Mumbai, July 6 (IANS) After his blockbuster “Rang De Basanti”, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is busy shooting “Dilli 6” and says his wife Bharathi has just begun to edit this Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor starrer. The director is curious to see the outcome of his hard work. “I’m dying to see what I’ve done in ‘Delhi 6’. I haven’t entered the editing studio yet. Since she is doing the editing, she first needs to be happy with my work. I need to let her do her work. It’s the same with any other technician on board,” Mehra told IANS.
“I can’t sit on A.R. Rahman’s head when he’s composing a song. Or I can’t instruct Binod Pradhan on the lighting when he’s shooting. To me, editing is the purest art form in cinema. It’s the only vocation that’s truly related to cinema. “If you see cinematography it originates in photography and painting. Screenplay writing originated from plays, stories and literature. Acting has its roots in folk and theatre. Direction is also a derivative. Film editing is the only pure and original art form. It’s the only vocation born for and out of cinema. So I’d rather let it be done by someone who knows her job.”
Mehra believes screen writing and editing are the backbones of a movie. “The way scenes are cut determines the film. I don’t know her job better than her, so I let Bharathi take care of the material. What would I do sitting with her? I’ve got better things to do in life.”
Mehra is far from fatigued. “Am I tired? Tiredness is a state of mind. But yes, I did need a break. So I’m writing and that for me is a break from direction. While directing I was reaching the sets every day at 8 a.m. and leaving at 10 p.m. Writing requires a different discipline and a different energy. I’m already writing my next film.”
Whom will he cast now? “I never think of whom to cast while writing. The characters get cast on their own. The script chooses the actor. The one I’m writing now needn’t be the one that I’ll direct next. What one makes depends on so many factors including the availability of the actors that I want.
“Yes, I do have a wish-list for my next film. But one has to have options. Suppose I don’t get Rahman for the music, I might go with Vangelis (Greek composer). And it’d become a totally different tune. And if it’s Om Puri instead of Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan), it’s a different film.”
— By Subhash K. Jha
