Restoring Rajiv Rai
Will the Real Rajiv Rai please re emerge?
The one who at a time was almost like SRK. A Rajiv Rai film was a given HIT. And Hit and Flop apart, this Doon School product, used to entertain us every minute of the way. Action and reaction, in every frame was the hallmark. One rarely saw Yudh, Tridev, Vishwatma, Gupt and Mohra, for it’s artisitc ability, one always saw it for entertainment and wholesome entertainment is what we got.
The songs were edgy, they are still pretty “current” when a Bollywood dance class or an aerobic class is in progress. His lyrics had meaning, when analyzed….case in point….Jis manushya go apne lakshya ka gyaan ho jata hain and uski paane main woh jeevan ya mrithyu ko koin mahatva nahin deta, woh manushya ik sadharan manushya se ban jaata hain…Vishwatma.
Aka the real world description of “obsessive rage for perfection and it’s journey, as opposed to the consequences.”
Rai took chances, exciting one’s, at least from a scriptwriters perspective. In almost all his movies the bad guys or villians, almost always sang (even if it was a couplet) and danced (even it it was a jiggle). And why not. Don’t bad guys dance/eat/cry/laugh in the real world, why should it be only the good guys’s prerogative…..Shows shades. Almost like a Jackie Brown….where a Micheal Keaton is shown, not only going to the loo, but flushing as well and why not. Don’t good guys answer the call of nature.
He also brought an element of realism to his fantasies. Kind of made it exciting,a gain from a scriptwriters perspective. As an example, also in Vishwatma, refer to the character of Naagdansh Jurhad (Kiran Kumar), when he is on the run and is being shot at by the cops. In Bollywood movies prior and post, whenever a bullet hits someone, all we hear is a sorry of a “ouch,” almost as if a mosquito had bitten…c’mon…give the bullet it’s due respect. Jurhad’s “AAAH” was a very prominent shout, again giving some sort of real worldness to what was primarily fantasy..enhancing the appeal to the viewer.
Then there was that element of names for the bad guys. Again entertaining and captivating the audience was key . So with the backdrop of Shera, Ranga, Samba, Loin, Raabert……came the Rai names, Asghar and Naagdansh Jurhad, Tapasvi Gunjal, Chinoy, Dariyal, Goga, Xaca, Tyson, Kashinath Sahu, Jibran…and the list goes on. Almost made even the minutest character all that more interesting.
He also took chances in the casting. Rarely were his film cast the Numero Uno actor and actress of that time…far from it. In fact after coming in his film, they were on their way up!! So when Yudh came, Jackie and Anil held fort instead of AB, post Mohra, Akshay started his move to category A. When Gupt came Bobby Deol badly needed a hit, he probably got his motivation from eleder bro Sunny, who can look back with pride at Vishwatma and Tridev.
If ever there was a doubt that Naseer could do out and out commerical, that doubt was never in the mind of Rajiv. Naseer is known to be very finicky with whom he works. Clearly he must have seen that spark in Rajiv to have done, Tridev, Mohra, etc. While the world will think of Naseer as an artsy actor, I can only picture Naseer as “Tirche Topiwale.” A good actor is a good actor is a good actor. Rajiv knew that and did not make any differentiation between Art and Commercial directors.
His movies moved at a furious pace. My one complaint against Bollywood movies is that death scenes kill the audiences way before they kill the character….they take too long. Get on with it. In real life nobody has the time for farewell speeches. Rajiv probably realised that. His death scenes are like action sequences…quick and prompt..let’s move on. Africa and Switzerland and UK have rarely been captured better on camera. His actors were loyal to him as he was to them. Character actors Inderjit Singh (Dan) Dhanoa and Tej Sapru appeared in almost all his films.
