The stylish action film Musafir (2004) completed 20 years earlier this month. It was Sanjay Gupta’s next directorial after Kaante (2002) and hence, it generated huge excitement. The coming together of Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor and the casting of Sameera Reddy and Koena Mitra added to the buzz. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Sanjay Gupta spoke about the film and a lot more.
What made you make this film after Kaante, especially when the industry probably expected you to make a grander commercial film?
I never made a film thinking, ‘Now that I have delivered a Kaante or Aatish (1994), let me do something bigger’. I make whatever comes to me organically. Moreover, dark noir was a space rarely visited that too on a grander, larger-than-life scale with great music and great actors. Also, I was just having fun while making this film.
Sanjay Dutt’s look was dashing. His sidelocks extended to his beard and it had become a rage after Salman Khan’s haircut in Tere Naam (2003). How was his look decided?
Sanju’s character was not there originally! I had worked on the screenplay when one day, Sanju dropped by my house late at night. He said that he wanted to discuss something with me. When I asked about it, he replied, ‘How are you making a movie without me?’. I told him ‘I wanted to make this film. Hence, I am making it’. He said, ‘You make whatever film you want’. When I pointed out that Anil Kapoor is the hero, he stated, ‘I don’t care. I’ll do anything but I have to be there in the film’. He left, leaving me with a huge responsibility. I informed my writers that we need to add a character though he won’t have much screen time. But I instructed them to have as much fun as possible with it, be it with looks, songs and dialogues. I also said that every scene of his should be like an introduction, whether he comes with a knife, hoodie, bike, etc.
As for styling him, I told him, ‘Sanju, I have written your character completely insanely! Now we can style him similarly’. Sanju and I both were going on a holiday to LA (Los Angeles, USA) where we shopped for trench coats, fancy pants, shoes, etc. He picked up the butterfly knife and learned how to use it. I decided to incorporate it into the film.
Was Anil Kapoor the original choice?
Yes, always. Anil and Sameera Reddy were the original choices. It was written keeping them in mind.
The IMDb trivia section mentions that Suniel Shetty left the film due to its bold, sexual content and that even Priyanka Chopra declined…
Not at all (laughs).
Musafir’s soundtrack was out of the world and has a following even today. It was composed by Vishal-Shekhar, who had composed one song in Kaante (‘Chhod Na Re’). What made you sign them to compose all the songs of Musafir?
This was the first big film of Vishal-Shekhar. Earlier, they had done a small film with Sujoy Ghosh, Jhankaar Beats (2003). The little time I spent with them, I knew that they were incredibly talented. I told them that I was making a dark noir musical. If you go back in time and look at the Hindi noir films of the 50s, like CID (1956), Chor Bazar (1954), etc., they were all musicals. The music was so important in establishing the dark characters in shadowed light. I wondered – why did we leave that tradition behind?
In Musafir, each and every song was a blockbuster, be it ‘Saaki’, ‘Door Se Pass’, ‘Zindagi Mein Kabhi Koi Aaye Na Rabba’ or ‘Ishq Kabhi Kario Na’. And the way we presented Sameera Reddy, I don’t think she was ever presented like that again. She became the breakout star after the movie. Koena Mitra arrived on the scene with a bang.
Anil Kapoor appears without a shirt in the beginning and the audience is surprised to see him without hair on his chest…
Yes. I had also asked him to work out, and put on weight. The way Anil Kapoor was styled in that film, he had never been styled before that way. He was never called ultra-fashionable and cool until Musafir.
Did you visit cinema halls to check the audience reaction?
It was a massive success and people loved it. Nobody went into the cinema hall expecting a film like that from me. After Kaante, everyone expected a gritty big-scale action drama. But this was far from it. Also, besides Sanjay Dutt, the character of Mahesh Manjrekar resonated with the audience. After Kaante, he delivered a brilliant performance yet again.
Did you get the feedback that Sanjay Dutt should have had a longer role? After all, he was too good in the film…
No, never. Sanju, in fact, often tells me that he wants to play Billa again. He asks for a film cantering on Billa. The character is iconic; you had never seen something like this before, with those clothes, 1800 cc Honda motorcycle, cigar, speaking the way he did and his dialogues. There was something about the aura of that character. Ultimately, it’s the character that you remember, not the movies. Even now, 20 years later, we still discuss about it. So you never know. We might just come back with Billa’s story.
In an important scene, Billa kills a man but he lets his young kid survive. Billa also jokes that this kid will grow up and try to kill him 20 years later. Coincidentally, 20 years have passed since Musafir was released. Would you like to take this angle for Musafir’s sequel?
(Smiles) One of my writers came up with that idea as well. He pointed out that the boy was 9 or 10 years old in Musafir. So, he’ll be 30 in today’s times and he has prepared for the last 20 years to take revenge on Billa. So, the sequel can be how Billa deals with that revenge.
However, I had reservations. This is because Billa’s character is so iconic and big that anybody who comes to take revenge will get squashed by him. It’s just a simple one-line revenge story. We need a tagdi kahani.
The first dialogue of the film is by Billa and he takes a light-hearted dig at Sholay (1975). Any idea if Ramesh Sippy saw Musafir and did he ever speak to you about it?
(Laughs) No. Ramesh ji is far too dignified. If he ever sees it, he’ll see it as a compliment because I didn’t mean any disrespect. I can never do that. They are my fathers in the industry; Sippy Films gave me a break. And it was in gest.
First, Quentin Tarantino saw Kaante and loved it though it was inspired by his film Reservoir Dogs (1992). Musafir, which was inspired by U Turn (1997), was seen by its director Oliver Stone. Did you ever get a chance to speak to Oliver about it?
No, but there was a point when he was casting for one of his films. He was in New York and so was Anil Kapoor. Kapoor saab went to meet him as he was also trying to make his career in Hollywood. He asked Oliver Stone if he had a role for an Indian in his film. He replied in the affirmative and added, ‘I saw Musafir, the movie which you guys made’. He also said, ‘It’s a really great movie’. Then he asked, ‘Who was the guy with the knife?’. Anil Kapoor told me, ‘I didn’t know what to say. I was struggling and asking me to cast me but he was interested in Sanjay Dutt aka the guy with the knife’ (laughs)!
What was Sanjay Dutt’s reaction to this episode?
He had a hearty laugh. Nevertheless, for me, it was huge and also the second time when a Hollywood filmmaker praised me. First, Tarantino said that he loved Kaante and then it was Oliver Stone.
The post 20 Years of Musafir EXCLUSIVE: Sanjay Gupta reveals Sanjay Dutt had hearty laugh when Oliver Stone praised his role of Billa and left Anil Kapoor stunned; opens up on light-hearted dig at Sholay: “I didn’t mean any disrespect. I can never do that” appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
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