Veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai boasts an enviable and impressive repertoire of works including ‘Ram Lakhan,’ ‘Karz,’ ‘Pardes,’ ‘Taal,’ and ‘Khal Nayak’ among others. Even though he has been away from donning the filmmaker’s hat, Ghai, who helped mould India’s cinematic landscape with his blockbuster titles, has a knack for speaking his mind without mincing his words. The celebrated director is all set to give his unfiltered opinions on some of Bollywood’s biggest names in the upcoming episode of Arbaz Khan’s ‘The Invincibles.’ As hinted in the teaser, Ghai will not sugar-coat his thoughts on “bad actor” Jackie Shroff, and “overconfident” Shatrughan Sinha while recounting his tiff with Shah Rukh Khan during ‘Pardes.’
When probed into reflecting on working with the names of the film industry, Ghai said, “Paanch kism ke actor hote hai sir. Ek hota hai non-actor, aur ek hota hai bad actor (There are five types of actors, one is non-actor and another is bad actor). Bad actor was Jackie Shroff. Actor is Anil Kapoor… joh overconfident the who hamesha Shatrughan Sinha the.
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Shatrughan ka sabse bada problem tha ki woh time pe kabhi nahi pahuchta tha” (The overconfident actor was Shatrughan; his biggest issue was that he was never on time). The veteran filmmaker directed Jackie and Anil for the blockbuster 1989 film ‘Ram Lakhan,’ among others. On the other hand, Ghai teamed up with Shatrughan Sinha for hit films such as ‘Kalicharan’ (1976) and ‘Vishwanath’ (1978), among others.
Moving ahead with the conversation, the filmmaker reminisced about working with Shah Rukh Khan for the hit film ‘Pardes’ revealing that the duo constantly had disagreements, and they sailed through a tumultuous relationship during the filming process.
Moreover, Ghai revealed that after ‘Karz’ which starred Rishi Kapoor in the lead role, the filmmaker who appeared in cameo roles in almost all his films, consciously decided to not work with big names to maintain creative control over his films.
“Jaise maine Pardes mein Shah Rukh ke saath kaam kiya, uska aur mera man-mutav chalta rehta tha, tu-tu main-main chalti rahti thi… phir Karz (1980) ke baad maine socha jitney bhi current stars hai unke saath picture nahi banani hai agar picture asli banani hai (I used to have tiffs with Shah Rukh during Pardes. After Karz I thought I will not work with current stars if I want to make a good film).”
Despite being regarded as the “showman” of Indian cinema, Subhash Ghai modestly dismissed the title, stating, “he does not like to see himself like that.” His illustrious oeuvre includes hits like ‘Kalicharan,’ ‘Vishwanath,’ ‘Karz,’ ‘Hero,’ ‘Meri Jung,’ ‘Ram Lakhan,’ ‘Saudagar,’ ‘Khal Nayak,’ ‘Pardes,’ and ‘Taal’ among others has cemented his stature as a cinematic legend with time.