After Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh is the first hero you have cast for a second time. What made you want to direct Ranveer again in Bajirao Mastani?
Ranveer is one person to whom I can tell anything. He does everything that I always wanted my characters to do — and he does it effortlessly. On the surface, he is playful and does all the fooling around but, while acting, he can also reach another level...he can do anything! He can remove his shirt and do Tatad tatad and at the same time he can do an intense role. I have a great rapport, great chemistry with him ... and also with Priyanka (Chopra).
Have you finally relaxed now that your creative contribution to Bajirao Mastani is over?
I have worked 18 hours a day every day for two years. I’ve been working, full of anxiety and insecurity trying to achieve what I wanted. I don’t make films for money or to be known as a great entertainer. It’s a part of a personal expression; I want to live every moment, every emotion with every character.
Doesn’t success give you security?
I think what’s imprinted on the mind in the formative years stays with you — that’s why they are called the formative years; they form who you are. It’s difficult to wipe out from your mind the essence of your being because it keeps haunting you, especially a person like me who observes everything. The core remains. The budgets of my films stimulate me; they give me the madness to achieve much more than I can…to maybe prove a point to the world or get more love, get accepted.
Are you an indulgent filmmaker in the grandeur of your settings and budgets?
My father would drag me to watch Mughal-e-Azam every time it released and he would tell me to pay attention to the music, the dialogues. So very early, it formed an impression of cinema in my mind. I was trained to see films and to connect to films in this way. So if I am making Devdas, which I am interpreting in a certain way, then I don’t indulge. I get suffocated in small places… it’s again connected to my past. For me, it’s not about only spending money; you should also know when and how to spend to justify it.
It’s difficult to wipe out from your mind the essence of your being because it keeps haunting you; especially a person like me who observes everything