From Chetan Anand to Charles Sobhraj: Sorab Irani’s Journey

Indu Raman   | People | December 20, 2009 at 12:16 pm         Print

With the demolition of actor Dev Anand’s landmark home –cum-studio on Pali Hill an era came to an end and a wave of nostalgia swept through Bollywood’s old bandicoots. Chetan Anand, the first Indian Director to be internationally recognized, was the eldest of the film industry’s illustrious Anand brothers. His 95th birth anniversary falls in January 2010. Anand’s family produced directed and acted in some of the most memorable films made in Mumbai under the Navketan and Himalaya Films banners. Chetan Anand’s film Neecha Nagar (1946) was the first Indian film to get international recognition. It was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He formed Navketan Productions with his younger brother Dev Anand to make memorable films like Taxi Driver, Afsar and Andhiyan.

It was a fortunate that I could meet Mr. Sorab Irani, who was General Manager of Chetan Anand’s Himalaya Films during the seventies through his daughter Oorvazi Irani, my cinema guru. He was kind enough to agree to take a walk down memory lane with me. Oorvazi is a Director of their company SBI Impressario and is a qualified expert on film education besides being a professional still photographer and Project Consultant for art shows.

A Hindi film buff from my schooldays, I was curious to understand the scenario of those tumultuous days when so many evergreen movies were made. Mr. Sorab Irani was in the hub of it for six years. The journey of this zara hatke producer would make an interesting film script or a biography. What fascinated me and urged me to meet him was the dizzy cocktail of his varied talents enlisted on their website. (http://www.sbiimpresario.com/Sorab_Irani.htm) A trained vocalist, he studied classical Hindustani music under late Firoze Dastur of the Kirana Gharana. He and his sister Dr. Khurshid B. Shroff produced five dance dramas in Bharat Natyam style.

Taking a discreet pinch of snuff from a little silver box, a nostalgic Irani enthusiastically shared intimate details of his youth and his career so far.
“After college I spent the rest of the day for my music riyaz. Irani’s daughter Oorvazi pips in, “His shehnai teacher used to play in the Mumbai Devi temple at dawn. He would never come for classes as he was always drunk. My dad would catch him at these early morning sessions to learn.”
Sorab Irani, no relation to the other Iranis in the Hindi film industry continues, “I used to hang around with Kabir Bedi and Protima and Neelam Johar in Juhu which in those days was like a small Goan village where we could lounge around in lungis and swimwear. They were celebrities then and I met many people from the industry through them. I met Ketan, Chetan Anand’s son through Neelam. *

From left to right: Protima Bedi, Neelam Johar, Meherangize Irani(Sorab’s wife), Sorab Irani(wearing a traditional Parsee attire), Kabir Bedi, Ketan Anand.(Photo courtesy Oorvazi Irani)

Chetan Anand’s Parsi manager had suddenly quit. He needed a manager to run the office and asked me if I would take charge. At 21, I had no idea about how to run a film production company. and learned on the job. It was a tough job as film production, distribution and exhibition are extremely problematic.”
“Chetan Anand was deep in debt. He had asthma and could not climb three floors to his office everyday. So many employees took advantage of this and were cheating him. He was so desperate that he wanted to sell the negative rights of his evergreen films Heer Ranjha and Hanste Zakhm to pay debts.”
When Irani studied the files, he found that distributors were not returning the film prints even though the rights had expired for years. He made a chart showing him where the films were lying and which ones were overdue. The distributors could keep the film for the contracted territory for only three years. They could then opt for a re-issue and pay again. Some films were released on commission basis, for instance to Exhibitors like the owners of Naaz and Novelty chain of theatres. He approached the Association and forced the errant distributors to pay up. Soon distributors began to drop into the office to pay their dues.

Saheb Bahadur

“My first job was to release ‘Saheb Bahadur’. This would have been a Amitabh Bachchan‘s film if Dev had not stepped in and asked for the role for himself. This film was lying in the cans for 2 year with no buyers. Finally it was released on a commission bases and the trade being as it was then we lost money.”

Kudrat

This was a multi –star super hit written and directed by Chetan Anand. Award winning films Manichitra tazhu (Malayalam), Chandramukhi (Tamil) and Bhool Bhulaiya was adapted from this film. The R D Burman hit Hume tumse pyar kitna won awards for both Parveen Sultana and Kishore Kumar.

“I was there from the inception. I sat in for the story sessions. Anand never wrote scripts. It was all in his head. He had a dozen stories ready at all times.”

“It was a very well made film initiated by Rajesh Khanna. He had come to Chetan Anand to discuss a new venture to boost his sagging career at that time. When Anand confessed that he had no money Kaka brought on board Producer B.S.Khanna.”

It is a well-known fact that one of the major drawbacks in Anand’s career was his involvement with actress Priya Rajvansh. He had left his multi-talented wife Uma for this lady. Uma had co-scripted the 1954 hit Taxi Driver and even acted in Neecha Nagar (1946). She later wrote a coffee table book with her son Ketan – Chetan Anand: The Poetics of Film.

Commenting on this Irani says, “Most of his time was compulsorily spent with Priya thus interrupting his work. She did contribute valuable inputs to the script and the story, but insisted that she be cast as the heroine in every film. As everyone knows, their story ended on a tragic note with Priya being murdered in 2000. Ketan and Vivek were convicted.”

