‘We aren’t AI. We’re allowed to interrupt, and rebuild.’

IMAGE: Vijay Varma and Fatima Sana Shaikh in Gustaakh Ishq.

Some interviews start with questions. This one started with tears.

When Syed Firdaus Ashraf quoted an Urdu couplet from Gustaakh Ishq, the movie’s director Vibhu Puri unexpectedly broke down. The identical line had been his grandfather’s remaining phrases to him.

What unfolded after that second was way over a movie dialog. Vibhu opened up a few childhood formed by a displaced grandfather from Rawalpindi, a person who misplaced his residence in Partition however carried the Urdu language like a sacred inheritance.

He spoke of being the one one amongst six cousins who learnt Urdu, of his grandfather who taught him about love past borders and of being scolded by his Ustani throughout Urdu classes even as we speak.

 

After I met you proper after watching Gustaakh Ishq, you cried once I quoted the couplet, ‘Bahut der kar di aatey aatey.’ Why did it hit you so deeply?

That was the very last thing my grandfather stated to me earlier than he handed away.

Listening to it unexpectedly, after so a few years, (hidden wounds) opened every little thing once more.

My grandfather (Uttamchand Puri) got here from Rawalpindi after Partition. He misplaced every little thing, however introduced Urdu with him.

He was fearful that nobody within the household would carry the Urdu language ahead. We have been six cousins. Being the youngest, I used to be the one he obtained maintain of, and I began studying Urdu alphabets from the age of 10.

Gustaakh Ishq is a kind of tribute to him.

I couldn’t be with him in his final days, as I used to be busy with my movie profession in Mumbai.

I used to be working in Saawariya, after which Guzaarish with Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

IMAGE: Vijay Varma and Fatima Sana Shaikh in Gustaakh Ishq.

How did you get to work on Saawariya?

I needed to be a painter, however my dad and mom did not need me to be one.

So I got here to movies. Now, I make work value crores reasonably than on a palette.

I joined FTII (Movie and Tv Institute of India) and it was right here that I met Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He requested me to work with him in Saawariya (as an assistant director).

Do you continue to be taught Urdu?

Sure. If I do not do my homework, my instructor scolds me.

My mom taught me Gurmukhi; we converse Punjabi at residence, however Urdu is my grandfather’s reward.

What did your grandfather and father educate you about life?

He had seen Partition however carried no bitterness.

He started his life in India from scratch.

He taught me one factor: Love individuals.

At this age, I’ve realised that you simply suppose your father is lifeless however they by no means die. They dwell inside you eternally.

My grandfather and father will keep inside me eternally.

You appear very emotional. You cry simply. You stated you even cry watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. What makes you unafraid of exhibiting emotion?

Why ought to males not cry?

I choke up day-after-day.

I watch cricket and cry.

I cry when one thing strikes me, when one thing hurts, when one thing is gorgeous… That is what makes us human.

We aren’t AI. We’re allowed to interrupt, and rebuild.

This emotional honesty displays in Gustaakh Ishq too. Your characters are flawed.

After all. Because the hero’s brother tells him, ‘Shikari aadmi jo khud shikar ho jaata hain’ (The hero thinks he’s a hunter however he at all times get hunted by girls).

My hero cannot even say ‘khuda hafiz‘ (Goodbye). He’s too emotional.

How did you are taking Hawaizaada’s failure?

I broke.

Solely you recognize the world you create.

If others do not perceive it, what do you do?

When your baby fails, your coronary heart breaks.

It took me a very long time to come back out of that. 

IMAGE: Vijay Varma and Naseeruddin Shah in Gustaakh Ishq.

Naseeruddin Shah’s character, Aziz, in Gustaakh Ishq is heartbroken.

Sure. Aziz cannot stand as much as his personal guilt.

He does not inform his daughter the reality as a result of he is scared she is going to hate him.

He lives with that guilt eternally.

Some individuals can by no means escape it. Time heals, however slowly.=

How did you persuade Manish Malhotra about Gustaakh Ishq?

He did not name me for this movie. He referred to as me for an additional one, primarily based on a guide set in Lucknow.

It was a beautiful guide however I used to be doing Heeramandi and Taj.

I am a gradual author and did not really feel my soul in that story.

I informed him if I hold telling different individuals’s tales, who will inform mine?

At our second assembly, he requested me to direct my very own story. That is the way it occurred.

Inform us in regards to the casting.

Vijay Varma was my junior at FTII. He had the appropriate texture for this position.

He seems to be like he carries historical past and was good for Nawabuddin.

Fatima Sana Shaikh learn the script and stated sure in three hours.

As for Naseeruddin Shah, I blackmailed him and informed him that with out him, this film was not doable. Fortunately, he agreed.

What stays of your core perception as a filmmaker and as an individual?

Rumi stated, ‘Wherever you might be, be in love.’

I consider that.

Love will heal at all times.

Movies, languages, households, nations… love is the one factor that places us again collectively.

That’s what I attempt to do with my cinema.

Save our tehzeeb.

Save our tradition.

Remind individuals we’re human, not good and predictable.

We make errors. That is our magnificence.

Images curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff