"It's difficult to make a good film today"

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron still lives on in our memory as one of the most remarkable films ever made. Kundan Shah speaks about his legendary satire and why he could not sustain that mark he made after his debut

Those who’ve seen Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron — the 1983 madcap satire that showed the victimisation of the common man at the hands of the corrupt, the rich and the powerful — are most likely to be disturbed by Kundan Shah’s unexplained disappearance from the movie scene. The director, who showed a remarkable spark of irreverence in his debut film, managed to make films that left no mark on the silver screen later (Kya Kehna, Hum To Mohabbat Karega, Dil Hain Tumhara, amongst others).

When I caught up with him at NFAI, in between sessions on the Uniqueness of the Indian script organised by FWA (Film Writer’s Association), Mumbai and FTII, he spoke to me about the reasons behind his absence from the contemporary film world and about his most definite work till date — JBDY. Here are some excerpts:

Why don’t you make movies anymore? So many of JBDY fans are eager to see your work again...
Nowadays, you have to write two scripts — one that will appeal to the commercial format of our times, and the other that you really want to write — even when it’s so difficult to complete one script also. Today it is very difficult to be honest and say the truth. That’s a problem for filmmakers in recent times. It’s difficult to make a good film, since you have to recover the cost of your film on the very Friday it releases.

JBDY completed 25 years two years back and the film has seen a revival of sorts. There’s a renewed interest in it — many people have written about it and it almost seems to have become some kind of a classic. Why do you think JBDY appeals to people even today, when the socio-political circumstances that contextualised your satire, have undergone a sea change?
Maybe it’s the pain ….that’s still reaching out...the pain that the characters in the movie feel.

But do people really relate to those characters anymore? While the audience in the ’80s could probably empathise with them, today, sympathy has replaced that emotion...
Probably...I’ve never thought of this actually. But yeah, perhaps that’s because audiences today are better off than the average people that the characters represented. They are a part of the system today..earlier, they were victims. Back then, we could identify our villians, now they have become faceless. Look at Vedanta — we live in a world full of Vedantas, there are many Dawoods today, corruption is everywhere. Are we a part of all this? — that’s the question we have to ask ourselves.

Naseeruddin Shah, who plays one of the lead characters in the film, has written in his reminiscences about JBDY that you, Kundan Shah, were never able to replicate the magic of that film later....
We tried making a sequel to JBDY. I wanted to make a completely political film. So I told everybody, let’s get over the first part completely. Let’s not have any hangovers. Let’s not try to replicate the experience of JBDY. But for various reasons, it didn’t work out.

Ravi Baswani, Nasser’s partner in unearthing crime in the film, passed away recently. JBDY probably gave him the best role of his life...
Oh, he was phenomenal. I remember there was this one scene where he’s waiting eagerly for a customer to walk in to his photo studio. He mistakes the first person who walks in for a customer. He doesn’t give that man a chance to speak and almost forces him to pose in front of the camera. That whole scene was so hilarious — we couldn’t get a straight shot! The camera kept shaking, because the cameraman just couldn’t stop laughing at Ravi’s histrionics. That, I think, was a great compliment to the actor in him.

What’s next for you? We hope you keep making movies...
(Shrugs) I’m thinking of what to do next. I have a few ideas, but let’s see when they work out.