………..and then somehow, someway, he appears to have lost his magic. One can understand the reason behind the creation and failure of Love Cube (Pyar, Ishq aur Mohabbat), but it was followed by a bigger dud, Asambhav….now will Rajiv be able to put all that behind him and continue his tradition of entertaining the audience with his future products…or has the time passed him buy? Who knows? Hopefully he can recover his magic, but if not, he has created enough magical moments on celluloid in his career, to be fondly remembered. Hopefully, music and Naseer will not be the only reason to enjoy his future films….kya yeh Sambhav hain ya Asambhav…..who knows, when your creative juices dry up, when that moment in time comes, who knows and who can predict.
Sincerely,
Vivek “Krishan ne kaha Arjun se, na pyaar jata dushman se, YUDH kar, tu YUDH kar” Kumar
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something about Tridev:
dialogue” paap se dharti fati, adharm se aasmaan…. woh kehlayenge tridev.. tridev”
and songs “badan(?)/gajar ne kiya hai ishaara…”
then ” gali gali mein firta hai tu kyon banke banjaara..”
and then Amrish puri’s signature tune…
i loved that movie for its back ground score, songs,action and also Amrish puri.
paap se dharti phati
adharm se aasmaan
atyaachaar se kaanpi insaaniyat
raaj kar rahe haiwan
jinki hogi taaqat apoorv
jinka hoga nishaana abhed
jo karenge inka sarvanaash,
woh kehlaayenge… TRIDEV!
will never forget those lines.. one of my few hindi movies watched growing up.. and it remains a special memory to this day.
awesome post vivek.. got to revisit some memories.. will have to rent some of those movies now…
Sangeeta Bijlani: Gali gali mein firta hai
tu kyun banke banjaara
aa meri bahin me aa mere aashique aawara..
Jackie Shroff : ter pyaar hai ek sone ka pinjra o shehzadi,
mujhko apni jaan se pyaari hai apni azadui..
and then Amrish puri’s signature tune plays..
Viju shah’s best
great write-up, Vivek!
nostalgia nostalgia nostalgia
Rajiv Rai was a major influence in my formative years. He was the true-blue comrade of masala genre. I remember while watching Dhoom-2, how a friend, Sid said, “Man these guys should see Rajiv Rai films to unnderstand how to make good potboilers”. And I tend to agree with that…
Heck, I dont even mind a Pyar Ishq aur Mohabbat.
And btw, I was just about to write a post soon on Viju Shah-Rai combo
good post dude.
After reading it i realised that the film bug had actually bitten me after watching his films especially Tridev and mohra.i feel gupt is one of the best suspense thrillers of the 90’s.
I think he was the one who launched sunil shetty with Balwaan.please correct me if im mistaken
Anyways thanks vivek ji for reminding me of few things….
Thanks you sir. No “ji” not for Rajiv Rai at least :d, his are more of a “dude” post. I don’t call anyone ji nor expect any :). I know that is going to hurt me in the Indian film industry, but somethings are not worth changing who you inherently are.
Till then “Oye Oye.”
[admin note: comment partially edited. violates pfc's comment policy]
post like shud be banned …….from da fce of earth talkin about RAJIV RAI…..
Oye Oh Oowaaaa… YEEOOOW!! :d/
Nice post Vivek, thanks for the throwback. Makes me wonder what happens to these guys when their “time” seemingly passes. And I don’t just mean what happens creatively, more so what must these guys be going through. Its tough to try to come to terms with the fact that maybe your style of films don’t run anymore…
I was actually thinking of writing a post on directors who tried to reinvent themselves… Some find success while others just fade away.