Stars have always been and will be a huge influence in the industry. Films are made to accommodate their image. Distributors pay more money for certain stars. And star tantrums are definitely part of film history. The legendary actor Raaj Kumar created that status for himself through his acting and also his antics. The egoistic Kumar would roar and stomp around the set like a lion announcing vainly, I am Raaj Kumar.

“Actor Dharmendra’s brother Panchi got Kumar to sign a film ‘Galiyon ka Badshah’to be directed by him. On the mahurat day he created a fracas and demanded that Panchi change his name more suited to Kumar’s image and fame. So Panchi became Sher Jung Singh!” laughs Irani.

“Only Anand could keep the reins on the egoistical star. There was a reason for this. Anand had saved Kumar from a tough situation once and felt indebted to him. Kumar himself blurted this out to me once when he was totally inebriated.”

“Once, an amusing incident happened at an outdoor shoot in Manali. Anand wanted a white horse but the producer just could not find a white horse. On the third day a white horse sauntered onto the set. When Anand looked through the lens, he suspected something. He went closer and stroked the horse. It had been painted white!”

Film Making Process in the 70’s

“A film would take anything from 2 to 3 years in the making. Raw film was difficult to obtain and very expensive. The government and tax officials would raid the office. The stars refused to give dates. The raw film seller would not give any credit. A lot of cash dealings and black money exchanged hands. Currency notes would come in cartons, plastic bags and gunny bags. Once it came in brown paper packets covered with dal and atta. Those were terrible days for the industry. At best it was a gamble
”

“This was how films were made. The producer approved the story and fixed the stars. An ad is published in a trade newspaper like Screen on a Friday. Then distributors would buy the territories, pay a signing amount and then pay only by schedule. The film always went over the budget which depended on the stars and the location. They would shoot 20 hours of film for a three hour film. There was lot of wastage of film and resources. Only when the film was released the payments could be made. If it was a super hit the money inflow was unbelievable.”

“Chetan Anand with his keen sense of music and language enjoyed working with music directors and writers like Kaifi Azmi. The editing process was chaotic. First the editing assistant would prepare a patchwork from the shoot. The reels would be dumped in a corner but this guy would know exactly in which tincan a particular shot could be found. This can happen only in India! The chief editor will come in only later. He would give the final cut , give his expert touch and everything would magically get set into place.

Usually directors were not bothered at this stage but Anand was very particular about his shots. Usually the director would certify the final cut. For Kudrat we had to go to the court because one star bribed the editor to increase his role to project him by reducing shots of other stars.”

Very much in awe of his late employer, Irani says, “Among the brothers Vijay was very professional and successful director and Dev a very successful actor. Chetan Anand’s son Ketan wanted to produce a film with Raaj Kumar as Akbar. We published an ad with a photograph of Kumar as Akbar and added the single line ‘Directed by Chetan Anand’. The next day a man from Delhi turned up at the office with a cheque for ten lakhs. He also wanted to buy the Delhi territory. That was the power of Chetan Anand’s name.”

SBI IMPRESSARIO PVT LTD

A happy and successful marriage between art and commerce is indeed a true challenge and worthy of a life time of striving- writes Irani on his website.

“I wanted to get away from this set up so I quit and started my own production company SBI Impressario Pvt.Ltd. I am an impresario and wanted to promote artists. I made the first Parsi Gujarati film Percy (1989) directed by Pervez Merwanji. I got Farrukh Dhondy as Commissioning Editor to collaborate. Dhondy was doing good work in London in regards Indian films. So with Channel Four’s collaboration and with NFDC pitching in we completed this film. It won a National Award and Special Jury Prize at Mannheim in 1990.”

“I made several short films and documentaries for Channel Four. The travelogue based on Ramayana was critically very well received internationally as we collaborated with senior historians and shot on location all across India and Sri Lanka. The six part travelogue on the exile route taken by Rama was made for the 50th year of Indian Independence.

IMAX

Mr. Manmohan Shetty of Adlab Films Ltd invited me to join him as a project coordinator in his pioneering efforts to introduce IMAX to India. I am proud to be part of creating Indian cinematic history by being the first to introduce the Large Film Format to India.”

Charles Sobhraj

This interview could not end without touching on a touchy subject- Bottomline, his film on the famous criminal and serial killer Charles Sobhraj.

Every now and then we read reports of a film being made on the life and crimes of Charles Sobhraj now in a jail in Nepal. Filmmakers like Shekhar Kapoor and Ismail Merchant have approached him. Actors like Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Neil Nitin Mukesh have been lined up to play the coveted role. But the finicky criminal agreed to collaborate with only Sorab Irani.

“I had worked on Bottomline for five years and Farrukh Dhondy scripted the film. It would have been the first Indian digital film at that time. I met Sobhraj several times.”
Says Irani in a 2001 interview:
An extract:
Here was a man who manipulated the system and beat it at its own game. Here was the man who turned Delhi’s Tihar jail into his operating den , who had the topmost politicians, including the then Prime Minister eating out of his hands during the emergency in 1975. It is a story of a snake who bites, slides away, sheds his skin, changes colour and reappears to bite again. (http://www.rediff.com/movies/2002/apr/23irani.htm)

“Jackie Shroff who was to play the lead role met him in France. For various reasons this project has been shelved even though the rights are with SBI Impresario.”

The Current Debate
So what are Irani’s views on the latest debate about Producers having to share profits with the Director and the Writer?

“Well it would be a good thing to happen especially if the writer is given a fair due and the recognition that comes with it. In the West their system is different. It is an industry recognized by banks. We have not yet reached that status although we are a recognized industry now.”