do with your post, but as you have worked with her, were you surprised by her look in the film??
You see, i always felt that aswell as being a fab actress, that she is also very beautiful, but no one seems to highlight that.
Anyway, hope you get to see ‘Meenaxi’ if you haven’t done already…
tushar on December 30th, 2006 7:10 pm
Hi Hansal
Glad that you wrote this. I been waiting for you to speak about Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar. There is no end to where I can begin end or wax eloquent about the film and the moments and the associated imagery it has created. I would not call it a great film, but there is something about it that refuses to leave. May be its the first Hollywood style poster I saw with a wide frame and small titles occupying the bottom space, or the first trailor….amma babuji ko pranaam, hum theek hain….as you say the ’spoiling’ or the ‘end’ of innocence, Manoj Bajpai’s transformations, his slow transition away from his roots-both figuratively and connotatively, his gruntings and subtle dejection of the ways of the city, the sequence where a dejected saurabh and bajpai are standing while their 2 penny scooter gets quitely ‘towed’ away, the hilarious film producer, mahesh bhatt in his only tolerable act ever on screen, the black humour where the guy accompanies saurabh for the money towards the end(one almost feels the same hunger for money while watching the sequence), like you, i could go on tooo….
thats the magic of films, and their timelessness, and their universal ownership-very subjective and conflictive :)
i wanna revisit chhal and DPMLY now, they remind me of a bombay i never saw.
looking forward to dus kahaniyan.
Baarishh on December 30th, 2006 8:25 pm
HM, nice post… DPMLY sounds intersting.. i’m sure gonna try to watch it soon.. also looking forward to dus kahaniyan…
vasanbala on December 30th, 2006 8:58 pm
Dil pe mat…..I personally thought was awesome. though a very grim stark subject the tone was maintained very well….saurabh’s scooter and whenever it’s taken away when they are sitting with their backs to the camera…or manoj writing the letter……that amma voiceover…
i liked the way things change in minutes. I did not feel saurabh was an asshole when he thinks of using that video footage of manoj shooting the guy…or divya having an affair with aditya…even that was great….all chars. had more than 3 dimensions to them…they were friends…not bad people but made some choices….
Jwalant on December 30th, 2006 9:33 pm
Hi Hansal,
DPMLY although awesome and should have been a hit, I felt few points went against it.
- The promos showed mostly romatic (rain) song of Tabu and Manoj. People felt it was a light romantic comedy.
- Please never never have Vajpayee in romantic roles. He just doesn’t have persona to pull it off. He is best suited for character roles.
Whats up with Manoj? He seems to be taking panga with all directors that he can best work with. Ramu, you and Anurag…
premal on December 30th, 2006 10:07 pm
hey Hansal,
can u furnish details of your film Raakh. Seems quite interesting…don shaun aur sab family business.
cheers,
premal
striker on December 30th, 2006 10:26 pm
cool hansal, thx for the info on dus kahaniyan.. looking fwd to it nevertheless as i love short films!
george thomas on December 30th, 2006 11:46 pm
Great notes, Hansal. Let’s not forget your cameo shall we? :) Could you also add something about how Mahesh Bhatt came to toss in the cameo as himself?
This is another film (the other one was CHHAL) I’ve never tired of recommending to people. It retains the Bollywood trappings of songs and yet gives us such fascinating characters as Ram Saran (a truly wonderful performance; it’s a pity that it “cost you a friendship”), the morally challenged Gaitonde (a marriage videographer … simply brilliant) and Tito (I agree whole-heartedly … a truly amazing creation).
I also loved the musical bookends that Hariharan’s “swaagatam” and Sanjeev Abhyankar’s rendition of “leyii jaa re badaraa” in Raag Hansadhwani (both arranged in a similar fashion) offered; and “dil kii koTharii me.n jo ruu_ii kaa puli.ndaa hai dhiimii aa.Nch sulagii hai us me.n” was interesting, to say the least :)>-
That note on the Bleach Bypass was very interesting … I wonder if we’ll ever see a DVD that does justice to the intent of the process …
I’ll filch something I’d written in a short blog post after my first viewing: Kenneth Turan, when reviewing THE STUNT MAN observed: “Is this a comedy or a tragedy, a dark picture with touches of wit or a witty film with overtones of darkness? Until the closing sequences, it is beguilingly hard to say”. That, in essence, can sum up an apt reaction to this film.
george thomas on December 31st, 2006 7:20 am
“I was intrigued by the idea of making a film about the man who actually pulled the trigger on Gulshan Kumar. I wanted to be there on the scene of the crime to see his face. I wanted to see the killer and his victim before that defining moment.”
This is very interesting. In an interview, Ram Gopal Varma said something on similar lines when he was discussing SATYA. While his film explored the broader canvas of the underworld of the city of Bombay, your film looked at the city through a single protagonist and explored the evolution of a single character. Fascinating!
hansal mehta on December 31st, 2006 8:22 am
ramu hated DPMLY! he told me that it took the film 11 reels to do what SATYA did in the first reel!
george thomas on December 31st, 2006 3:19 pm
“ramu hated DPMLY! he told me that it took the film 11 reels to do what SATYA did in the first reel!”
Well, they ended up being two different films that set out to explore different sets of ideas, so a comparison wouldn’t really be fair … :d
sophocles on January 1st, 2007 12:23 am
Hi Hansal,
I think that DPMLY was brilliant Period. I loved the way the characters were etched out. Especially saurabh shukla and manoj bajpai. An you are right about tito - he is a memorable character.
My fav scene- is when the go to shoot the porn film and manoj starts interfering!
Saurabh shukla was absolutely brilliant in the film - his expressions of despair, hopelessness, irritation and desperation were par excellence.
The ending - maybe i have a sore point there - showing manoj to be a don in dubai with the complete works - i felt it far fetched….
and the mahesh bhatt sequence….too loud.
but, it doesnt take away anything from an otherwise awesome film.
Aarkayne on January 1st, 2007 12:48 am
HM - I did not quite dig DPMLY though my brother, a struggling film maker himself, did. But I loved CHHAL(and my bro did not) though I believe it had many shades of DONNIE BRASCO(not seen yet) or perhaps INFERNAL AFFAIRS(loved it many times over THE DEPARTED). I thought that was a movie that was done very well and for the first time I liked Viju Shah’s music in it. I still cannot get an original CD or tape of the CHHAL music. You should tell the Zee Music guys to reissue it !!!!
All the best with your future endeavours though after reading so much discussion about DPMLY I will surely re-visit!
manjeet singh on January 1st, 2007 2:31 am
Its a joy to read a ‘Dile se’ experience of a passionate film maker! It makes one wonder that other than the craft of film making a film maker needs to pocess ability to gather resources for making a film. Getting stars is one of the biggest headache.The selling of film is another painfull process I guess.
Vipin on January 1st, 2007 11:41 am
Hi Hansal,
Great to know about the things that I have missed out on in the last 15 years. Saurabh is a dear friend. I knew Manoj in Delhi during my NSD days but have lost touch with him. Looking forward to read more of your posts here. My film with Aamir is going wonderfully. It is great to be back in India and back to acting after a long gap.
