Filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya has returned after seven years with his latest film, Uunchai. It tells the story of four friends who’re like family to each other, and according to the director, all his films have been about family. In a new interview with Humans of Bombay, Barjatya shared what made him choose filmmaking as a profession and also why it took him so much time to make his directorial debut Maine Pyar Kiya, starring Salman Khan and Bhagyashree.
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At the age of 17, Barjatya saw his father Raj Kumar Barjatya at work, and that was when he was ‘mesmerised’ by the process of filmmaking. But his father had doubts about him, since he was a ‘shy’ kid in school. “Dad wasn’t sure–I was an under-confident kid. I’d sit alone in class, never partake in activities; my teachers didn’t even know my name! So Dad’s, ‘How will you manage?’ made sense. But it was the first time I’d felt strongly about something. My heart said, ‘Just take the plunge’,” shared Barjatya.
After completing high school, Barjatya didn’t go to college and assisted Mahesh Bhatt on the film Saransh when he was 19. “I started on 1st January, 1984–that new year brought along a ‘new’ Sooraj. And right from delivering scripts to the actors to helping with the set up, I did everything,” shared the filmmaker. When he started out in the Hindi film industry, Barjatya’s father advised him, “Take inspiration from your life,” and that is when he decided to make films about Indian families.
Sooraj Barjatya started writing his first film, Maine Pyar Kiya, at the age of 21, but the first draft of the script got rejected. “Let me tell you a fun fact, the first script got rejected and it took me 2 years to write a new one.” It was just the beginning of his problems. The filmmaker described the journey of making Maine Pyar Kiya as “daunting.” He shared, “At Rajshri, our production house, our last few films were a flop and we were suffering financially. No actor wanted to work with us. And then, one day, I met a young man who we’d rejected after his first screen test. But there was something about him. So, 5 months later, we got him on board. That man was Salman Khan.”
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The next problem that Barjatya faced was ‘money’. “The script was ready and so was the cast, but there was no money. But we knew the film would work. So, Dad borrowed. The shoot began and we know what happened then—it became an iconic film,” he added.
Over the years, the filmmaker has made many hit family dramas, but not all of them became box office hits. But Barjatya said that he doesn’t look at the success of his movies in terms of numbers. He stated, “Over the years, a lot of people have said–‘We keep going back to your movies.’ It reminds them of simpler times and that’s what I want to keep doing. In fact, my next film, Uunchai, is also a film of that kind–a film on friendship; for everyone! And I don’t want to worry about the numbers…when through my stories people experience joy and hope, woh mere liye hit hai!”
Next, Sooraj Barjatya is planning to make a film with Salman Khan, with whom he has collaborated on films such as Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, Hum Saath-Saath Hain and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
