Sajid Khan on completing 10 years as a filmmaker in the industry

The moniker ‘funnyman’ has often been used to describe Sajid Khan. However, if you check out his track record of the last two films he directed, Himmatwala and Humshakals, and go by the negativity surrounding them, you would probably wonder why. But the filmmaker, and sometimes actor, is genuinely funny. The ‘perception’, a word that springs up often as he tells me, sitting in his Juhu apartment, is that he’s no more the guy he used to be. “But that’s the thing about perceptions. They aren’t facts and that’s why they aren’t permanent,” says Sajid, who recently completed 10 years in the film industry as a director. “Ten years of Heyy Babyy, the first film I directed. Ten years of me as a filmmaker. All thanks to Sajid Nadiadwala. He should get the credit. Or the blame!” he guffaws loudly. See what I meant about the funny business. Over to the filmmaker...

How did you deal with the aftermath of Humshakals?

Humshakals chali, but the large perception was to make you believe that it was a disaster. It made Rs 63 crore, so box-office wise, it’s not a disaster. It’s Saif’s highest grossing film in the last four years, but somewhere the perception of the film was, ‘Oh bad film, flop film’. Bad film I can take, but flop film? That made me think further. Then the column in this paper came to the rescue. People got to know the real me. Being on Twitter helped. I didn’t want to fight back. I wanted to take a dignified stance. Chori toh nahi ki, daaka toh nahi daala. Kharaab film hi banaayi hai na, uske liye itni bhaari sazaa? Nahi beta, uske liye itni bhaari sazaa nahi, bees saal se jo tum film industry mein karte aa rahe thhey, logon ka mazaak udaate aa rahe thhey, ab yeh uska grahan hai. This is payback time. Stand in front of the firing squad with your head held high and take the bullets. It’s okay, eventually the bullets will run out. You will fall down and rise again, no big deal. That’s precisely what has happened. I don’t know about rising again, but I have fallen down many times. Sometimes it has taken me a while to get back, sometimes instantly. It’s never that I’ve never got up. So it has been a learning curve. Also, it has made me a slightly more responsible filmmaker. The script which we are writing next, is a comedy, but it stays away from the slapstick genre and comes in the situational comedy zone. One is trying to achieve that with lots and lots of rewriting on the script level itself.

Have you mellowed down over the years?

I think I have calmed down. I was in a state of complete chaos and unrest, shooting my mouth off, not caring for the repercussions. When Himmatwala didn’t work, the negativity factor attached to the reviews were more pointed towards me. That’s when I realised, that something has gone wrong. I told myself, ‘You’re a funny guy. Of course, you made fun of films and people when you were on TV but that, people more or less accepted. Why do you have to keep shooting your mouth off? You’re a director, not a trade pundit. One film didn’t work, they buried you in the ground. Shubh, shubh bolo. Funny ho jao, that’s what you are’.

What sort of perceptions do you think the column and social media helped break?

There were lots of perceptions about me, right from being gay to casting couch to being a drunkard to getting violent, none of what I am in real life. The column did help change a lot of perceptions about me, including ‘ise angrezi aati hai! BA pass hai! Matric pass hai!’ (Laughs) Sajid Nadiadwala has been the strongest guiding light in my life. He and Farah are the only two people who I give full freedom to slap me in public, and I will keep my head down because they are my elder brother and sister. I really look upto them. They were also of the same belief — let people know the real you. Because when people know the real me, they are like, ‘you’re not how we thought you were. You’re quite funny’. Largely thanks to my column and Twitter and my getting out and being more real with people in life, I feel, by now, the negativity has died down completely.

Why limit yourself to only funny films?

I’m not. Heyy Babyy is not a comedy. It’s a family drama. The last 40 minutes of the film, you only have tears in your eyes. Himmatwala was not a comedy. Himmatwala was a tragedy (laughs)!

The first time you directed was a short film, The Graveyard, for Ram Gopal Varma’s Darna Zaroori Hai. Wouldn’t you like to explore horror as a genre again?

Yes, someday, I am going to do an independent small budget horror film. That’s one genre I feel I can surprise a lot of people, like I did with that 11-minute short — the only time in life that I got good reviews (laughs)! I’m very influenced by the movies Shyamalan has been making of late, whether it’s The Visit or Split.

Sajid Nadiadwala and you had a nasty fallout and then you got back together again...