Vipin
kartik krishnan on January 2nd, 2007 12:44 am
Wow hansal …. great of u to have u talk about the making of dil pe mat ley …. thanks for the trip down the memory lane ….
if possible .. do an encore for Chall too ….
One thing that i’ve noticed is that in both ur films Chall, and Dil pe … (Im discounting yeh kya ho raha hai) .. the ending is rather kool. I loved both the endings of Dil pe (Manoj becoming a don and killing saurabh shukla)… yeah loss of innocence !!! and Chall (an aging KK cop delegating the task which he had carried out few years ago to the new cop makarand …and mak posing the same Q which KK had asked during his time)
phoenixnu on January 2nd, 2007 3:28 am
“I hate the past.”
Hansal, but I loved it. Remember everything about the film…loved the film. Sourabh Shukla was damn good in it…have always felt he is too good.
Was in college that time, DPMLY became a catch phrase for many of us…had similar dialogue in Hyderbad Blues also…DPMLY…haath pe le. Clicked big time in my college hostel. Also, remember clearly about the Manoj Bajpayee promo…Ma-bauji ko hamara pranaam. Watching the film who can guess that it has so many stories behind it also. Waiting eagerly for Part 2 and many other parts…..plz do continue.
AP on January 2nd, 2007 11:41 am
Hi Hansal,
I love that movie so much that some of the scenes are in the list of my all time fav. scenes. …. like .. when Ram Saran saw Tabu in the bed with someone ….. and his lines goes like ….”Dhokha ho gaya bhai ..dhokha .” It was so real and innocent…the whole frame swaps my memory while writing this. One of the other scene is the ending of movie where Ram saran lits his cigar …… the transition shown there is damn brutal but again there was an honesty … this time shown by the script writer.
I dont know the cost-benefit analysis of DPMLY .. but i can assure you that all my friends had enjoyed it and it was a success in my college campus. And i dont care reviews …. as i think u do too …. so why a “grudge” when someone writes something SOMEWHERE …. As the name of ur film suggests….
“Dil Pe Mat Le yaar …. mar jayega”
and pz do continue ..
shitij on January 2nd, 2007 2:25 pm
Hi Hansal,
U wouldnt beleive me but I have watched DPMLY around 7-8 times…just wanted to share the very reason/best scenes of my watching the movie -
1. When Manoj see’s Tabu having sex with the guy (who works in her office)…thats not a regular hindi cinema scene…the way Manoj starts crying after falling from the pole is both saddening and amusing.
2.Saurabh Shukla’s role…I mean he is the most orignal character I have ever seen…thats how friends are generally…he was shrude,cunning,sharp,mean,manipulating…yet he had a good side…that was creative.
3.The scene where they fox Manoj to get a car…just cause they want to shoot a blue film…and when Manoj finds out the truth…
4.The scene where Aditya Srivastava holds Saurab Shukla’s wife (Divya Jagdale) and confesses his lust for her (atleast I see it that way).
5.When Manoj Kills the business man and goes to Saurabh’s house - that I feel is the best part of the film…what goes after that…Saurabh’s hiding of the tape from Manoj…Manoj killing one guy after another…Saurabh explaining Manoj to kill the guy standing outside as he has money..the climax is just awesome.
7.Manoj’s shivering act in the climax…GREAT…you actually feel the fear,Guilt.
6. When Manoj finds out Saurabh was lying to him and he has actually taped his killing…but he has no option but to get along with Saurabh.
7. Killing of Saurabh Shukla…the way Bajpai has his last conversation with Shukla.
I wanted to have Tabu’s take on Manoj in the end.
hansal mehta on January 3rd, 2007 10:50 pm
i’m really glad to see that all of you enjoyed this film so much… more than that it makes me feel great that you remember the film so vividly after 6 years! it was a labor of love… and it remains that… whatever the criticism it was passionate work… it makes me feel rejuvenated again - to take on the challenges that present themselves in todays new exciting environment!
randramble on January 3rd, 2007 11:15 pm
Hansal, you continue to provide great insights. Guys like you and AK rock on PFC!
Have to catch your movies soon…
Push on January 4th, 2007 12:48 am
hansal…. although movie was fairly treated and neatly directed… i cud not understand why everyone turned bad in the 2nd half…including tabu ..saurabh shukla….first half was more like the showcase of good sides of humanbeing…
honey on January 5th, 2007 6:25 am
hi hansal,
great to read about ur experience…i’hv seen dpmly twice…i loved the film exept the ending…manoj,divya saurabh,aditya everybody was rocking even vishal,abbas & anurag…i think u had a great team..dpmly was a kind of film,u can call a truely director’s baby…GREAT, but im really feeling SAD after reading this article,u didn’t mention even once the name of another talent called PIYUSH MISHRA…who also has something to do with dpmly…just becoz the trend is to talk about big names or something else?..industry has only few original talent,doing such things with them..i guess is really sad…there r hell lots of people who r just suffering bcoz they never got their dues even the right credit..[including ‘anurag’ wrongly creadited in water.]sir..where r we going?
hansal mehta on January 5th, 2007 10:34 am
hi honey,
piyushbhai was purely an oversight! and frankly, the song that he wrote for DPMLY does very little justice to his great talent. i am a huge admirer of piyushbhai’s work as a writer. i think his work will be held in very high esteem alongside some of the biggest names in indian cinema.
i regret that my oversight evoked such a response from you.
regards, hansal
honey on January 5th, 2007 12:14 pm
Hi hansal,
thanks for ur reply..
i heartily appreciate ur concern about creativity & towards a creatives like mr. piyush mishra…i do like his work as a writer n ofcourse some of his compositions r also great..anyway…hope u r doing great n enjoing urself.
best wishes for dus kahaniyan & woodstock willa,
regards,
honey.
vishalag@mail.com on January 12th, 2007 8:06 am
hansal ji
haven’t seen any of ur othr films, saving ykhrh, which i liked immensely.
my questions are reg oye mote, i was a school goer at that time,
i remember saurabh, but who was the girl?
virag on February 1st, 2007 8:36 am
Bro I love you
Bharathi on February 7th, 2007 11:03 am
Amazing movie. Manoj Bajpai was fantastic in it. He has amazing talent. Pity his choices these days arent good at all……Hope to see him again soon. loved him in road too.
Tony Khera on February 7th, 2007 4:01 pm
Hansal-bhai
I’ve seen DPMLY and I’ve seen Chhal. I liked both for their raw energy. I must say I preferred Chhal, found it more involving. The tension between Kay Kay and Prashant was electric. It was my first exposure to Kay Kay and it was evident at the time he was a powerhouse performer, and that you were a different kind of director.
Whats happening with Raakh? I believe you’ve written it as well..is Sohail producing it?
Looking forward to Woodstock Villa..looks great..how would you rate the potential of Sikander Kher?
mainak on February 13th, 2007 4:05 am
I cant believe i’m doing this at 3:20 in the night when i have to be at work at MOVIOLA at 8 in the morning…my GF cant sleep & is reading Shantaram.
