Well-known photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha speaks to Sandhya Iyer about his favourite actress Madhuri Dixit and his foray into Marathi films
There's a mini revolution happening with the Marathi film industry, is that what prompted you to try your hand at scriptwriting your new movie, Sakhi?
This is a good time to be in the Marathi arena because 15 years ago, it was dismal. You had Dada Kondke, and the rest of what was made was so putrid. You had these French farces at that time. I remember being the judge at an awards show for two years and we had just two or three Marathi films to judge. The industry was going through a tremendous slump. I think the change came with Shwaas, which literally gave a new life to the industry. I never thought Marathi films would come to me. I've mostly dabbled only in Hindi cinema. But when I was approached for a script idea, I was game.
You've always felt very close to the Marathi culture and its people, haven't you? Also, what is Sakhi all about?
Yes, my education in cinema began with Shyamchi Aai and I've grown up watching films of V Shantaram and Prabhat Studios. As for Sakhi, I have always wondered what happens to people once they retire? I've known people who work to their bone but have no idea what to do once they retire. Many die within six years of retirement. So, I really wanted to explore this theme. Also correspondingly, I knew of a poor Brahmin girl who married into a rich family but got a wasted husband. Hence I wanted to look at these two depressed souls who find and support each other. I think Marathi cinema can be an attractive proposition to many high-profile actors and directors provided they get their organisational skills in place. The budget is not the real issue but people must keep their commitment when they make one.
You wrote scripts for two Hindi films, Bekhudi and Anjaam. Was it their failure that discouraged you from writing further?
No. Bekhudi did not do very well at the box office but it gave Kajol recognition. It was on the sets of this film that Aditya Chopra first saw her and decided then and there that he would cast her for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge whenever he would make it. I did Anjaam because I desperately wanted to work with Madhuri Dixit. I remember the film finished in record time. She even came close to winning the National Award that year and lost by one vote. Though they weren't mega hits, they helped the central female leads. The intention was served.
So no regrets there?
Absolutely not. At that time, I was being bombarded with photography work. Today, I have greatly reduced magazine work. I have neither patience nor time for their digital re-touching. So I'm very happy doing my portfolios, advertising work and portraits for those who approach me. Magazines used to take 60 per cent of my time and didn't give me even five per cent of my income. It was a high then. Also, with so much media explosion, magazines have also become largely redundant. Their mystic is gone. Every newspaper is a Stardust and Filmfare today.
This is a good time to be in the Marathi arena because 15 years ago, it was dismal. You had Dada Kondke, and the rest of what was made was so putrid. You had these French farces at that time. I remember being the judge at an awards show for two years and we had just two or three Marathi films to judge. The industry was going through a tremendous slump. I think the change came with Shwaas, which literally gave a new life to the industry. I never thought Marathi films would come to me. I've mostly dabbled only in Hindi cinema. But when I was approached for a script idea, I was game.
You've always felt very close to the Marathi culture and its people, haven't you? Also, what is Sakhi all about?
Yes, my education in cinema began with Shyamchi Aai and I've grown up watching films of V Shantaram and Prabhat Studios. As for Sakhi, I have always wondered what happens to people once they retire? I've known people who work to their bone but have no idea what to do once they retire. Many die within six years of retirement. So, I really wanted to explore this theme. Also correspondingly, I knew of a poor Brahmin girl who married into a rich family but got a wasted husband. Hence I wanted to look at these two depressed souls who find and support each other. I think Marathi cinema can be an attractive proposition to many high-profile actors and directors provided they get their organisational skills in place. The budget is not the real issue but people must keep their commitment when they make one.
You wrote scripts for two Hindi films, Bekhudi and Anjaam. Was it their failure that discouraged you from writing further?
No. Bekhudi did not do very well at the box office but it gave Kajol recognition. It was on the sets of this film that Aditya Chopra first saw her and decided then and there that he would cast her for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge whenever he would make it. I did Anjaam because I desperately wanted to work with Madhuri Dixit. I remember the film finished in record time. She even came close to winning the National Award that year and lost by one vote. Though they weren't mega hits, they helped the central female leads. The intention was served.
