In an exclusive interview with Lehren, director Dharmesh Darshan provides an in-depth exploration of the behind-the-scenes factors that led to the failure of the film 'Mela' and why it couldn't attain the blockbuster status that his other successful movies did.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00 What went wrong with Mela?
00:03 Aamir asked me.
00:04 You know Twinkle makes fun of Mela.
00:07 Twinkle makes fun of herself also.
00:09 Sometimes I feel I should mock her.
00:11 But kya bolu ab Twinkle ko?
00:13 Twinkle must remember that it is the highest watched TRP film.
00:16 And if Twinkle...
00:17 Of hers.
00:18 Of hers and of many films today.
00:20 It's amongst the five top TRP films.
00:22 Can you believe this?
00:24 They said it's outdated but today's youth loves it.
00:28 And I'm not taking up for Mela.
00:30 It's a disappointment.
00:31 I agree but it's not a disaster film like many others.
00:33 It's a lot of business.
00:34 It suffers with Raja Hindustani.
00:36 It's sandwiched between Raja Hindustani and Dhadkan.
00:39 And then sections of media had their graves to dig with Aamir Khan.
00:45 What do I do about that?
00:46 You know what I mean to say.
00:47 And then there's a monster hit Raja Hindustani.
00:49 I didn't want to do Mela instead.
00:51 But Aamir had to correct Faisal's career.
00:54 There was no way.
00:55 First I said no to him.
00:57 I said no.
00:58 My mother told me you said no to him.
01:02 You've told me repeatedly how well he's got to do it.
01:06 I used to listen to my mother.
01:09 So you did it because Aamir wanted to resurrect Faisal's character.
01:14 Totally.
01:15 Okay.
01:16 And look at it.
01:20 It's so amazing.
01:22 Faisal, many people find better than Aamir in the film.
01:26 How can Faisal Khan be better than Aamir Khan?
01:28 Again submission.
01:29 Shankar in the film is better than Krishna.
01:34 Some people find Aamir loud in the film.
01:37 But I was disturbed.
01:38 Which they found even in his recent films like Hugs and Dancing.
01:41 On his latest film.
01:42 I haven't seen both the films.
01:43 Which at one time was sacrilege to say about Aamir.
01:48 But that broke the barrier in North India with him.
01:52 That's why Mela worked with him.
01:54 And I still feel Faisal signed 10 films after Mela.
01:59 I can't create a superstar out of every star.
02:02 Twinkle signed so many films after Mela.
02:04 But every heroine cannot become Juhi Chawla, Karishma Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty.
02:08 Mela was a disappointment.
02:11 Whether you agree with it or not.
02:13 No, I totally agree with it.
02:14 I mean, especially after Raja Hindustani.
02:17 It was and again with the same Aamir, same director.
02:20 And then it's such a huge disappointment.
02:23 Then you kind of fucked up again with Dhadkan.
02:25 But that took a while, isn't it?
02:28 No, after Mela, I released Dhadkan within a year.
02:32 But didn't Dhadkan kind of take some time?
02:34 Dhadkan took time.
02:35 You see what happened was, it was, I was so pressured with Mela.
02:41 And you are going wrong.
02:42 I had a choice to run away.
02:45 Right in the center of Mela came Hollywood.
02:48 An offer from Hollywood.
02:49 Mr. Ashok Amritraj.
02:50 He was the first Indian guy who made it big as a producer.
02:55 His representative, some lady, I forget her name with M, came from Bengal, Bengaluru,
03:02 you know, is a favorite city of mine.
03:05 And she told me Mr. Ashok Amritraj has said this director.
03:12 And Shah Rukh is the hero.
03:14 We identified, you know, there are markets for Hollywood and Aishwarya Rai is the heroine.
03:19 And once you say then we'll discuss with them.
03:22 But you have, we have one condition.
03:24 I was obviously happy.
03:26 Hollywood has seen me and I'm not making offbeat cinema or something.
03:29 That means my films worked internationally, which are, which are pan India and globally.
03:33 And no PR, no, you know, talking big and all that.
03:38 You have to go away for one year, they said.
03:41 Because the director, actor can report for shooting or three days before come for rehearsals.
03:45 My parents both fell ill exactly at that time.
03:49 I was committed to Mela and Dhadkan.
03:52 I told them.
03:54 So she told me for this, these films you're leaving Hollywood.
03:58 I said, Bollywood has given me so much success.
04:00 Just no, I can't ditch it.
04:02 I can't jilt anyone.
04:03 There are too many careers at stake of in both these films.
04:08 They're not, if I don't do these films, it's not easy to replace me as a director, the
04:13 producer tells me also.
04:15 You know, that.
04:16 You already started them off.
04:17 Plus, there's so many people, Shekhar Kapoor, such a good director, but he left so many
04:22 films incomplete and went to Hollywood.
04:23 Yeah, didn't he?
04:24 You know, but I didn't do that because I really love Hindi cinema.
04:29 It's called Bollywood and all.
04:30 You know, instead I feel Gaddar 2 has brought it back to Hindi cinema.
04:36 The word Bollywood became a very step, wannabe Hollywood derivative.
04:41 There's something kitschy about Bollywood.
04:44 Yeah.
04:45 You know what I mean to say?
04:47 There's nothing kitschy about Hollywood.
04:49 There's something kitschy about Bollywood.
04:51 I don't use the word.
04:53 I don't like the word, but now there's no choice.
04:56 I never used it.
04:57 Even when I was talking to you about your house, I said it's in the heart of Hindi cinema.
05:02 You know, Hindi cinema.
05:03 I don't use the word.
05:04 Oddly, Ahmed didn't submit so much in Mela, you know.
05:08 His mind started working more because he was conscious about Faisal and all that stuff.
05:11 And he had become so big with Raja Hindustani.
05:14 So his submission became, it was made with true people's instinct.
05:17 And he doesn't have that commercial instinct.
05:18 So it became a hodgepodge.
05:20 I saved it at the end of the day economically.
05:23 But I got a lot of flack for it.
05:24 You know, who will believe there's the sequence which I got a lot of flack, the urine therapy
05:29 sequence with Johnny Lever.
05:31 Do you know, that's the first time in my life I said, I actually, forget eroins, I
05:35 wept on the set.
05:36 I said, this is Aamir Khan's sequence, who will believe it?
05:40 He took it from a film called Dumb and Dumber, I think.
05:43 He said, Dhanmish, come on now, you can't be pretentious.
05:47 You have to do it, you will shoot it like no other director.
05:49 I said, but Aamir, this is not my style.
05:51 I do, I can do kamariya lachkere also.
05:54 You know like, hotto pe aisi baat Vijay Anand did, aur husn ke lakho.
05:58 But this is vulgar.
06:00 But then he said, I had committed, I did it.
06:03 So true people's instinct.
06:05 Thank you.
06:12 (dramatic music)