I hope Rajiv Rai doesn’t fade out, but his last 2 films were box office disastors (even through Asambhav wasn’t too bad when compared to Dus and Dhoom 2 and other hits). Haven’t heard of anything he’s working on lately though… Wonder if Rajiv Rai’s working on something or if he’s working for one of these corporates or doing TV… tried a net search couldn’t find much…
Tushar - I agree with you man about how Rajiv Rai might’ve made Dhoom 2 and Dus and other such films much better… he was the king of that edge-of-your-seat fast-paced action/masala genre in his time…
Manoj, I checked out imdb.com out of curiousity… turns out Balwan was directed by Deepak Anand… the guy also directed Shreemaan Aashique & the new Tum Se Achcha Kaun Hai…pretty below average stuff… his next film is “Farq”… only reason I bring that up is because it stars some very underrated talent like Priyanshu Chatterjee (Tum Bin, Pinjar) and Sonali Kulkarni (Dil Chahta Hai, Mission Kashmir, Taxi 9211). 99% chance of crappiness which is sad considering the acting talent, in my book, is fairly talented…
glad there is some support for Priyanshu here. He is most probably going to be the leading guy in my debut feature (as a writer) and I got a lot of flak for sticking with him and Barkha, from the powers and studios that be, in Mumbai….but in case others have not figured out…I’m sure they have….I do tend to stick with what I believe in…public opinion nothwihstanding….also since Tum Bin was shot in Canada…my script too…unless we sub cities…will have a small Canada element since the lead character (Barkha) plays an Indian Canadian and is the main element of the story
Ha ha awesome line Vivek- “My one complaint against Bollywood movies is that death scenes kill the audiences way before they kill the character”
Also if somebody can tell me where to buy the music cd’s of Vishwatma and Yudh I will be eternally grateful…actually I will buy you dinner…currently offer applies to US /Canada(any city)/London/Mumbai(dinner will be in the seafood rest across from Infiniti)/Delhi (Bukhara in the Maurya)
You will get it anywhere….go to infiniti mall in landmark book store at andheri west near fame adlabs and there are hoards of collection, surely you will find the cds there
vivek, link for vishwatma CD
http://indiaplaza.com/music/pd.aspx?sku=92409
can’t seem to find yudh though.. not yet anyway. will be in bombay in a couple of weeks, and i’m sure i’ll be buying some CDs.. will check into the soundtrack for yudh there and keep you posted..
Thanks folks. Striker- Pick the restaurant in DC, once the themprature cools down, will come by. Loved the city when I was there earlier this year.
Suchita, next time am in Mumbai (perhaps as early as next month), will have you join Barkha and Priyanshu and Raj and me, when we eat some “khana” across from mall where you recommend I buy the “gana” CD
Areh yaar there are so many stores in Vancouver (and its suburbs) where you can get these CDs… main pehle bolta to dinner mereko milta…
VIVEK, CONGRATS on your debut feature yaar! Thats such good news! You had mentioned you might be shooting somewhere in Canada… Tum Bin was short primarily in Calgary, Alberta (as were Anubhav Sinha’s other films like Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai and parts of Dus). But hey, if your considering Vancouver than note my email address man (tonykhera-at-gmail-dot-com) and let me know when you’d come to location scout and all. If there’s anything I can do to help would be more than happy to do so.
Yaar, you should post something about what it takes to get your film to the stage its at and update us… I for one would find that very interesting…
As for Priyanshu, I’ve always liked him… have some friends in Mumbai who know him and all I hear is good things… very nice guy, down to earth, not obnoxious or a party freak, dedicated actor who works hard… why would you not want a guy like that on your sets?
I often wonder why, after making his first 2 features with Priyanshu in the lead, when Anubhav Sinha moved on to making big multi-starrers he didn’t offer Priyanshu some part… I mean keep your big stars, I understand their value very well, but loyalty aur committment ki bhi koi value honi chahiye… jo kaam Suniel Shetty kar sakta hai I’m very sure Priyanshu us se behtar kar sakta, at least in Dus…
Still scope for that rest meal Tony, Yudh is still missing. Plus it will give me an opportunity to visit my former home country. Actually ironical you should mention Vancouver, although the film starts in Toronto as I have lived there for 3 years (2 years without car) and know every “nukkad” of that city, as a team we were thinking very strongly of Vancouver since there way we can also cover San Diego (also part of the movie, quite easily, well easier than Toronto), so will update you and certainly take you on your offer.
