'Love stories don't really excite me.'
At 70, Rajiv Raj is excited to start his third innings.
The director of Tridev and Mohra returns with his next thriller, Zora, releasing August 8.
"I shot Zora and its sequel Zora Zoravar simultaneously, in the same modest budget, with 60-70 per cent of the same cast," Rajiv Rai tell Rediff Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya. "My actors' budget is just Rs 25 lakh and even my food bills did not exceed Rs 50 lakh."
Let's flashback to your first film as a director. What do you remember of the 1985 action-thriller Yudh?
(Laughs) Anil Kapoor's iconic dialogue 'Jhakaas!' I love it that it has now become his trademark.
He can do a million films, but wherever he goes, he will always be forced to say 'Jhakaas!' and the credit should go to my fellow writer Naeem Shah and me.
During the shooting of the film, Tina Munim became a good friend, and she remains one to this day.
Jackie (Shroff) too is a pal.
The film industry was quick to write off Yudh as a flop, but my dad (Gulshan Rai, the film's producer) liked it and assured me that it would do well.
It celebrated a silver jubilee; Anil and Jackie never looked back.
Tridev was the third highest grossing film of 1989, and if Yudh is remembered for 'Jhakaas', then Tridev's chartbuster Oye Oye, Tirchi Topiwale still resonates.
Yes, the song is evergreen.
Just before we were to shoot, Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) came to me and confessed that he couldn't dance and had never done a commercial Hindi film song before.
I pointed out that he only had to observe Saroj Khan (choreographer) and then he could do what came naturally to him.
I told him that he shouldn't think of himself as a dancer doing a song, but as an actor performing in a film.
That advice sunk in and after the first shot, his nervousness vanished.
He was also apprehensive about being paired with Sonam, pointing out that she was only a couple of years older than his daughter Heeba.
I waved off his concern, pointing out that the age difference between them didn't matter and wouldn't affect the film in any way.
Sonam, on her part, was excited about working with a fine actor like Naseer.
Tridev made them a hit jodi and I repeated them in Vishwatma.
The film released in 1992, by then, Sonam was my wife. We married in 1991.
But you are divorced now?
Yes. But today, Sonam and I are better friends than ever before.
I'm much older than her, but now, with the passing of years, she is far more mature and understands me better.
We talk to each other every day, but there's no love story happening.
Sonam is married to someone else now.
What drove you apart?
There was no misunderstanding, no bickering or fights.
I think deep down neither of us wanted a separation, it was essential because life had become very troubled, but not because of the marriage.
The exodus had put a lot of pressure on her, I can understand how difficult it was for her to live so far away from India and her own.
Eventually, to give life another chance, we separated, and later divorced, amicably.
We are still bonded by mutual respect and a child we both love.
I'm in a happy space today.
How old is your son?
Gaurav is 31. My sister Rashmi Anand and he are the associate producers of Zora.
My sister was my dad's lucky charm.
He got his first hit as a distributor, V M Vyas's 1958 family drama Ghar Sansar starring Nargis, Balraj Sahani, Rajendra Kumar and Kumkum after she was born.
Now, Rashmi is my lucky charm.
Reportedly, Zora will have a sequel?
Yes. I was ready to roll with the film when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and locked us in our homes.
Since I couldn't shoot, I revisited Zora's script and came up with an idea of continuing the story.
Calling the sequel Zora 2 or Zora Returns seemed cliched, so I settled for Zora Zoravar.
I have shot both films simultaneously, in the same modest budget, with 60-70 per cent of the same cast.
Reportedly, you have a cast of 30 newcomers?
No. Some of my actors you would have seen on TV or OTT, some in commercials and some on stage and even regional cinema.
But they are not familiar faces in Bollywood.
Karan Vir, Ravinder Kuhar, Nikhil Dewan, Sofia Parveen, Dilraj Kaur, Meena Vaibhav, Leena Sharma, Neetu Bhatt are all solid performers.
My actors' budget is just Rs 25 lakh and even my food bills did not exceed Rs 50 lakh.
(Chuckles) I'm a vegan and made it clear to my cast that they would be served only vegetarian fare. No one complained.
They stayed with me in Rajasthan for five months during the duration of shoot.
You've worked with stars before...
Yeah, but I've never been influenced by their box office standing.
Jackie and Anil were not big stars during Yudh.
Even Suniel (Shetty) and Akshay (Kumar) were relatively new during Mohra while Raveena (Tandon), though popular, was not a Sridevi.
Among Vishwatma's leading ladies, Sonam was already my wife, Jyotsna Singh was never seen in another film and Divya Bharti, while a star down South, would not have had a career in Bollywood had it not been for me. Three-four producers had signed and dropped her.
I can claim credit for introducing this beautiful girl in Hindi cinema.
Arjun Rampal also debuted in your film, Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat.
I had met Arjun when he was still a model wanting to become an actor and we became friends.
He had signed cinematographer Ashok Mehta's first film as a director, Moksha, and showed me portions from it.
He was also doing another ace photographer, Shantanu Sheorey's Jadh.
Jadh never released, even Moksha released much later, and Arjun made a confident debut in Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat.
Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, a love story, with Suniel Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani and Arjun Rampal chasing Keerthi Reddy's Isha, was unlike the usual Rajiv Rai film.
Yeah, love stories don't really excite me, but back then, I was in the darkest phase of my life and in a different frame of mine. So I decided to experiment with a new genre.
But with Asambhav, I returned to action and thrills which is more up my street.
Reportedly, you wanted to cast Aishwarya Rai in Asambhav?
I was the first film-maker to approach Aishwarya Rai, but it was for Mohra and not Asambhav.
But she was leaving for the Miss World competition and pointed out that if she won the crown, she would be travelling for a year. So she refused the offer.
I never went back to her once she became a star.
I signed another Miss World, Priyanka Chopra for Asambhavopposite Arjun.
From Yudh's romantic Kya Hua, Kya Nahin to Tridev's evergreen Tirchi Topivale, from Vishwatma's foot-tapping Saat Samundar to Mohra's chartbusting Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast and Gupt's catchy title track, the USP of your films has been the songs.
Viju Shah, your frequent collaborator, has returned to compose the music of Zora.
Yes. Viju is back; we always shared a great tuning.
Composing for a film is like a scientific experiment, you have to keep in mind the genre and look, the song situation and the mood of the characters.
Like a chef, you have to dish out something for every palate, from Mughlai and Chinese to Thai and Continental.
Viju would come with something new every day, I would listen to him and give my feedback.
Sometimes he would ask me questions too on the situation and how I planned to shoot the song.
The backbone of any song is the melody and rhythm, and then the lyrics.
All these films had six-seven songs, but like a James Bond film, Zora has only one title track.
There are no songs cutting into the narrative or even playing in the background, but I still spent months with Viju on the background score.
Zora is very different from my earlier films, but it is still a Rajiv Rai film.
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