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'I am not from Ram Gopal Varma's camp'
Working with the Company director in Road was a challenge for Rajat Mukherjee
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Sukanya Verma
The tagline of Ram Gopal Varma's Road reads:
Only accidents don't kill.
Drive carefully (very)
In a startling example of life imitating art, Road's lead actor, Vivek Oberoi found himself experiencing déjà vu while shooting for this film. He was driving from his hotel to the shooting location, when his car met with an accident. Fortunately Vivek escaped unhurt.
The horror of the entire ordeal is still fresh in Road director Rajat Mukherjee's mind as he recalls, "I was not aware of it earlier. Instead I was getting irritated about the fact that he had not turned up for the shooting on time. He is otherwise extremely punctual. A little while later, I saw Vivek and Manoj walk in together. When I queried him about the delay, Vivek never answered me. He just nodded his head, apologized, and went to his van. Manoj's car was behind Vivek's so he had witnessed Vivek's car skid. I am thankful to god that he came out unhurt."
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With Road, producer/filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma and Rajat Mukherjee collaborate for the second time after the Fatal Attraction rip-off Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. It was after the moderate success of this Urmila Matondkar-Fardeen Khan starrer, that Rajat had an informal meeting with Varma at common friend, Sandeep Chowtha's Chennai home. As an aside, Chowtha composed the music for Varma's Kaun, Jungle, Company and Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. Mukherjee reveals, "Ramu gave me the title Road. I thought it was an amazing title. He asked me to work on a script keeping this title in mind. I went to Jaisalmer and in ten days I wrote the entire screenplay."
When he had finished his first draft, he spoke to a lot of actors for the role that eventually went to Vivek Oberoi. Saif Ali Khan, then riding the high horse with the success of Kundan Shah's Kya Kehna, Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Saath Saath Hai and Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai, was one of the actors with whom Mukherjee discussed the script. The bearded director admits he spoke to the Chhote Nawab, however, "Saif had his own reservations about the character. I had mine about him playing it. After I thrashed out the film with him, I did a lot of improvisations. I felt the need to cast Road differently. I saw Vivek and Antara (Mali) shooting for Company. Instantly, I thought of the two as the perfect pair for my film."
Speaking of Mali, the actress underwent a complete makeover in terms of her looks and wardrobe for this racy thriller, giving way to inevitable comparisons between her and Mukherjee's Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya heroine-Urmila. Mukherjee doesn't find any similarity in the two actresses. "I like my heroines to look wonderful. There is no harm in that."
Road also features Manoj Bajpai who is being touted as the film's surprise package for his powerful performance. The role of Babu (the name of his character in Road) was written with Bajpai in mind. When co-star Oberoi read the script, he found Bajpai's character decidedly better. Mukherjee acknowledges that Oberoi wanted to switch roles, "but then Ramu (Ram Gopal Varma) and I convinced him otherwise. At this point I think it is too early for Vivek to play a character like that. It was a challenge for me to make Vivek play a vulnerable character after his strong-as-nails part in Company." The director doesn't single out any one actor, "Manoj is a great actor. He has done a fabulous job. I don't think he will steal the thunder from others. I think the entire film will stand up for all its three characters."
Mukherjee, who hails from the advertising world, is a self-confessed film buff and addresses Steven Spielberg as 'God'. Having observed the culture of road films in Hollywood with a keen eye, he expounds, "They [Hollywood] shows constantly moving characters --- sometimes you see road genre films getting converted into action films. Sometimes like in The Hitcher, you see the plot turn into a psychotic drama. Road films have many sub genres. In my film, the road is the fourth character."
Extensively shot in the rustic and arid locations of Jaisalmer and Bikaner in Rajasthan, Mukherjee and his unit had a harrowing time filming Road. The shooting camp was 40 miles away from civilization. "It was not only tough for me but also from the actor's point of view. There were a lot of things they had to compromise on. They had to practically live on a moving vehicle for 6-7 hours. They had to eat out during the shooting breaks and work under the scorching sun," he says matter-of-factly. 
Besides dealing with difficult shooting conditions, Mukherjee was hounded by a spate of rumors implying that Ram Gopal Varma took charge during the last stages of production. Varma allegedly re-shot several portions. If this bit of information distresses Mukherjee, he doesn't show. He blames the media for making much ado about nothing. He retorts, " You cannot deny that Ram Gopal Varma is a distinguished director. It is tough to work with him. I have my point of view and I have always maintained it. I convinced him on certain issues where we had differences. I ultimately made the film the way I wanted to. He is same as a producer as well as a person. It is a challenge working with him. The tuning is much better after working with him in Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. It is just that he has his own demands, his own idea about the film. As a director, I have to convince him to see my point of view. Once he is convinced everything is smooth."
Mukherjee adds that he would love to work with Ramu again, but "I am not from his camp."
Road is an important release for Mukherjee after his debut film last year, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. Like most filmmakers he is slightly nervous too. Whether it pays off to take the road less traveled, he doesn't know, "I have done my best and there is nothing I can do about it."