Director Anubhav Sinha questions polarities and communities and believes that no politician or government can eliminate the deep distrust in our society until each of us changes individually, says Saimi Sattar
Before I could even fire my first round of questions, I am fielding one from Anubhav Sinha who wants to know whether I cover politics or celebrities. “I have been talking to more of the political ones since the content of Mulk, my latest movie became common knowledge,” says the 53-year-old director. I tell him I am neither but do wish to map the human condition and am in identity flux myself.
While the interview is scheduled, I happen to bump into him outside the coffee shop of a recently renovated five-star hotel. The gloss doesn’t get to him or his visceral understanding of society. He begins by recalling an incident that had happened a day before. “I had gone for dinner at the India Islamic Centre with some friends and this was prominently wrapped around my neck,” he says, whipping out a mustard yellow gamcha emblazoned with Jai Shri Ram on it in saffron. Not surprisingly, given the location, he invited quite a few stares. “But there were also four-five people who came up to tell me that I was doing good work.”
At the dinner, he recalls telling his Muslim friends point blank that often people from their community do things that were bound to invite the ire of the majority. “It says in the trailer too, ‘Agar tum patakhe phodoge to Pakistani kehlaoge’. If you really love that country, you are free to go there. The opportunity did not close down in 1947 but be prepared to be called Mohajir there,” he says.
Sinha does not mince words, be it with friends or speaking to the Press. A clip that has gone viral — where a journalist asks him about the link between Islam and terrorism — shows Sinha telling him to read up, especially on history. When badgered further, he said in no uncertain terms that terrorism could not be explained briefly because there was a lot more to it than a simple formula.
But he is not that particular when it comes to food choices. When a ham and cheese croissant that he orders is not available, he settles for a butter variant and orders a cappuccino as he sits down to chat about his new movie and more. Dressed in red jacket, a pale yellow T-shirt, jeans and red and black sneakers, Sinha has no airs. No one approaches him during the chat which stretches over more than half-an-hour. He could have been just anyone. Then he analyses how many of the problems that India faces can be linked to a lack of education. “The uneducated class among the Muslims, who have been brought up with the concept of loving Pakistan more than loving India, just because it happens to be a Muslim country, naturally riles the non-Muslims,” he says.
Sinha equally believes that the ills that ravage our country cannot be blamed upon the political class. “If you have a problem with a guy who wears a skull cap and beard sitting next to you, then you need to examine who you have become. And it is no Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi who will solve the problem. We will have to sit down and solve it ourselves. It is ridiculous to imagine that one of these governments will make us live in harmony,” says Sinha, who also took upon himself to conduct a survey across 70 cities which covered 3,000 people which is larger than the size of some exit polls, to better understand the country. What seems to have hit him hard is that nine per cent people believe that beef-eaters should be lynched. “This is close enough for we see it everyday,” he adds.
He believes that the way forward is a better understanding between communities. “Yesterday, while doing an interview I happened to say something very interesting unconsciously — 70 saal ladkar dekh liya ab 7 saal pyaar kar ke dekhte hain. I believe that this would have better results,” he asserts.
And better communication between communities is the key. “Why can’t people ask a Muslim friend or a neighbour about contentious issues like jihad or triple talaqIJ Even Muslim TV panellists who discuss triple talaq have no idea about meher (dower), witness, maulvi or that the three talaqs have to be staggered over a certain number of days. Muslim women have to be appeased as the community has to be divided along gender lines. Jihad has killed more Muslims than non-Muslims, so it is not Islamic in any way. According to them, Quran talks about jihad but they do not know what it says as they have not read it,” he says. He also points out Islam came to India a 100 years before the Mughals did and the first masjid was built in Kerala.
He holds the forwards on Whatsapp as being one of the culprits for the spread of fake news and false information. He also points out that these propagators are the very people who get upset with India’s Partition and believe that Mahatma Gandhi deserved to be killed. “But it is pure mathematics. There are 130 crore Indians of which 20 crore are Muslims. If Partition had not happened, there would be an additional 30 crore Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh, so the ratio would be 160 crore people of which 50 crore would be Muslims. You can’t deal with 20 crore Muslims, how would you have dealt with 50IJ Either stop condemning the Partition or start loving Muslims because they aren’t going anywhere nor are they converting to Hinduism,” he jabs.
The only way forward is to change our own personal mindset on a daily basis, he feels. “We will have to read up history, stop reading Whatsapp messages. I want to ask people who first created the concept of IndiaIJ And I am not going to name the person because I want at least four people to read up who did it.”
The idea of removing biases directed the discussion towards “Talk To A Muslim” campaign which has been started to counter Islamophobia but has the community divided as some feel that it is patronising. “The minority will be patronised and they should not feel bad about it. When I was in Aligarh, I was in a minority and during riots, everyone was concerned about me. The local boys took me home for a meal to make me feel comfortable. It is not condescending or patronising. It is just taking extra care of a person. Just like you aren’t sexist if you open a door for a woman,” he asserts.