Anyways
lets go back a few years…
When DPMLY was released i was a big fan of Manoj Bajpai after saw him in SATYA & was drifting towards filmmaking from engg. I was passionate about not spending money on SRK & fluff movies but made it a point to go to theaters & watch anything that seemed remotely honest & progressive.
So i went to a late show in market in Bangalore dragging my friend with me(i dragged so many people to movies that had no idea about)
I was writing film reviews in this website called apnaguide.com that time. Those were the DOT COM boom time & i was doing engg in Bangalore.
I loved the movie. I think it was one of the best performances by Saurabh & Manoj. A very good love making scene too…
So Hansal read the review somehow & he wrote to me thanking me how glad he was to read it. I was thrilled….cut to 2 years later. I’m done with my engg & i’m outside Dadar station with dreams in my eyes & arrogance in my mind(i’m the shit) with no clue of how to get into this industry.
cut to 3 weeks later. I get Hansal’s number somehow & call him & get him on phone too. I try to remind him of my review on apnaguide & he thinks i’m another journo trying to get his interview. He immediately asks me to call this other number later. I tried once to be told he wasnt home or something. I never tried again. He was making Chal that time. I saw that too in Bandra. Liked KK in it. Prashant was ok. There was too much hype about him in papers.
Now i live in LA. I have a DVD of CHAL at home. How? The Art Director of CHAL is my friend now. He was in LA working at Paramount & some other places . he hund out at my house 24/7.
Life is amazing sometimes if one looks at the things u miss by chance & things we get.
I thought Hansal would like to read this.
cheers
hansal mehta on February 13th, 2007 7:30 am
hi mainak,
i still remember your review! and want to apologize if you felt that i’d ignored your phone call… well its rare for a film-maker to ignore a journo’s call in any case! just that i must’ve been pre-occupied or as is the case very often must’ve been going through a depression… in any case thanks for the response… and i guess my gesture has taken you to greener pastures! keep wrtiting… cheers, hansal
mainak on February 16th, 2007 12:36 pm
I like what you said
“i guess my gesture has taken you to greener pastures! keep wrtiting”
Hansal No Apologies required. I was not complaining. I was just narrating what i thought might be interesting to you. Even that day after you hung up the phone on me i wasnt pissed or depressed. I understand how many people bother directors everyday for work & other stuff. I was actually calling you to work as an AD for CHAL. Not to interview you. BTW do u remember ANSHUL JAIN?
Loved the way you start CHAL in a theater with a screening of DPMLY.
Saswati on February 26th, 2007 10:46 am
Hi Hansal,
Stumbled on this blog by accident and found your post on DPMLY. I was a journalist at Asian Age when the film was released and remember finding the movie fresh and different. My review was probably one of the few positive reviews that the movie received from Bombay dailies. I still think that DPMLY is much better than some of the “blockbusters” that Bollywood churns out every year.
I also remember covering the unnecessary fracas in Koli Wada and it infuriated me no end that political groups used the film to garner brownie points in their constituencies.
manan singh katohora on February 28th, 2007 4:51 am
big fan of ur work - chhal, yeh kya ho raha hai etc
i am an indie south asian filmmaker in NY
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1355459/
u r a great inspiration
regards
JMD - Manan Katohora
[admin note : to avoid being banned from PFC please avoid advertising your business sites]
Kaushik on April 4th, 2007 8:16 am
Dear Hansal,
Hope you are fine & doing well, I asked you some time back about your film “Raakh”, when it is going to be relese? Its been long time, and how was your experince with Mithun Chakraborty? Waiting for your reply.
Kind Regards,
Kaushik
D Bads on April 13th, 2007 9:03 am
I still remember watching Dil Pe MAt Le Yaar in a movie hall. There were some 12 people in a hall in matunga. Most of them were in couples sitting in corner seats least bit bothered about the movie. Expectations had been almost nil. As the movie started with the song SWAGATAM i felt i was invited byt the director to come into his world and forget about everything else. one of the best starts in the history of bollywood. Showing the different faces of Mumbai. That song won the battle. And thewar is eventually won when RAm SAran PAndey was shown in a island country driving a car. not a great film. But folms are never great. They are art. and i feel art can never be great. Its just art.
John L on May 2nd, 2007 2:54 am
Hansal bhai, 3 posts in a long time is less than I expect.
Do let us know what’s going on in your film.
I was pleasanly surprised to learn that the Ae Mote was directed by you. I remember seeing it as a showreel when a friend, a producer in well-known Delhi based production house was looking for directors, actors, etc for a TV programme. That episode stayed in my head and I often wondered who wrote it.
So I was pleasantly surprised to read this article. So who wrote that episode.
hansal mehta on May 6th, 2007 7:42 am
john, ‘ae mote’ was written by a writer called S Farhaan… it was his first assignment in bombay, way back in 1998… we collaborated after that assignment on my latest film ‘woodstock villa’… farhaan is a very successful writer today but i think his first work was his best!
and i am writing my next post… on its way!
aakar on May 14th, 2007 4:32 am
What a fine piece of writing.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, and it’s availalble at neither movie empire (where I have my account) or at sarvodaya (where I owe money).
But will find it.
Meanwhile it was lovely meeting safina and you.
Aakar
Amey Nadkarni on May 26th, 2007 7:01 am
The post is long but very sincere hence it didnt seem long…waiting for the remaining part…
BD on June 24th, 2007 9:52 am
Hansalji, I havn’t seen DPMLY but I had seen Chhal on TV quite some time ago! It was srprsngly under-ratd: it was very slick & thrilling. Kay Kay & Prashant rocked. Wonder where Prashant is nowadays: he was an xtrmly promsng actor. Kay Kay, of course, was as brilliant as he is 2day. Cant u tell those guys at Zee(they, I think, were the only ones to show it on TV) to show Chhal once again? All the best 4 Woodstock Villa!
Rahul on August 2nd, 2007 3:50 pm
Hansal
You thanks a million for writin this blog. I had seen this moview in theaters and i loved it. I am a big fan of Tabu and Manoj and that attracted me to the theater. also the fact that those were the single days and hence lot of time at hand and to watch movies. But Dil pe .. blew me completely. I loved the moview. May be because it was dark, it was real. may be it was so close to life on earth. I can only tahnk you for making such a movie. Its movies like these that make the indian and the world cinema so rich. Ye hansal your movie made this world of cinema much richer. Thanks again and looking forward to see more movies from you.
Rahul on August 2nd, 2007 3:52 pm
And let me tell you hansal I would love to read a million lines written about Dil pe.. I think your post was too short. Love to read every bit Dil pe and anything associated with it.