On the writing in PfC as we develop the project, the only fear I have is….a studio liked my script and wants to buy it but I want to develop it with my own set of relatively “non starry actors,” friends such as Shibani (Fanaa and Kank) and Sharmishta (Roy) are ready to help, but I want to do it my way, a director from India is ready and will also get the funding, but I feel she is not the right one….where I am going with all this is….I tend to make things very hard for myself…so this project might take a long time or then again the way the momentum/karma/fate is treating me nowadays, happen very quickly…who knows…so I could end up talking about it with nothing to show and will be labelled a flake!! That will be hard for me to take. If my flip flops, I am ok, if I am told that I am a jerk because of my stand in life, I am ok…but two things that bother me most is when I flake out in my own eyes and if I am taking any actor or crew for a ride….those to me will make it very hard to face the mirror every morning…so while I can write about it in PfC, there are certain undertainties in my project that could hold it up…hence the reluctance at this stage to go in detail.
Also on talking with my cast, am seriously thinking of talking to American Indpendent directors as opposed to Indian directors, since in the non action thriller category (my script), I don’t see too many solid desi directors and as Rajat Kapoor mentioned on seeing the treatment, “I like it, but in the hands of the worng or inexperienced director, this could fall flat.” So a foreign director, albeit, desi cast, might not fit the realms of a PfC type project?
Also damn right about Priyanshu.A ctually true of all the folks I met in relation to my project, Priyanshu, Barkha, Rajat, Raj, Jackie, all extremely supportive, helpful,”all ears” In fact initially Barkha and Priyanshu were a little on the defensive since they had, had experiences with Indian American directors and filmmakers wherein the consensus was that the directors/filmmakers were very flaky, “all talk” “misrepresenting” but the feedback I got from them was “be yourself, be straight and we will be the same.” So much as I write is how I deal with them and have no cause for complaint…au contraire…Ditto with Shibani Kashyap the singer.Visited Priyanshu at his house and had some bengali “chai” and felt very comfortable both talking and discussing the project with him.
Cool stuff Vivek.. yeah man, my offer’s always open just keep me updated… as for Directors.. not sure who you’ve approached or not but I know there’s some talented guys on this site.. not sure if they’re busy or if they’d be interested, or if your interested, or why I’m saying all this since I’m sure you’ve already gone through that thought process…
If you’d like I know a few guys out here who are pretty damn good directors which you might want to consider… email me as I think this is a discussion that we don’t need to waste a lot of PFC space on…
vivek, are you going to produce or direct? or you have written script?
written the script and looking to co produce it. Writing and producing are my interests, not so much direction, which is best left to the specialists in that field
vivek: thanks for the immediate answer.
btw i also like Priyanshu and i think he has potential (already seen in tum bin). but i think he is not cofortable with buttering, networking or partying with producers or big names of cinema. i am happy that you have recognized him and i wish him for his prosporous career by good films not like toh(the most crappiest film by director Raj Sippy.
Also i am heartily wishing you best luck for your project also.
sorry the film was Woh. i bare the film for 2 hours only for priyanshu. What a crap!
Vivek, eating has always been a priority, would love to eat more:((early next month do let me know, hope am in Mumbai.
Liked all of Rajiv Rai’s movies except Pyaar Ishq aur Mohabbat because i’m too used to his action movies(like everybody else here).Even Asambhav wasn’t bad because it had a little bit of substance compared to crap like Dhoom 2 and Cash(Lousy to the core).But i guess his best was Yudh because while his other movies were polished,what i liked about Yudh was that it was sort of like a shot in the dark.The rawness in the movie made it all the more enjoyable.Of course,the rest of his movies are a class apart when you compare them to other “action filmmakers” like Anubhav Sinha,Sanjay Gadhvi etc
Some videos to go along wiht that post :d/
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZBFGv25VnRc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0jF_nCPV8U8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VB4Yk6ovoXw