In 20 years of friendship, I think two years of fighting is allowed between best friends. It’s not like we got into arguments or fist fights or abused each other. We just lost out on each other.  

That was a very dark phase in my life and I was very lost. A lot of wrong people advising me against him and I think, vice versa. I know for a fact that he just doesn’t love me as a younger brother, he loves me like a son. I have not seen a more simple, more caring person than him. Irrespective of where we are, every morning and every night, we would have a two minute conversation — kya kiya, kya nahi. Almost like a relationship. That is what I missed in that period. I was consumed with the oldest factor, which is the worst between friends — ego. Main phone kyun uthaoon, let him call. So many people tried to get us back together. I lost out on Housefull 3 because of that. I was more at fault than he was because I was slightly more immature. He’s a far more mature person than I am. I used to seek his advice all the time. Ever since I became friends with him and started doing award functions, there was not a single show where I have not walked on the stage without giving him a call first. I would say ‘bhai stage pe ja raha hoon’. He would say, ‘good luck, vaat laga de, you’re the best’. He would give me that pep talk and it used to be like an injection that the doctor has given me. I would go with full confidence. Those two years during his absence, I missed that.  

But now, you’re working together again...

I told him I don’t care if we ever work together again. Of course, I would love to work with him and he would love to work with me because we vibe well. We’re like Laxmikant and Pyarelal! But I’m so glad that I’ve got my best friend back. I will turn 46 in November. He’s been a part of my life ever since I was 26. You don’t f**k up two decades of friendship over small things. Nothing’s worth it.

Our fights were not over a woman or property or money, it was over edits! I was fighting with him about why is my name small and yours big on the poster? Stupid things! But at that time, you’re consumed by self pride and ego and short-sightedness. You lose out on reality and believe everything is a conspiracy theory and it’s not.

You made three films with him which were hits, the ones he wasn’t part of, didn’t work...

He was the missing factor. He told me not to make Himmatwala. I should have listened to him... Some big producer told me I will work with you now because I know you’re dying to give it back. I said no, don’t be under that impression. I said I don’t have the fire to burn somebody’s house, I have the fire to light a diya, which hopefully will light up a good film. I have no ambitions to prove a point, I’m too goddamn old for that! I just want to make good films which hopefully will be successful.

You have worked with stars such as Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and Ajay Devgn, but none from the younger lot...  

I’m sure when the right script comes along, they will be attached to it. Actors today are not interested in working with names but the correct script. That is why unknown new directors get breaks, and obscure directors also make big films. If you get the correct script, they will work with you, which is ideally the correct thing to do. Because who benefits the maximum? The audience. Rishton mein ab film nahi banti. Rishton mein jo film banti hai, woh ab kishton mein banti hai. Film banti hai abhi merit pe. You have to now identify the correct script and the correct cast.

From the younger lot, who is on your wishlist?

I would love to work with Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. I would love to work with Varun Dhawan. I find him very entertaining, I loved him in the Judwaa 2 trailer. But you can’t go to a Ranbir or a Varun with a wrong script.

What sort of advice does Farah give you?

‘Cut your hair, lose weight, don’t smoke, I can’t send my kids to your room, they complain of smoke’. She’s like a mother hen to me. She has been telling me to write Heyy Babyy 2 and that is something Sajid, Akshay (Kumar) and I have discussed. I just feel it’s a little too early. Technically, the baby has just turned 10, let her become a teenager. I have an idea, about teens and young parents. There is a lot of unsaid familiarity and uncomfortable grounds where they both lie to each other. Today’s teen is far more troubled than earlier teens. Today’s parents are far more worried than ours were because today, one wrong move and your child’s future is destroyed. I would like to do something with that and keep it in the entertaining space that’s more real.

We’ve heard that your mother is funnier than you and Farah put together. Do you take advice from her?

Yes and no. She gets a little worried when she reads reviews. She used to read the reviews almost like a report card (laughs). But that’s okay.  

You have acted in a very few films. Why’s that?

I was offered quite a number of films after Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate, but I never intended to be an actor in the first place. My biggest regret in life, later, was not meeting Rajkumar Hirani when he wanted me to do Arshad’s role in Munnabhai. Sanju also told me meet him. Maybe I was too busy with my TV work at that time and not keen on acting. I was offered Shaandaar recently and another film called Coffee With D in the main role.  I don’t think I can be a lead actor, but a strong character actor. I’d like to do something I can pull off.