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In search of oneself

V S Srinivasan

N Chandra. Click for bigger pic!

N Chandra's one name that goes well with both commercial and parallel cinema. The man is still busy with his new film, Wajood (Identity), wherein he studies people who lose their own identity trying to please others.

Chandra, who has so successfully churned out hard-hitting films in a row, made his mark with the angryAnkush, then the controversial Pratighaat, Tezaab and Narsimha. And now he has with him Wajood, starring Nana Patekar, Mukul Dev, Madhuri Dixit and Ramya.

We met him on the last day of the shoot of the shoot of Wajood at SNDT College, Juhu, where the man had erected a stage set where Madhuri was slated to participate in what looked like a dance competition.

Nana Patekar and Ramya in Wajood. Click for bigger pic!

Of course, it's a good idea. For it was her Ek Do Teen in Tezaab that catapulted her to fame. Did he expect it to resurrect her career?

"See sir, Madhuri has been in terrific form. Her last film was Dil To Pagal Hai, a major hit. In fact, her presence could resurrect my career," laughs Chandrakant Narvekar. Yes, that's his name in full.

Suddenly, something goes wrong on the sets: All the lights die out. The generator has apparently had enough.

Chandra instructs the man who trotted over to give him the bad news, "Kuch problem hai to mujhe bulana," says the unflappable man. But the problem refuses to go away easily and so Chandra heads for the generator with us in tow.

"The unit has taken more power than they told me they will. Anyway, I've fixed adjusted it now. You can start your shooting," the man there says. So Chandra walks back to the sets, with us dutifully trailing behind.

He fixes up the shot after getting the 300 junior artistes assembled to join the audience. He then returns to us.

Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit in Tezaab. Click for bigger pic!

Chandra has always been very silent about his successes and quick to condemn his failures. Films like Narsimha and Yugandhar failed to make the grade, as did his last release, Beqabu, starring Sanjay Kapoor and Mamta Kulkarni.

"I don't know what was wrong with Beqabu. There must have been indeed something wrong with it but I haven't been able to figure it out. But the every creative achperson has the right to fail. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don't," he says, clearly on the defensive.

"There are so many factors that affect your film. There are political factors and the socio-economic scenario among others. I would not say that was the problem with Beqabu, but then every film can't be a hit," says Chandra. Wajood is widely expected to bring him back in from the wilderness.

"The film deals with parents who underestimate their own children. They feel that their offspring should become doctors or engineers. The child is never allowed to choose his or her profession, his ambitions are never considered. The parents feel the only way the child can fend for himself is by becoming a doctor... If a father has his business, he'll never agree to his son becoming a musician. The children have to either leave the house or kill their ambitions," says Chandra.

In Wajood, Nana plays a man with a third class graduate who is an excellent actor. But his father is not able to reconcile himself to the fact that his son has got only a third class at the BA level.

Mukul Dev and Madhuri Dixit in Wajood. Click for bigger pic!

"Nana Patekar belongs to a middle class family, and his father feels he is a failure, despite he being a brilliant artiste. So Nana starts searching for his identity.

"Similarly, Mukul Dev's father and girlfriend discard him for some reason; and Madhuri Dixit's beloved drops her stating that she is nothing without her father's name. These three characters meet each other... And that is that is what Wajood, is all about," says Chandra, all in one breath.

He has had certain problems with some of his earlier films and certain elements that have affected his film.

"See, Narsimha, which starred Sunny Deol in the lead role, was in fact released two years before it should have actually been released. Because exactly two years later, what was shown in my film happened in the country -- the communal riots," says Chandra.

Sujata Mehta in Pratighaat

But then, what was wrong with Yugandhar, starring Mithun Chakraborty and Sangeetha Bijlani?

"Yugandhar was timed so well that it was scheduled to be released on January 6, 1993. All the 18 theatres in Bombay showed a house full board. But then, on the eighth of the month, curfew was imposed and no one could even come on the streets leave alone watch the film," says Chandra, smiling dolefully.

But Chandra has high expectations of Wajood. "I am banking a lot on this film," he says. "It should create a great deal of awareness about competition and the kind of aggression required to pip others to the post," he says.

According to him, though, success is a very relative term. He is content with what he has achieved. "I've found my wajood, I'm very happy with what I have done in life," he says.

"Nana will be arriving late," says a unit hand who is holding Chandra's mobile phone. Even before he has stopped speaking, Madhuri Dixit turns up.

And with that, Chandra no longer holds centrestage. The crowds flow towards Madam Dixit and settle around her. Chandra isn't worried; he is secure in his own identity.