So no regrets there?
Absolutely not. At that time, I was being bombarded with photography work. Today, I have greatly reduced magazine work. I have neither patience nor time for their digital re-touching. So I'm very happy doing my portfolios, advertising work and portraits for those who approach me. Magazines used to take 60 per cent of my time and didn't give me even five per cent of my income. It was a high then. Also, with so much media explosion, magazines have also become largely redundant. Their mystic is gone. Every newspaper is a Stardust and Filmfare today.
You're considered one of Madhuri Dixit's closest friends in the industry. What do you think of her latest release, Aaja Nachle?
I haven't seen the film but I believe that the premise of the film is far too weak. Everyone just tabs a fraction of Madhuri's talent. I'm very reluctant to see the film but I know I will see it at some stage just for Madhuri's sake. But when I do see her, I say' ˜Oh, my God, there's so much more to her". It's not just that she is the best dancer or the fact that she is tremendously graceful or feminine but she has a fabulously expressive voice. She is so wonderfully mercurial in front of the camera.
But talking about the film and how insanely important publicity has become these days, it broke my heart to see Madhuri having to so much publicity, running here and there.
In all these years, has she ever come on television or has she ever given so many interviews? Even for Devdas, she came exactly 3 days before the film's release. Here she came 10 days earlier, went to Delhi..took part in every stupid reality show, danced with completely non-talented people and sung with besuras. But sadly, that's what it has become. So no matter how good you are or your product is, you have to tom tom about it.
You’ve always been impressed with her voice…
Madhuri has a fabulous diction and I suppose years and years of doing kathak, not at an amateur level but at a professional level, have refined it. Kathak has todas, which are in brijbhasha or in pure Hindi, and Mads is a quick learner. At this moment of time, I think her Marathi is probably better than her English or her Hindi. She's bringing up her two children and she insists that they speak in Marathi at home and they eat Maharashtrian food.
No one has managed to come close to her natural dancing abilities either; though some current actresses may be technically as proficient as her.
Dance is very difficult to explain. Take for example, Meenakshi Sheshadri. You could give her the most complicated steps to the most off-beat of rhythms. Her retentive powers were excellent, her footwork was brilliant and of course, she had a tremendous understanding of rhythm. However, I don't think Meenakshi can be compared to someone like Madhuri simply because it's finally the abhinay, the haav-bhaav, that is something that makes a dancer not just a dancer but an expressionist. After all, what is dance? It's drama through the movements of your body. That is where she scores. One thing she has is a tremendously good sense of music. Apart from that, she has a great retentive as well as a highly developed sense of absorbing and then bringing out in her performances everything that she has observed. And while she's observing, you won't even notice but she's like a sponge.
As a photographer, is there anything that strikes you about Madhuri's face today?
You know, there is something about Madhuri that is eternal. For one, there is a lot of peace in her eyes. In fact, I met her after Aaja Nachle and I found her looking even better than she did when she started the film. I don't know, maybe she was buoyed by the confidence of the fact that she could still face the camera and got such wonderful response from her co-stars, director and cameramen. Confidence gives you the most beautiful glow on your face, which I've seen in all artists. They all maybe good but the moment they taste the blood of success and adulation, that's when they begin to flower. And I found that in Madhuri right now.
How do you assess the current actresses against her?
I think Kareena (Kapoor) is supremely expressive and being a Kapoor, she understands the aura, the glamour of the history of Indian cinema, so she would appreciate a Nutan, a Smita Patil far more than her contemporaries. Her reference points may not be her rivals.
Vidya Balan has a very nice, sensitive face. I frankly find Priyanka (Chopra) extremely intelligent. So there is no paucity of talent, beauty or glamour but the refinement that comes in all forms in one person is missing. When I asked M F Husain what he thought was so special about Madhuri (we were at the sets of Dil To Pagal Hai), he said to me, "Just watch her, she's not noticing us, look at the way she sits, look at the way she reaches for a cup of tea, look at the way she flicks her hair, her body language, her feminit, the way she turns around, every bit of it is so Indian and feminine". Also having seen the female sex for 90 years and for him to literally pick her out is a huge compliment. And now with Aaja Nachle, he actually booked the whole auditorium just to be the sole spectator. So while it's not really fair to say that today's actresses are not talented or good-looking, the confluence of all that an artiste would need, I have not found in anyone since Madhuri.
Source: naachgaana.com
I haven't seen the film but I believe that the premise of the film is far too weak. Everyone just tabs a fraction of Madhuri's talent. I'm very reluctant to see the film but I know I will see it at some stage just for Madhuri's sake. But when I do see her, I say' ˜Oh, my God, there's so much more to her". It's not just that she is the best dancer or the fact that she is tremendously graceful or feminine but she has a fabulously expressive voice. She is so wonderfully mercurial in front of the camera.
But talking about the film and how insanely important publicity has become these days, it broke my heart to see Madhuri having to so much publicity, running here and there.
In all these years, has she ever come on television or has she ever given so many interviews? Even for Devdas, she came exactly 3 days before the film's release. Here she came 10 days earlier, went to Delhi..took part in every stupid reality show, danced with completely non-talented people and sung with besuras. But sadly, that's what it has become. So no matter how good you are or your product is, you have to tom tom about it.
You’ve always been impressed with her voice…
Madhuri has a fabulous diction and I suppose years and years of doing kathak, not at an amateur level but at a professional level, have refined it. Kathak has todas, which are in brijbhasha or in pure Hindi, and Mads is a quick learner. At this moment of time, I think her Marathi is probably better than her English or her Hindi. She's bringing up her two children and she insists that they speak in Marathi at home and they eat Maharashtrian food.
No one has managed to come close to her natural dancing abilities either; though some current actresses may be technically as proficient as her.
Dance is very difficult to explain. Take for example, Meenakshi Sheshadri. You could give her the most complicated steps to the most off-beat of rhythms. Her retentive powers were excellent, her footwork was brilliant and of course, she had a tremendous understanding of rhythm. However, I don't think Meenakshi can be compared to someone like Madhuri simply because it's finally the abhinay, the haav-bhaav, that is something that makes a dancer not just a dancer but an expressionist. After all, what is dance? It's drama through the movements of your body. That is where she scores. One thing she has is a tremendously good sense of music. Apart from that, she has a great retentive as well as a highly developed sense of absorbing and then bringing out in her performances everything that she has observed. And while she's observing, you won't even notice but she's like a sponge.
As a photographer, is there anything that strikes you about Madhuri's face today?
You know, there is something about Madhuri that is eternal. For one, there is a lot of peace in her eyes. In fact, I met her after Aaja Nachle and I found her looking even better than she did when she started the film. I don't know, maybe she was buoyed by the confidence of the fact that she could still face the camera and got such wonderful response from her co-stars, director and cameramen. Confidence gives you the most beautiful glow on your face, which I've seen in all artists. They all maybe good but the moment they taste the blood of success and adulation, that's when they begin to flower. And I found that in Madhuri right now.
How do you assess the current actresses against her?
I think Kareena (Kapoor) is supremely expressive and being a Kapoor, she understands the aura, the glamour of the history of Indian cinema, so she would appreciate a Nutan, a Smita Patil far more than her contemporaries. Her reference points may not be her rivals.
Vidya Balan has a very nice, sensitive face. I frankly find Priyanka (Chopra) extremely intelligent. So there is no paucity of talent, beauty or glamour but the refinement that comes in all forms in one person is missing. When I asked M F Husain what he thought was so special about Madhuri (we were at the sets of Dil To Pagal Hai), he said to me, "Just watch her, she's not noticing us, look at the way she sits, look at the way she reaches for a cup of tea, look at the way she flicks her hair, her body language, her feminit, the way she turns around, every bit of it is so Indian and feminine". Also having seen the female sex for 90 years and for him to literally pick her out is a huge compliment. And now with Aaja Nachle, he actually booked the whole auditorium just to be the sole spectator. So while it's not really fair to say that today's actresses are not talented or good-looking, the confluence of all that an artiste would need, I have not found in anyone since Madhuri.
Source: naachgaana.com
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