By Subhash K Jha
BOLLYWOOD: On Feb 24, Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) turns 51 without fanfare.
Says the director, “Last year my sister arranged a big surprise 50th birthday party. This year I am in a quiet space. I just want to think and write.I never believed in birthday parties. During childhood my sister and I had no birthday parties.We would take a packet of sweets to school and distribute it to our class-mates. That was it.We never had birthday parties. Nor were we allowed to go to parties. Now it has become a habit to be on my own on my birthday.”
SLB feels more creatively fulfilled now than he ever did. “I feel I am at that stage of my life when all my hard work , all the knowledge and experiences that I’ve gathered over the years have come to fruition. I feel more fulfilled and complete today than I did when I was 40.”
Post the grand success of Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela, SLB feels rejuvenated. “I’m more adventurous now. I am more fearless as an artiste.I am working with various kinds of talent. I directed an opera in Paris in 2008. Now I want to do more of the things that I can do if I have a team around me .Today I am working far harder than I did five years ago. I put in nearly 20 hours every day.And I am enjoying every bit of it.”
At the moment, SLB is producing a massy masala movie called Gabbar. “I’ve grown up in Bhuleshwar. I’d pass through the red-light area every day looking at those theatres with those eccentric names. I’ve grown up with the rowdies and the Gabbars all around me. I loved those movies of the early 1970s near Alfred Talkies. The humour in my life even in my in own family was filmy. It’s a wonderful thing to go back to these titles.”
The creator would want to rewrite a single word of the screenplay so far.
“All the pain, suffering, love passion and conflict have made me what I am.I make passionate love stories because I don’t have love in my life. My art completes my life.My life may be unfulfilled. But it isn’t unhappy.”
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