King of commercial success

You have become a brand – the Rohit Shetty brand – with films like Golmaal, Singham, Chennai Express and All the Best. Karan Johar also mentioned this during the trailer launch of Siimba. Your take?

When I started making these films, I never thought about it. Even today, I don't think about it. But, now that people talk about me as a brand, I have started taking myself seriously – that okay I am a brand (laughs). It is also because of the body of work that I have been doing for so many years; I mean, Simmba is my thirteenth film. I think what has also worked is, one, the films doing well on satellite when they air on television. My films cater to the family audience. Two, I am even doing television by hosting shows etc., so you can put a face to the name. Earlier, it was just Rohit Shetty; now this name has a face.

At first, you were this person behind the camera and now you are in front of it.

Yes, all that put together has worked for me. I would not say that I have been deliberately building a brand but I have been conscious of the films I am making and the kind of audience I am catering to. None of my films has been an experiment. Through my years of making films, I have never for once thought, let me do this experiment, let's do this part. I think that has worked for me. I have been conscious of taking decisions and I think that has worked for me. All these things put together have, as you said, made me a brand (laughs). I still don't know!

Coming to Simmba, you already have a cop franchise. What is the difference between Singham and Simmba?

I think Simmba is totally different. When you watch the film, the only comparison you can make is that it is set in the same world. That is how we have tried to sketch the screenplay. The film is in Singham's world. He is the narrator of the film. Then comes this cop who is totally the opposite of Singham. He is corrupt, he is notorious and he doesn't believe in the law. He is not honest. That is what makes him completely different from Singham. I didn't want to do the same cop, honest cop, again. He has grey shades. I would say he is an anti-hero in the first half of the film. Then things change in the second-half. It is completely different from what we have done in Singham. If I had done the same thing, it would have become boring. I would have cast Ajay (Devgn) if I had to do the honest cop.

You mentioned just now and also at the trailer launch that Singham is narrating the story. Did you think about it when you started writing the story?

I wanted to create that world. I would not say we are trying to compete, or trying to be like Avengers. They are huge superhero films. But we can create that kind of narrative in our own set-up too. Now we have Singham, we have Simmba and, you never know, we might make another film tomorrow where those guys come together.

You have many successful franchises. You have Singham, you have Golmaal and Simmba is your third. What, according to you, is the formula to make a successful franchise?

There is just no formula. There are so many part twos releasing, so many sequels releasing, but it is my belief that a sequel should be made only when it works on satellite, not in theatres. It is not right to make a sequel to a film that worked in theatres 20 years ago. If the film works well in satellite, I think it means it is well-received by the audience, time and again. After six months, when the film comes on television and it still works there, despite the debate in the family about who is watching what, so many other channels and modes of entertainment that are available, that means it has connected with the audience.

In your franchises, you don't connect the story of each film to the others. It's basically a series of films.

The characters are the same, most of them. I think somewhere down the line, if you connect the story and if you keep moving with the same story, after a point, it becomes monotonous. It is better to take the characters and move forward with the stories. That's what Hollywood also does, be it Spider-Man, Batman or Superman. They don't continue the same story. They always continue the character. That's what we are trying to do too, continue with the character and not the story. I feel it will become monotonous after two-three films. How much can you stretch the same story?

You are the only filmmaker who makes one film each year in a set time period and your film releases on the day it is set to release. How do you manage that?

(Laughs) That is because of my team. It is hectic, it's not an easy thing to do. You have to work 20 hours a day sometimes. It is painstaking. But then that's the fun. Many directors tell me that their producers tell them, 'Why are you so slow in making films? Look at Rohit Shetty, he makes a film each year and you guys are taking two years to make one film.' But I love that. All my films are not like that but I think six months are enough for me to make a film.

Taking this question forward, we spoke to Sara Ali Khan recently. She said that despite the many issues that crop up in the course of a shoot, you always manage to style calm.

You know you can pull it off. And these are the things that will happen. You cannot escape them. You train your mind to anticipate these things that are going to happen and what the options are and what is Plan B. That makes it easier. Fretting will not stop problems from happening. Instead of worrying, it's better to just shift to Plan B. That is true when shooting a film as well as in your own life.

The masala entertainer genre was very popular in the '80s and '90s but somewhere down the line, it faded. You are one of the few filmmakers who have, time and again, proved every critic and pseudo-intellectual wrong by driving in huge footfalls to watch these larger-than-life movies. Do you think this genre will ever vanish from the industry?

No, it will never go away. How do I put it? The new generation of journalists and the people who are writing articles today are not all that well-read or well-educated as far as cinema is concerned. They say that the times are changing. But I have been hearing this for donkey's years now (laughs). Time is not changing; you are moving ahead with time. When you tag a film as a 'multiplex film' and say that the times have changed, that it is not the case. This kind of cinema has always been there.

Earlier, it was called 'art cinema'; today it is called 'multiplex cinema'. These two worlds have always been there. But why differentiate? Why scare the new generation of directors and actors that they should not do certain things? We are still a country where Naagin does very well! We are in the entertainment business. Obviously, you have to change after every 8 or 10 years. You change the interiors of your house too every eight to ten years, the same goes for commercial cinema. The format cannot change but the palette, the approach and tastes, can change. Today, Simmba cannot wear a blazer like cops in old films used to, like Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan) or Vinodji (Vinod Khanna) used to. ACPs used to wear blazers before, today you cannot do that.

All these things are changing. The approach can change. The aesthetics can change. But commercial cinema will never cease to exist. Also, it is not something that should be discussed. Illiterate journalists are doing this. When I say 'illiterate', I mean they do not know cinema. If you say that a Tumhari Sulu or a Hichki did well, they did so because they were good films. We had Ardh Satya also with Om Puri in the '80s. We had Mili in the '70s. We had Do Bigha Zamin in the '50s and '60s. It is just that those journalists write down what is the flavour of the season without doing any research. That is how they become a part of the race. When an Amar Akbar Anthony was being made, a Mili, a Golmaal and a Chupke Chupke were being made too. These films co-existed. While Amitji and Dharamji (Dharmendra) were doing Sholay, they were wearing kurta-pyajama and doing Chupke Chupke too. Parimal Tripathi was Veeru in Sholay (laughs). So, it is nothing new. It is just that we keep changing the palette. The future will have commercial cinema and there will be the other kind of cinema too.

I really believe we should not differentiate. A good film is a good film. You have scripts and palettes in a commercial film too. It is not like every art film or multiplex film is doing well. Our success rate is 10-12 per cent every year. 230 films release every year, of which 15 do well. This is not a point of discussion. It is being written that way because they have nothing else to say. 'Times are changing' means nothing.