Rahul on August 2nd, 2007 3:55 pm
Hansal as a reply to one of the comments you said that ” i’m glad you people still remember the film… gives me hope…”. Man i don’t know about others but i will always remeber dil pe. It has a special place and a very treasured movie. It may not be the all time great but its surely is a very special movie. A movie i would love to watch again and again. and i agree with you . the movie came a little too early. even i wish it had come when there were many more multiplexes in india. man make more movies …
Mangal on October 1st, 2007 11:23 am
dear HM, at the outset let me thank you for providing me one of the best cinematic experience I have ever had. Yes I truly believe that DPMLY, along with Chandni Bar, were the two best films of that period. The characters of the movie were so well etched out that they are still well alive in my memory. The story was brilliant and the script was racy. I am not a big film critic but I must say that I thought your film was flawless. And if Mr. Khaled Mohammed thought the film was not good than I care a damn about him and his ilk. After making DPLMY you seemed to have disappeared from Bollywood. I am very earnestly waiting for your forthcoming releases. Will you share with us which projects you are working on right now? And please HM have faith in yourself - because you have it in you. We are all waiting to be delighted by you - once again.
Posted on: December 30, 2006 at 12:06 PM
I hate the past. But I still cannot help looking back. Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar is perhaps the most bittersweet experience of my life. A film whose highs and lows began way before it even started.
Sometime in August 1997 music baron Gulshan Kumar was brutally killed by unidentified assailants. There were many unsuccessful attempts on film personalities before this and it was a fearful time. Dreaded gangsters and ‘eminent’ film personalities were named in many conspiracy theories that followed this shocking murder. But who were the guys that finally pulled the trigger? What were their compulsions? What was their motive? These questions kept plaguing me as I tried to visualize the murder.
I think of myself as a voyeur pretending to be a film-maker. I love making films about internal conflict arising out of shocking tales that one reads in newspapers. I love all the agony aunt columns because they discuss issues related to human inadequacy and give you a peek into private worlds. So coming back to ‘Dil Pe…’, I was intrigued by the idea of making a film about the man who actually pulled the trigger on Gulshan Kumar. I wanted to be there on the scene of the crime to see his face. I wanted to see the killer and his victim before that defining moment. The idea for ‘Dil Pe…’ began to take shape.
My killer would be an ordinary migrant in the city of Mumbai. I wanted him to be a casual textile mill worker (casual – daily wages worker). I wanted my character, that of the voyeur, to be this workers best friend. I wanted him to be a marriage videographer (this was a term used for people who covered marriages, I don’t know if the term still exists). Not many people are aware that before I began my journey in television and films I used to shoot marriages. And before shooting marriages I worked in a textile mill! My story was about Mumbai – a city where for every fulfilled dream there are a few thousand shattered dreams. My story was about one such shattered dream and about the extent of internal destruction it could cause to people who seemed most innocent. My story was about desperation leading to people finding opportunity in the midst of maximum adversity. The idea was taking shape in my mind. But I was still making my first film ‘Jayate…’ then. The idea was too radical and I had no hopes of finding a producer to back this thought. But the idea kept troubling me. Everyday a new thought kept cropping up. A story was taking shape.
I shared my idea with two of my closest friends and associates then - Manoj Bajpai and Anurag Kashyap. If I remember correctly ‘Satya…’ was being shot then. We had very little idea about what life had in store for us. A fledgling director, a passionate writer and a struggling actor. We got drunk that night. I gave Manoj and Anurag a handsome signing amount of One Rupee. We decided that we would make this film. And we continued drinking…
I made ‘Jayate…’. It never got released. ‘Satya’ was successful. Manoj Bajpai aka Bhiku Mhatre became a star overnight. Anurag Kashyap became a celebrated writer. He was also ready with a script that he wanted to direct. I think it was called ‘Mirage’. It was later rechristened ‘Paanch’. I had an unreleased film and was back to doing television. I guess all of us drifted apart then, charting our own respective destinies. ‘Dil pe…’ was put on the back-burner. No money, no career, nobody to back the story and the director…
I was shooting for a short story called ‘Ae Mote’ for a slot called ‘Rishtey’ on Zee TV. As the title suggests it was about a fat man. It was a fat man’s love story. Saurabh Shukla was playing the main protagonist. Television budgets were extremely restrictive and schedules were very demanding. I had to complete the 45 minute story in 3 days. The last day of the shoot was crazy. I had around 25 minutes of the story left to complete. It was going to be a long, extended shift. We began at 7 am and the shoot lasted around 30 hours. At 10.30 pm we were exhausted. Saurabh was trying to kick the smoking habit. He had been successful until then. An exhausted Saurabh asked me for a cigarette and sat down with me. He was going through a depression because of some confusion over a story that he had written for Ramgopal Verma. I think the film was ‘Kaun’. What seems trivial today was a big issue then. I am digressing again. Back to ‘Dil pe..’.
I think a director’s job is mostly about managing creative talent. Film-making is more about handling varied temperaments, assuaging anger, managing frustration and motivating people in the face of extreme adversity. Film-making is about making talented, disparate individuals focus on a singular vision. To keep Saurabh awake I decided to take his attention away from the impending schedule and exhaustion. I sat him down and narrated my story to him. Suddenly, he was awake. I had pressed the right buttons. He offered to write the film – FREE. The only condition was that he would play the marriage videographer. ‘Dil pe…’ was back in my life. We finished the shoot and kept meeting over the script.
Saurabh’s take on the story was fascinating. He saw it as an ‘end of innocence’ story. He saw it as a film about the city taking its toll on an innocent migrant. Gradually, the characters of Ram Saran Pandey - the garage mechanic, my protagonist and Gaitonde, his videographer friend were born. A brilliant character that Saurabh created was Tito, a loud, good-for-nothing ‘Dubai-return’ wannabe. As the screenplay and many other memorable characters took shape we realized that we still did not have a producer for the film. The screenplay was funny, very dark and dealt with characters that were always bundled in contradictions.
We were still dreaming, but in vain… Saurabh spoke to a friend who agreed to back the film. The budget of the film was Rs. 20 lakhs (US$50,000). We were going to shoot the film on 16mm. The producer’s only condition was that Manoj Bajpai should play Ram Saran.
After much hesitation and awkwardness, my worst fears came true. Manoj refused the film. He wanted to be part of a much bigger film. He wanted to support me but in a bigger endeavor. In despair I approached the very gifted and under-rated Aditya Srivastava for Manoj’s role. Aditya agreed. The producer backed out. By then I was hell-bent on making this film. I was tired of television. I was desperate to hear the whirring sound of a film camera. I was desperate to make a film. I was desperate to make ‘Dil pe…’ . And the only way to make it was to produce it myself…
An entire book can be dedicated to all the people who came together to realize ‘Dil pe mat le yaar!’. My co-producers Anish Ranjan and Ajay Tuli. They believed in my dream. They never let me worry about the constant lack of funds. We lived the agony and ecstasy of this film together. We had many fights, many arguments but ultimately we were driven by the desire to make a great film. We disagreed on a regular basis and had completely dysfunctional personal lives while making this film. My assistant director Kanika. Her father had sent her money from Muscat to book an apartment in Mumbai. That money helped us shoot the first schedule of the film.
Tabu and I met over another script that I wanted to make with her. That script never got made into a film. But I found a friend in Tabu. We became internet pals. She accepted the role without even asking for the script or her role. I narrated the script to her in half an hour. The great thing about this wonderful actor is that she approached her character without being judgmental about it. It was easy to call her character a bitch. She just played Kaamya. She is a special actor and a very special person. Hers was perhaps the most under-rated performance in the film.
Aditya Srivastava showed no disappointment when I told him that Manoj would be doing the role offered to him. He accepted the role of Tito for a pittance. He even contributed money towards making the film. I think Tito is one of Indian cinema’s most memorable characters. It was a great performance by a very magnanimous actor.
Saurabh Shukla was admitted to hospital while we were writing the script. He went through the entire pain of making this film with me. He was a stranger to me before the film. I found a brother while making the film. Thank you Saurabh. Without you ‘Dil pe…’ would have been another unrealized dream gathering dust in my store-room.
This film cost me my friendship with Manoj Bajpai. But I guess passion has its price. We react to situations at the heat of the moment and lose sight of ourselves in the process. Our personal situation, however, cannot detract from Manoj’s contribution to the film. His performance was faulted by many but I rate it very highly. It was earnest, energetic and straight from the heart. It was a difficult character that only an actor of Manoj’s caliber could pull off.
I could go on and on and on… Vishal Bhardwaj for his eclectic and very original music, Abbas Tyrewala for being more than just a lyrics writer, Anurag Kashyap for encouraging us through the film despite not being a part of it, Divya Jagdale for surprising us with her spirited performance as Gayatri, Remo the choreographer who made his debut with the film, Asha Bhonsle who sang the title track with such energy, all the very talented actors who played bit parts in the film just to be part of it. There are many people to thank and many people to condemn. But that is not the point.
The protagonist of the film begins with a journey that is soaked in fantasy. Ram Saran’s world is invaded by the beautiful Kaamya (Tabu). He believes that this ambitious and beautiful page 3 journalist actually loves him. Such is his innocence. Little does he realize that he is just an interesting story for her. His world of fantasy soon leads to despair. Then to desperation. Gaitonde, the videographer is a loyal friend with an unhappy marriage and a terrible bank balance. The only assets he has are a run-down, red scooter and an even more run-down video camera. As Ram Saran’s world spirals into a desperate realm Gaitonde changes. Loyalty is replaced by opportunism. Opportunity leads to betrayal. Little does he know that he is in turn being betrayed by his guest Tito and his wife Gayatri. There were multiple layers of betrayal and desperation in the world we had created.
I wanted the film to look ‘dirty’. I wanted the images to look carelessly framed and the camera movement to be minimal. As the lives of my characters reached various levels of despair I wanted the film to lose color. My cinematographer Sanjay Kapoor understood this need. We used a process called Bleach Bypass that involves retention of silver on the film negative after processing. I could get into a major technical exposition on this process. I would rather dwell on the end result. We used various levels of silver retention with grudging help from the laboratory (Adlabs, Mumbai) to gradually de-saturate the colors through the film. As the film progresses we have almost monochromatic hues, highly burnt out skies and very dark shadows. Today, it is possible to achieve all this using digital technology though I still feel that digital technology cannot replace the amorphous nature of film. Unfortunately, the DVD transfer of the film does not reproduce our technical innovation faithfully. I wish more people had seen the film at the movie halls.
I realize that I have written much more on this post than I intended to write. But there is a lot more to share. Maybe on the next post. If all of you have the patience to read on…
_____________________________________________________________________________
53 Responses to “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar! - A bittersweet life PART I”
Chaitanya Tamhane on December 30th, 2006 12:54 pm
HM, according to me ‘Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar’ till date remains your most original, realistic and honest piece of work. It was a little gem which came out at a time when such films were rare. And Boss, I loved ‘Ae Mote’ ! I still remember the episode clearly.
sangeeta on December 30th, 2006 1:18 pm
HM,
‘Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar’ was a very honest movie and you put a lot of trust in many new artists. I liked Manoj in this movie, he seemed very convincing in all aspects of his character.
hansal mehta on December 30th, 2006 1:24 pm
dil pe… remains very special. i just feel it came a bit too early. wish there were more multiplexes for this film. also our favorite khalid mohd was extremely unkind to the film as were his other contemporaries. my honesty and passion finally drove me to despair like my protagonist. i hope that some day i could relive the honesty and abandon with which i made this film… i’m glad you people still remember the film… gives me hope…
Honhaar Goonda on December 30th, 2006 1:42 pm
Let’s hope that you will be signing “Chal Padi Chal Padi” sooner than later ;)
I have yet to see “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar”. I have been meaning to watch it, but… anyway, i do love the music of “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar”
striker on December 30th, 2006 4:04 pm
hansal, have yet to watch “dil pe..” but if i loved chhal as much as i did, i’m sure i’ll like DPMLY too.. looking fwd to it. can you elaborate on your short film in ‘dus kahaniyan’?
hansal mehta on December 30th, 2006 4:23 pm
hi striker,
its not very surprising that many of you havent seen DPMLY! you must… i’m sure you’ll get it at a neighborhood dvd rental. according to me DPMLY is far superior to ‘Chhal’!
about ‘dus kahaniyaan’ i’m unfortunately bound by a confidentiality clause in my contract. cant elaborate. sorry! all i can say is that its a great experiment and i’ve had great fun making the short film.
steve on December 30th, 2006 6:05 pm
Hi Hansal..
I did watch it quite a while back.
I remember i was quite intrigued too, as i believe you approached Juhi Chawla for the role which later went to Tabu henna??
I actually wanted to see more darker shades in Tabu’s character, but i guess you wanted to keep her role realistic…
Do remember thinking, ”this is diferent”, but it has been a while and i may need to get back to it!!
Music, esp title song was well cool.
Asha Bhonsle did full justice to it man!
hansal mehta on December 30th, 2006 6:21 pm
hi steve,
yes, i did approach juhi chawla. but that was more because of a misunderstanding with tabu about her dates than anything else. fortunately it all worked out for the better. juhi couldn’t get a handle on the character and tabu was back!
i did not want tabu to portray darker shades. she was just a ‘circumstantial’ bitch… people do things that they believe are right. they never do them with the intention of being dark or evil. its our perception that makes their deeds so. i wanted her to just play her character and do the scenes with total honesty. easier said than done! she did it!
hope this post helps all you guys to revisit DPMLY!
steve on December 30th, 2006 6:26 pm
Oh..ok.
See Hansal, we do still remember your film!!
But whilst on Tabu, can i ask you if you’ve seen ‘Meenaxi’??
Yes I know this has nothing to do with your post, but as you have worked with her, were you surprised by her look in the film??
You see, i always felt that aswell as being a fab actress, that she is also very beautiful, but no one seems to highlight that.
