courtesy open magazine
It’s been a while since he delivered a hit at the box-office, but he is still regarded as one of Bollywood’s most prominent filmmakers, with a reputation for directing large-scale weepies. Known to be a hard taskmaster with his cast and crew, he is famous for screaming at assistants, and there are the occasional stories of physical abuse too.
But friends and family insist it is all for the sake of his art: “He can’t suffer fools. Nothing is more important to him than the shot.” In the good ol’ days, few assistants lasted longer than a week, sometimes two, on his sets. Most who fled left sobbing after a bitter dressing-down. Those who lasted usually joked that they could work anywhere and with anyone after the intense experience they had been through.
Although the filmmaker in question has reportedly mellowed with age, there are still enough stories of his tyrannical ways. The stars of his latest film, both working with him for the first time, have already had a taste of his famous temper, but they insist he cools off just as quickly. While shooting in Jaipur recently, the actors discovered that he’s got a Dr Jekyll-Mr Hyde thing going. “He’d bark and yell at them on the sets during the day, then take them out to fancy dinners after pack-up,” a source reveals. “You can’t hate such a guy. You just try not to get in his way.”