Vidhu Vinod Chopra shares an unseen '1942: A Love Story' moment, saying, "Real Cinema Is Made With Passion, Not Presentations
GOA: Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra launched a no-holds-barred, earnest attack on the state of cinema today at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) underway here. Speaking during a packed session, Chopra said people keep telling him, "Films are no longer being made; only projects are." Today's filmmaking is all about glossy presentations rather than heartfelt storytelling.
Chopra confided that actor Sanjay Dutt constantly ribs him for being "the only filmmaker who still writes scripts with paper and pen," when most films are conceptualised via PowerPoint decks rather than creative conviction.
Amidst all the talk, Chopra shared a fascinating, lesser-known incident from his classic movie 1942: A Love Story. Back then, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, one of India's most iconic directors of today, was an assistant on the film.
The popular song 'Pyaar Hua Chupke Se' required a sequence featuring birds flying around actress Manisha Koirala. But the location—a high-altitude shooting spot—posed a problem: birds simply didn't appear there. The team struggled to capture the natural beauty the song demanded.
Bhansali, an aspiring and creative young assistant at the time, had come up with a really simple yet brilliant solution. Early the next morning, he spread breadcrumbs all over the location in the hope that some birds would come. And they did. As the birds came to the spot, the team were able to shoot the sequence just as Chopra wanted them to.
Chopra said the incident remains a reminder that cinema cannot rely solely on VFX, technology, or elaborate presentations. “Real filmmaking requires passion, hard work and sincerity,” he said.
He adds that it is for this reason that classics of the 80s and 90s continue to live in the memories of audiences, while most films made today dissolve within weeks.
The story is small, but there is a deeper point to be inferred from it about the film industry today: genuine cinema comes from ingenuity and emotional candour, not from spreadsheets and sales pitches.