Anyway, hope you get to see ‘Meenaxi’ if you haven’t done already…
tushar on December 30th, 2006 7:10 pm
Hi Hansal
Glad that you wrote this. I been waiting for you to speak about Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar. There is no end to where I can begin end or wax eloquent about the film and the moments and the associated imagery it has created. I would not call it a great film, but there is something about it that refuses to leave. May be its the first Hollywood style poster I saw with a wide frame and small titles occupying the bottom space, or the first trailor….amma babuji ko pranaam, hum theek hain….as you say the ’spoiling’ or the ‘end’ of innocence, Manoj Bajpai’s transformations, his slow transition away from his roots-both figuratively and connotatively, his gruntings and subtle dejection of the ways of the city, the sequence where a dejected saurabh and bajpai are standing while their 2 penny scooter gets quitely ‘towed’ away, the hilarious film producer, mahesh bhatt in his only tolerable act ever on screen, the black humour where the guy accompanies saurabh for the money towards the end(one almost feels the same hunger for money while watching the sequence), like you, i could go on tooo….
thats the magic of films, and their timelessness, and their universal ownership-very subjective and conflictive :)
i wanna revisit chhal and DPMLY now, they remind me of a bombay i never saw.
looking forward to dus kahaniyan.
Baarishh on December 30th, 2006 8:25 pm
HM, nice post… DPMLY sounds intersting.. i’m sure gonna try to watch it soon.. also looking forward to dus kahaniyan…
vasanbala on December 30th, 2006 8:58 pm
Dil pe mat…..I personally thought was awesome. though a very grim stark subject the tone was maintained very well….saurabh’s scooter and whenever it’s taken away when they are sitting with their backs to the camera…or manoj writing the letter……that amma voiceover…
i liked the way things change in minutes. I did not feel saurabh was an asshole when he thinks of using that video footage of manoj shooting the guy…or divya having an affair with aditya…even that was great….all chars. had more than 3 dimensions to them…they were friends…not bad people but made some choices….
Jwalant on December 30th, 2006 9:33 pm
Hi Hansal,
DPMLY although awesome and should have been a hit, I felt few points went against it.
- The promos showed mostly romatic (rain) song of Tabu and Manoj. People felt it was a light romantic comedy.
- Please never never have Vajpayee in romantic roles. He just doesn’t have persona to pull it off. He is best suited for character roles.
Whats up with Manoj? He seems to be taking panga with all directors that he can best work with. Ramu, you and Anurag…
premal on December 30th, 2006 10:07 pm
hey Hansal,
can u furnish details of your film Raakh. Seems quite interesting…don shaun aur sab family business.
cheers,
premal
striker on December 30th, 2006 10:26 pm
cool hansal, thx for the info on dus kahaniyan.. looking fwd to it nevertheless as i love short films!
george thomas on December 30th, 2006 11:46 pm
Great notes, Hansal. Let’s not forget your cameo shall we? :) Could you also add something about how Mahesh Bhatt came to toss in the cameo as himself?
This is another film (the other one was CHHAL) I’ve never tired of recommending to people. It retains the Bollywood trappings of songs and yet gives us such fascinating characters as Ram Saran (a truly wonderful performance; it’s a pity that it “cost you a friendship”), the morally challenged Gaitonde (a marriage videographer … simply brilliant) and Tito (I agree whole-heartedly … a truly amazing creation).
I also loved the musical bookends that Hariharan’s “swaagatam” and Sanjeev Abhyankar’s rendition of “leyii jaa re badaraa” in Raag Hansadhwani (both arranged in a similar fashion) offered; and “dil kii koTharii me.n jo ruu_ii kaa puli.ndaa hai dhiimii aa.Nch sulagii hai us me.n” was interesting, to say the least :)>-
That note on the Bleach Bypass was very interesting … I wonder if we’ll ever see a DVD that does justice to the intent of the process …
I’ll filch something I’d written in a short blog post after my first viewing: Kenneth Turan, when reviewing THE STUNT MAN observed: “Is this a comedy or a tragedy, a dark picture with touches of wit or a witty film with overtones of darkness? Until the closing sequences, it is beguilingly hard to say”. That, in essence, can sum up an apt reaction to this film.
george thomas on December 31st, 2006 7:20 am
“I was intrigued by the idea of making a film about the man who actually pulled the trigger on Gulshan Kumar. I wanted to be there on the scene of the crime to see his face. I wanted to see the killer and his victim before that defining moment.”
This is very interesting. In an interview, Ram Gopal Varma said something on similar lines when he was discussing SATYA. While his film explored the broader canvas of the underworld of the city of Bombay, your film looked at the city through a single protagonist and explored the evolution of a single character. Fascinating!
hansal mehta on December 31st, 2006 8:22 am
ramu hated DPMLY! he told me that it took the film 11 reels to do what SATYA did in the first reel!
george thomas on December 31st, 2006 3:19 pm
“ramu hated DPMLY! he told me that it took the film 11 reels to do what SATYA did in the first reel!”
Well, they ended up being two different films that set out to explore different sets of ideas, so a comparison wouldn’t really be fair … :d
sophocles on January 1st, 2007 12:23 am
Hi Hansal,
I think that DPMLY was brilliant Period. I loved the way the characters were etched out. Especially saurabh shukla and manoj bajpai. An you are right about tito - he is a memorable character.
My fav scene- is when the go to shoot the porn film and manoj starts interfering!
Saurabh shukla was absolutely brilliant in the film - his expressions of despair, hopelessness, irritation and desperation were par excellence.
The ending - maybe i have a sore point there - showing manoj to be a don in dubai with the complete works - i felt it far fetched….
and the mahesh bhatt sequence….too loud.
but, it doesnt take away anything from an otherwise awesome film.
Aarkayne on January 1st, 2007 12:48 am
HM - I did not quite dig DPMLY though my brother, a struggling film maker himself, did. But I loved CHHAL(and my bro did not) though I believe it had many shades of DONNIE BRASCO(not seen yet) or perhaps INFERNAL AFFAIRS(loved it many times over THE DEPARTED). I thought that was a movie that was done very well and for the first time I liked Viju Shah’s music in it. I still cannot get an original CD or tape of the CHHAL music. You should tell the Zee Music guys to reissue it !!!!
All the best with your future endeavours though after reading so much discussion about DPMLY I will surely re-visit!
manjeet singh on January 1st, 2007 2:31 am
Its a joy to read a ‘Dile se’ experience of a passionate film maker! It makes one wonder that other than the craft of film making a film maker needs to pocess ability to gather resources for making a film. Getting stars is one of the biggest headache.The selling of film is another painfull process I guess.
Vipin on January 1st, 2007 11:41 am
Hi Hansal,
Great to know about the things that I have missed out on in the last 15 years. Saurabh is a dear friend. I knew Manoj in Delhi during my NSD days but have lost touch with him. Looking forward to read more of your posts here. My film with Aamir is going wonderfully. It is great to be back in India and back to acting after a long gap.
Vipin
kartik krishnan on January 2nd, 2007 12:44 am
Wow hansal …. great of u to have u talk about the making of dil pe mat ley …. thanks for the trip down the memory lane ….
if possible .. do an encore for Chall too ….
One thing that i’ve noticed is that in both ur films Chall, and Dil pe … (Im discounting yeh kya ho raha hai) .. the ending is rather kool. I loved both the endings of Dil pe (Manoj becoming a don and killing saurabh shukla)… yeah loss of innocence !!! and Chall (an aging KK cop delegating the task which he had carried out few years ago to the new cop makarand …and mak posing the same Q which KK had asked during his time)
phoenixnu on January 2nd, 2007 3:28 am
“I hate the past.”
Hansal, but I loved it. Remember everything about the film…loved the film. Sourabh Shukla was damn good in it…have always felt he is too good.
Was in college that time, DPMLY became a catch phrase for many of us…had similar dialogue in Hyderbad Blues also…DPMLY…haath pe le. Clicked big time in my college hostel. Also, remember clearly about the Manoj Bajpayee promo…Ma-bauji ko hamara pranaam. Watching the film who can guess that it has so many stories behind it also. Waiting eagerly for Part 2 and many other parts…..plz do continue.
AP on January 2nd, 2007 11:41 am
Hi Hansal,
I love that movie so much that some of the scenes are in the list of my all time fav. scenes. …. like .. when Ram Saran saw Tabu in the bed with someone ….. and his lines goes like ….”Dhokha ho gaya bhai ..dhokha .” It was so real and innocent…the whole frame swaps my memory while writing this. One of the other scene is the ending of movie where Ram saran lits his cigar …… the transition shown there is damn brutal but again there was an honesty … this time shown by the script writer.
I dont know the cost-benefit analysis of DPMLY .. but i can assure you that all my friends had enjoyed it and it was a success in my college campus. And i dont care reviews …. as i think u do too …. so why a “grudge” when someone writes something SOMEWHERE …. As the name of ur film suggests….
“Dil Pe Mat Le yaar …. mar jayega”
and pz do continue ..
shitij on January 2nd, 2007 2:25 pm
Hi Hansal,
U wouldnt beleive me but I have watched DPMLY around 7-8 times…just wanted to share the very reason/best scenes of my watching the movie -
1. When Manoj see’s Tabu having sex with the guy (who works in her office)…thats not a regular hindi cinema scene…the way Manoj starts crying after falling from the pole is both saddening and amusing.
2.Saurabh Shukla’s role…I mean he is the most orignal character I have ever seen…thats how friends are generally…he was shrude,cunning,sharp,mean,manipulating…yet he had a good side…that was creative.
3.The scene where they fox Manoj to get a car…just cause they want to shoot a blue film…and when Manoj finds out the truth…
4.The scene where Aditya Srivastava holds Saurab Shukla’s wife (Divya Jagdale) and confesses his lust for her (atleast I see it that way).
5.When Manoj Kills the business man and goes to Saurabh’s house - that I feel is the best part of the film…what goes after that…Saurabh’s hiding of the tape from Manoj…Manoj killing one guy after another…Saurabh explaining Manoj to kill the guy standing outside as he has money..the climax is just awesome.
7.Manoj’s shivering act in the climax…GREAT…you actually feel the fear,Guilt.
6. When Manoj finds out Saurabh was lying to him and he has actually taped his killing…but he has no option but to get along with Saurabh.
7. Killing of Saurabh Shukla…the way Bajpai has his last conversation with Shukla.
I wanted to have Tabu’s take on Manoj in the end.
hansal mehta on January 3rd, 2007 10:50 pm
i’m really glad to see that all of you enjoyed this film so much… more than that it makes me feel great that you remember the film so vividly after 6 years! it was a labor of love… and it remains that… whatever the criticism it was passionate work… it makes me feel rejuvenated again - to take on the challenges that present themselves in todays new exciting environment!
randramble on January 3rd, 2007 11:15 pm
Hansal, you continue to provide great insights. Guys like you and AK rock on PFC!
Have to catch your movies soon…
Push on January 4th, 2007 12:48 am
hansal…. although movie was fairly treated and neatly directed… i cud not understand why everyone turned bad in the 2nd half…including tabu ..saurabh shukla….first half was more like the showcase of good sides of humanbeing…
honey on January 5th, 2007 6:25 am
hi hansal,
great to read about ur experience…i’hv seen dpmly twice…i loved the film exept the ending…manoj,divya saurabh,aditya everybody was rocking even vishal,abbas & anurag…i think u had a great team..dpmly was a kind of film,u can call a truely director’s baby…GREAT, but im really feeling SAD after reading this article,u didn’t mention even once the name of another talent called PIYUSH MISHRA…who also has something to do with dpmly…just becoz the trend is to talk about big names or something else?..industry has only few original talent,doing such things with them..i guess is really sad…there r hell lots of people who r just suffering bcoz they never got their dues even the right credit..[including ‘anurag’ wrongly creadited in water.]sir..where r we going?
hansal mehta on January 5th, 2007 10:34 am
hi honey,
piyushbhai was purely an oversight! and frankly, the song that he wrote for DPMLY does very little justice to his great talent. i am a huge admirer of piyushbhai’s work as a writer. i think his work will be held in very high esteem alongside some of the biggest names in indian cinema.
i regret that my oversight evoked such a response from you.
regards, hansal
honey on January 5th, 2007 12:14 pm
Hi hansal,
thanks for ur reply..
i heartily appreciate ur concern about creativity & towards a creatives like mr. piyush mishra…i do like his work as a writer n ofcourse some of his compositions r also great..anyway…hope u r doing great n enjoing urself.
best wishes for dus kahaniyan & woodstock willa,
regards,
honey.
vishalag@mail.com on January 12th, 2007 8:06 am
hansal ji
haven’t seen any of ur othr films, saving ykhrh, which i liked immensely.
my questions are reg oye mote, i was a school goer at that time,
i remember saurabh, but who was the girl?
virag on February 1st, 2007 8:36 am
Bro I love you
Bharathi on February 7th, 2007 11:03 am
Amazing movie. Manoj Bajpai was fantastic in it. He has amazing talent. Pity his choices these days arent good at all……Hope to see him again soon. loved him in road too.
Tony Khera on February 7th, 2007 4:01 pm
Hansal-bhai
I’ve seen DPMLY and I’ve seen Chhal. I liked both for their raw energy. I must say I preferred Chhal, found it more involving. The tension between Kay Kay and Prashant was electric. It was my first exposure to Kay Kay and it was evident at the time he was a powerhouse performer, and that you were a different kind of director.
Whats happening with Raakh? I believe you’ve written it as well..is Sohail producing it?
Looking forward to Woodstock Villa..looks great..how would you rate the potential of Sikander Kher?
mainak on February 13th, 2007 4:05 am
I cant believe i’m doing this at 3:20 in the night when i have to be at work at MOVIOLA at 8 in the morning…my GF cant sleep & is reading Shantaram.
Anyways
lets go back a few years…
When DPMLY was released i was a big fan of Manoj Bajpai after saw him in SATYA & was drifting towards filmmaking from engg. I was passionate about not spending money on SRK & fluff movies but made it a point to go to theaters & watch anything that seemed remotely honest & progressive.
So i went to a late show in market in Bangalore dragging my friend with me(i dragged so many people to movies that had no idea about)
I was writing film reviews in this website called apnaguide.com that time. Those were the DOT COM boom time & i was doing engg in Bangalore.
