Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt speaks to Ayushi Sharma about filling the lacuna left by existing love stories

Only after a long night of suffering can you come to the sweet taste of dawn. Veteran filmmaker, producer Mahesh Bhatt feels pain is a part of life, like night is a part of the 24-hour cycle and whatever is born, dies. The only thing that is eternal is love, which is not dependent on marriage.

“Jalebi goes beyond the space of ‘and they lived happily ever after.’ There is pain, separation and longing. Since the audience wants real things these days, this film reflects the lives of real people,” he says.  The film tells you how to live in an age of bewilderment when the old stories have collapsed and no new story has yet emerged to replace them.

The film, a remake of the Bengali hit Praktan, has already been told to the audience. When asked why this version was unique, he says, “A story is not a situation, instead it is a world view of what you as a filmmaker set out to do with the given circumstances and what you bring out from the characters. Though the structure is of Praktan, the entire insight breaks the patriarchal system. Praktan is still tied to the patriarchal structure. It is looked within the walls of a woman defining herself within the space of marriage; that she’ll be looked upon as a successful person provided she makes the marriage work. But Jalebi takes you beyond where the TV soap operas go and beyond where Praktan ended.”

The film is a look at troubled love stories since youngsters are asking for a new look at the subject. “They are not at all happy to settle for the fairytale romance that is being dished out to them. They want a fresh, brave, and real look at love and that’s exactly what Jalebi does,” Bhatt adds.

He strongly feels that modern relationships are asking for a new definition, they are not going to live by your references of the past or by the standards of what was given to your mother and grandmother. Their lives are different now. Women are more assertive, they no longer need a man to complete their lives.  Earlier, you were attached to a man because you needed means to make a living and today it’s vice versa. India is evolving, Indian girls are changing, they all have new hopes and aspirations.

As Mahesh Bhatt is returning to the director’s chair after nearly a 20-year hiatus with Sadak 2, in which he is directing his daughters Alia and Pooja, he says that he’s a bit nervous and scared to direct his daughters “because they’re young and they’re very talented.”

“I have no idea whether I’ll be adequate enough to match their thirst. They have the critical faculty to see what is relevant and irrelevant. It won’t be a red carpet because they are my biological offspring, no. It is going to be on their terms and I think that’s the job of the young generation, to challenge the conclusions and certainty of the old and only if we can survive that then we’re worth being directors,” he says.

The veteran sees himself as an old gladiator but in a new arena with new fighters. “I come with my zeal but I also doubt whether I’ll be able to rise up to the expectations of the world.” he adds.

In the past few weeks, several celebrities have opened up about incidents of sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement and Bhatt comes out in full support of it but cautions that it shouldn’t be misused.

“It’s not restricted to the film industry. Entertainment industry should support women, but also give accused the right to be looked upon as innocent till proven guilty,” he says. “Tu kaun hai tera naam hai kya, Sita bi yeha badnaam hui. Women have fought this for a long time and now there’s more power to them. You can’t solve these problems with  opinions. It needs a deeper and inner change, unless there are more people like the character of Dev in Jalebi, where he genuinely looks at women with good intentions like our Indian culture has always looked,” he says.