The reason for Sinha’s mental make-up can also be attributed to the life he has led. He is from Banaras and went on to do Mechanical Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University in 1988. “The Muslims used to say Allah Ta’ala. I was a Hindu child and wondered why Allah is called Taala (a lock). I asked a maulana and he he said it is Ta’ala which means number one,” he says.
Just like his years in AMU, Sinha made sure that he had done his homework for the movie. “When I was making the film, I read up because this would remain for posterity. And I also knew that I would be asked questions about it. I spoke for hours to a friend who stays in the US and knows a lot about Islam,” he says about the preparations that he did for the movie.
And the effort paid off. “During the shoot Chintuji called me and asked what is Sunnat and when I explained to him that these are the traditions of the Prophet or the things that he did in his life, he stared at me for a long time and said, ‘does he know or is he making a fool out of meIJ’ So Neenaji (Gupta) was there and she said, ‘no I feel he knows.’”
The idea of the movie has been in the gestation for sometime. “I have always had this feeling and impression that a majority of people do not want a confrontation. I was affected by the 2002 riots but felt that this feeling has ended. But now the incidents have started again and are way more regular and serious in intensity,” he says. last April, taking off from some four-five headlines which he refuses to divulge as it would give away the movie’s plot, he decided to script Mulk. “As much as my friends loved the story, they told me that I should not attempt to make it as no actor would work in it and no one would put money,” he says. Despite being disheartened, one weekend he wrote the first draft of 90 pages with dialogues. “I gave it to the same friends and they loved it.”
Getting the actors for the film was not tough. Taapsee Pannu was the first one on board as they had been discussing the idea even before Sinha had scripted it. “This was much before Pink came out. The day I finished it, I asked her to come down to my office to read it as I didn’t want to send it out,” he says. The next one to be signed was Rishi Kapoor. “When I started writing, Rishiji’s face showed up in my head because I needed someone who looked vulnerable but could also be the patriarch who could stand up for the family. And he has both the qualities. A very dear friend introduced me to him. Thankfully he heard the story and immediately agreed to the role. He, in fact, took a pay cut. Rajat Kapoor was happy to play any part in the film.”
In times when difficult content often does not make it past the Censor Board, Sinha is very happy with the role that its members have played. “I was wary of them as I had stood against the Censor Board every time I felt the need to. But they watched the movie, discussed it and we found a way that would make both of us happy,” he says.
However, post the trailer, he was trolled. “About 80 per cent of the people, and I am going by the comments on the trailer on YouTube, are very positive. But 20 per cent of them are polarised where they think the movie is either funded by Dawood or the RSS,” he says.
But Sinha is happy that people are intrigued by his film and that at least it has set off a talking point. “It is a story of our times. Everything that you are concerned about as a Muslim and everything that I am concerned about as a Hindu, I have tried to talk about it. It’s been my belief, if there is something between two individuals, it is best said rather than left unsaid,” he believes.
But moving on from Mulk, Sinha has had a chequered movie history. He started out with Tum Bin, which was offered to him after he had assisted Pankaj Parashar for three years on a children’s film Aasman se Gira and Rajkumar with Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor. He went on to do a TV show called Shikast which had a lot of actors who are big names now, including Ashish Vidyarthi, Ashutosh Rana and Manoj Bajpai. Then he did a show called Sea Hawks for UTV.
Shot in Calgary, Tum Bin is hard to forget not just because of the compelling storyline but also the beautiful location. Made at a modest cost of Rs 3 crore, it earned Rs 9 crore worldwide despite being made with a relatively unknown cast. He tried to replicate the magic with Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai and failed. He went on to do Dus and also Ra.One. “I want to make good films and I also end up making some bad ones in the process. But then I am human and fallible. I am not concerned with genres. I was 35 and perhaps feeling romantic made a love story. Then I got resources, so I chose to make Dus, an action film. Then Shahrukh Khan agreed to make a film with me, so I did Ra.One. I was disturbed by headlines and Mulk was a result. There is no design. It is a very organic process,” he says about not sticking to a genre. He is working on a comedy which he has also written and there’s a script by Gaurav Saluke.
Sinha feels that one can never define a narrative thread that is distinct to him simply because his treatment, syntax and content have changed because of a change in him. “I realised that I had started reading again after 30 years and that has changed something inside me,” says Sinha who usually reads three books at one time. Currently he is hooked to Amritsar by Mark Tully and Satish Jacob, Ayodhya by Jha brothers and Blood Telegram, which is based on the 1971 war. Before this, he read Discovery of India and wants to follow it up with My Experiments with Truth. “All I know is that I have a voracious appetite for knowledge. If there is a word that I don’t know I want to find out where it came from and what it means,” he says. As long as he keeps searching, he will come up with more answers. And films.