I loved the movie. I think it was one of the best performances by Saurabh & Manoj. A very good love making scene too…
So Hansal read the review somehow & he wrote to me thanking me how glad he was to read it. I was thrilled….cut to 2 years later. I’m done with my engg & i’m outside Dadar station with dreams in my eyes & arrogance in my mind(i’m the shit) with no clue of how to get into this industry.
cut to 3 weeks later. I get Hansal’s number somehow & call him & get him on phone too. I try to remind him of my review on apnaguide & he thinks i’m another journo trying to get his interview. He immediately asks me to call this other number later. I tried once to be told he wasnt home or something. I never tried again. He was making Chal that time. I saw that too in Bandra. Liked KK in it. Prashant was ok. There was too much hype about him in papers.
Now i live in LA. I have a DVD of CHAL at home. How? The Art Director of CHAL is my friend now. He was in LA working at Paramount & some other places . he hund out at my house 24/7.
Life is amazing sometimes if one looks at the things u miss by chance & things we get.
I thought Hansal would like to read this.
cheers
hansal mehta on February 13th, 2007 7:30 am
hi mainak,
i still remember your review! and want to apologize if you felt that i’d ignored your phone call… well its rare for a film-maker to ignore a journo’s call in any case! just that i must’ve been pre-occupied or as is the case very often must’ve been going through a depression… in any case thanks for the response… and i guess my gesture has taken you to greener pastures! keep wrtiting… cheers, hansal
mainak on February 16th, 2007 12:36 pm
I like what you said
“i guess my gesture has taken you to greener pastures! keep wrtiting”
Hansal No Apologies required. I was not complaining. I was just narrating what i thought might be interesting to you. Even that day after you hung up the phone on me i wasnt pissed or depressed. I understand how many people bother directors everyday for work & other stuff. I was actually calling you to work as an AD for CHAL. Not to interview you. BTW do u remember ANSHUL JAIN?
Loved the way you start CHAL in a theater with a screening of DPMLY.
Saswati on February 26th, 2007 10:46 am
Hi Hansal,
Stumbled on this blog by accident and found your post on DPMLY. I was a journalist at Asian Age when the film was released and remember finding the movie fresh and different. My review was probably one of the few positive reviews that the movie received from Bombay dailies. I still think that DPMLY is much better than some of the “blockbusters” that Bollywood churns out every year.
I also remember covering the unnecessary fracas in Koli Wada and it infuriated me no end that political groups used the film to garner brownie points in their constituencies.
manan singh katohora on February 28th, 2007 4:51 am
big fan of ur work - chhal, yeh kya ho raha hai etc
i am an indie south asian filmmaker in NY
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1355459/
u r a great inspiration
regards
JMD - Manan Katohora
[admin note : to avoid being banned from PFC please avoid advertising your business sites]
Kaushik on April 4th, 2007 8:16 am
Dear Hansal,
Hope you are fine & doing well, I asked you some time back about your film “Raakh”, when it is going to be relese? Its been long time, and how was your experince with Mithun Chakraborty? Waiting for your reply.
Kind Regards,
Kaushik
D Bads on April 13th, 2007 9:03 am
I still remember watching Dil Pe MAt Le Yaar in a movie hall. There were some 12 people in a hall in matunga. Most of them were in couples sitting in corner seats least bit bothered about the movie. Expectations had been almost nil. As the movie started with the song SWAGATAM i felt i was invited byt the director to come into his world and forget about everything else. one of the best starts in the history of bollywood. Showing the different faces of Mumbai. That song won the battle. And thewar is eventually won when RAm SAran PAndey was shown in a island country driving a car. not a great film. But folms are never great. They are art. and i feel art can never be great. Its just art.
John L on May 2nd, 2007 2:54 am
Hansal bhai, 3 posts in a long time is less than I expect.
Do let us know what’s going on in your film.
I was pleasanly surprised to learn that the Ae Mote was directed by you. I remember seeing it as a showreel when a friend, a producer in well-known Delhi based production house was looking for directors, actors, etc for a TV programme. That episode stayed in my head and I often wondered who wrote it.
So I was pleasantly surprised to read this article. So who wrote that episode.
hansal mehta on May 6th, 2007 7:42 am
john, ‘ae mote’ was written by a writer called S Farhaan… it was his first assignment in bombay, way back in 1998… we collaborated after that assignment on my latest film ‘woodstock villa’… farhaan is a very successful writer today but i think his first work was his best!
and i am writing my next post… on its way!
aakar on May 14th, 2007 4:32 am
What a fine piece of writing.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, and it’s availalble at neither movie empire (where I have my account) or at sarvodaya (where I owe money).
But will find it.
Meanwhile it was lovely meeting safina and you.
Aakar
Amey Nadkarni on May 26th, 2007 7:01 am
The post is long but very sincere hence it didnt seem long…waiting for the remaining part…
BD on June 24th, 2007 9:52 am
Hansalji, I havn’t seen DPMLY but I had seen Chhal on TV quite some time ago! It was srprsngly under-ratd: it was very slick & thrilling. Kay Kay & Prashant rocked. Wonder where Prashant is nowadays: he was an xtrmly promsng actor. Kay Kay, of course, was as brilliant as he is 2day. Cant u tell those guys at Zee(they, I think, were the only ones to show it on TV) to show Chhal once again? All the best 4 Woodstock Villa!
Rahul on August 2nd, 2007 3:50 pm
Hansal
You thanks a million for writin this blog. I had seen this moview in theaters and i loved it. I am a big fan of Tabu and Manoj and that attracted me to the theater. also the fact that those were the single days and hence lot of time at hand and to watch movies. But Dil pe .. blew me completely. I loved the moview. May be because it was dark, it was real. may be it was so close to life on earth. I can only tahnk you for making such a movie. Its movies like these that make the indian and the world cinema so rich. Ye hansal your movie made this world of cinema much richer. Thanks again and looking forward to see more movies from you.
Rahul on August 2nd, 2007 3:52 pm
And let me tell you hansal I would love to read a million lines written about Dil pe.. I think your post was too short. Love to read every bit Dil pe and anything associated with it.
Rahul on August 2nd, 2007 3:55 pm
Hansal as a reply to one of the comments you said that ” i’m glad you people still remember the film… gives me hope…”. Man i don’t know about others but i will always remeber dil pe. It has a special place and a very treasured movie. It may not be the all time great but its surely is a very special movie. A movie i would love to watch again and again. and i agree with you . the movie came a little too early. even i wish it had come when there were many more multiplexes in india. man make more movies …
Mangal on October 1st, 2007 11:23 am
dear HM, at the outset let me thank you for providing me one of the best cinematic experience I have ever had. Yes I truly believe that DPMLY, along with Chandni Bar, were the two best films of that period. The characters of the movie were so well etched out that they are still well alive in my memory. The story was brilliant and the script was racy. I am not a big film critic but I must say that I thought your film was flawless. And if Mr. Khaled Mohammed thought the film was not good than I care a damn about him and his ilk. After making DPLMY you seemed to have disappeared from Bollywood. I am very earnestly waiting for your forthcoming releases. Will you share with us which projects you are working on right now? And please HM have faith in yourself - because you have it in you. We are all waiting to be delighted by you - once again.
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