Film stars not ready for TV’

Why is BR Films doing television despite such a big hit in Baghban?

A long time back, I had decided that to get a foothold in the industry as an entertainment company, we must do both movies and TV. You cannot be a full-fledged film-making company if you do not produce television software. And we are going to continue producing for both.

What is your new serial Viraasat all about?

I was inspired by the story of Romeo and Juliet about members of two warring families falling in love. We have tried to imagine what would have happened had Romeo and Juliet actually married rather than succumbed to the situation. So, Viraasat is about Rahul Lamba (Rohit Roy) and Priyanka Kharbanda (Sangeeta Ghosh) actually marrying and taking on the task of uniting the two families. The other important characters in the families are played by Aman Verma, Amar Upadhyay, Kiran Kumar and Deepak Qazir.

Despite your access to big film stars why did you go for the same old TV faces for Viraasat?

While making Kamini Damini for TV with Hema Malini, I realised that I had put Hemaji under a lot of pressure. She was used to coming for two or three scenes every day and going home. Here she was having to shoot 10 scenes a day. We were not being fair to her. So, I have come to the conclusion that film actors are not really ready for the pressures of TV and we shouldn't push them into it.

How would you classify Viraasat vis-a-vis the archetypal saas-bahu serials on TV?

See, we have treated Viraasat like a film. I believe there's no difference between film and TV. Both are forms of entertainment. On TV, we come to your home to entertain you. In movies, you come to our home to be entertained. I did not make another saas-bahu serial because we at BR Films do not believe in treading the beaten path. You have to walk new grounds to be successful. So even though the theme of Viraasat may sound like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak or Saudagar, it has been treated very differently.

If you do not differentiate between films and TV, how do you determine which project demands which medium?

The length determines that primarily. We try to determine whether a story can be told in two-and-a-half hours or do we need more time. Like I don't believe Mahabharata can be made into a film. It would lose a lot of its original flavour. Similarly for Viraasat, we thought that the subject needs a lot more time to explore it properly. In fact, we have planned 260 episodes in total (130 hours of software).

How come you are not directing any episode of Viraasat?

That's because I am already into a couple of films. TV is a hungry medium and needs 30 days a month. That would leave me with no time for movies. But yes, whenever my Viraasat cast is bored or are not having fun, they call me over on the sets and I direct a scene to make them happy (laughs).

Talking about films, what is the status of Baabul?

The schedule did go haywire because of Amitji's illness but we have now again got dates from all the stars. Initially we were supposed to start shooting on December 9 and finish the film by February 10.

Amitji was hospitalised around the same time and the film couldn't take off. Yes, we did suffer financial losses because of the schedule. When Amitji got fit to shoot, John Abraham and Salman Khan had gone for a world tour. As of now, the film is 50 per cent complete and we will start our final schedule on June 19. The film should release by November.

Have there been any changes in the script because of Amitji's illness?

I can't change it. The film is about him. How a father-in-law becomes the father of the bride or baabul. In traditional Indian parlance, the biggest daan for a man is kanyadaan. In the process, he starts a family, starts a society and starts a nation. So, it's not that simple a transition. And Amitji is the baabul.

You are already planning more films with him…

Yes, after Baabul, we will be producing a film called Bhootnath about the relationship between a ghost and a child. Amitji will play the ghost and the film will be directed by Vivek Sharma, who was an assistant to Mahesh Bhatt. Then, my son Abhay Chopra will make his directorial debut with the period piece called Mitti, where Amitji will play a Rajput warrior.

What will be your next directorial venture?

Next year, I will make a quick comedy, Pappu Paas Ho Gaya, about a lawyer who has failed law school for six years and suddenly lands this crucial murder case. Yes, the basic idea is from My Cousin Vinny. The casting is yet to happen. Then I am planning to make an elderly romance with Amitji and Hemaji again. In the film, when they were young their romance didn't work out and how they meet again. I want to cast their real children — Abhishek and Esha Deol — in their young avatars.