The success of the film Pink (2016) has benefitted everyone associated with it. The actors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang, have been lauded. Producer Shoojit Sircar has been patted on his back for a good job. How many remember the director’s name?
Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury is the director of Pink, and yet, it is widely assumed that Sircar has written, produced and directed the film. “Yes, I have interfered hugely, rigidly, adamantly, but for the good of the film”, Sircar said in an interview, but he denied ghost-directing Pink.
Protégés have long struggled to come out from under the shadows of their mentor producers. One of the most hotly debated controversies concerns Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), which is often mistakenly described as a Guru Dutt film even though it was directed by his long-time writer, Abrar Alvi.
In Sathya Saran’s 10 Years With Guru Dutt, Alvi revealed to the writer that Dutt was often present on the sets and wanted to take charge of the lighting and camera set-up for the song sequences. Guru Dutt’s interference anguished Alvi. The editor of Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, YG Chawan, is reported to have said that Alvi worked very hard on the project, but since Dutt was the producer, it was taken for granted that he had directed the film too. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam turned out to be the only film Alvi directed.
Similar aspersions were cast on filmmaker Prakash Arora’s abilities after his debut film Boot Polish (1954), which was produced by Raj Kapoor and screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. Arora was an assistant director on Kapoor’s films, including Barsaat (1949) and Awaara (1951), and Boot Polish was understood to have been ghost directed by Kapoor. Arora didn’t make another film despite the critical and commercial success of Boot Polish.
The same fate befell Amit Mitra and Shombhu Mitra, who co-directed the critically acclaimed Jagte Raho (1956), starring and produced by Raj Kapoor. They moved on to Bengali films after their Hindi debut.
A pattern is visible in all three cases: the directors had a long creative association with their mentors, who also produced their debut films. The producers were headline magnets whose names were splashed on film posters to entice viewers.
Dil Bole Hadippa! (2009) was marketed as a Yash Chopra presentation while We Are Family (2010) featured producer Karan Johar’s name in big fonts on the publicity material.
There have also been numerous instances of actors assuming directorial functions. Dilip Kumar took over many of Nitin Bose’s functions in Gunga Jumna (1961), while Aamir Khan and Kamal Haasan are among the actors who are rumoured to get heavily involved with all aspects of their films. Khan even stepped in as director for his home production Taare Zameen Par (2008) after he had serious disagreements with the vision of the original writer and filmmaker, Amole Gupte. Khan was finally billed as director, much to Gupte’s chagrin.
Producers and actors used to be discreet about their extended involvement in the past. That seems to have changed with Pink. One question remains unanswered: would the situation have been different if the film had not clicked with audiences?