When choice becomes limited !

Bollywood film director producer, Vinod Pande, has been known for his films - Ek Bar Phir, Yeh Nazdeekiyan, Sins.. Now, of course, he is in the limelight as a novelist, with his latest novel 'Saanvri- the story of a concubine' (Niyogi Books ) hitting the stands . Excerpts from an interview Pande gave to noted columnist Humra Quraishi

Question: How this foray into writing novels. Saanvri is your second novel, with a third in the pipeline?

Vinod Pande Answer : You know when the finances stop coming your way mainly because your last outing may have not made a flutter or may have not even found the release and also the stars of the day may not be reacting to you either, the choice becomes limited. Either you call it a day or re-invent. Such situations are not uncommon in the lives of my kind of makers who primarily target somewhat evolved audiences….That's what happened in my case.
After my last film, Chaloo Movie, a comedy that never got the release, bleakness of future stared me in the face…It is then, that goaded by some of my young colleagues, I looked at my core strength, which perhaps was in my expression on paper. Hence was born my first novel, Don's Wife, from the bowls of insecurity, which initially was conceived for a film.
But at the same time, I must admit that the ambition was always there. I was already closet writing a novel entitled 'Beyond Frontiers' with the story encompassing the hugely dramatic life of an Indian migrant in the eighteenth century as a child of slavery and colonialism and that of her descendants in the Caribbean. But the scale and research was so mammoth that not only the saga would have taken more than a thousand pages, it would have involved good many years in completion,

Q-You have been one of those Bollywood directors to take up sensuality together with human wants and emotions from an offbeat angle. Comment.

A: Yes, admittedly it is pinned upon me that I came out unabashedly about sexuality and sensuality in my films as the essential aspect of man-woman relationships in terms of emotions and feelings. Perhaps, I was also among the firsts to rip the veil with regard to exposure of bodies in presenting the love making which I looked at as something beautiful and lyrical despite being primal. In that sense, may I say that my eye, among some others, has been an eye of realism, rather than 'offbeat' so to say…!

Q- In your this latest novel - Saanvri -you have focused on a woman's transformation in a haunting sort of way, in the sense the story stays with the reader. What prompted you to write the story? Do women like Saanvri manage to survive in the web of the hypocrisy in our society ?

A: I consider the use of the term 'haunting' in describing Saanvri's transformation, as a big endorsement of the element of realism that the author aspired to bring forth, in presenting her journey full of pain and humiliation before emerging as a formidable force .

The story had already been written by me in the form of a full script for a film that I intended to make. But as explained earlier, I did not succeed in raising the finances, hence chose even a more fulfilling option of expressing on paper, where the issues of length, costs and wherewithal were not to be the obstacles…'Do characters like Saanvri survive in the web of hypocrisy?' is a tough question to answer. However, I'd say that some do, and some don't and get crushed and spilled out. And then, there are some who become part of the system; the hypocritical, selfrighteous and incestuous system of deceit and lies, prying on more victims.

Q- Do your other two novels - Don's Wife and Destiny- also focus on women and human relationships?

A: Isn't it strange that almost all my films, television shows and writing seem to have become women-centric? I can only assure you that it is not by design, only co-incidence. Perhaps at the subconscious level I may have been deeply affected by the punitiveness they generally encounter at the man's hand in their lives. That's why the 'not so conscious' affinity. Whereas 'Don's Wife' is essentially built around a female protagonist, that's not the case in entirety in Destiny. The central figure, for once, is a male. But the female protagonist is not any less. She is as substantial an entity as her male partner. Amazingly, even the antagonist is a female and equally strong at that. And surely, the drama is not only huge; it is also fired by the magnetism and vengefulness inherent in man-woman relationships as well as worldly ambitions.

Q -How offbeat are you in your own personal life?

A: That's surely a tough one, for in truth, it can only be answered by someone else who may have spent good length of time with me in demanding situations. For myself, I can only say that circumstantially I have had an eventful life which offered me pain and ecstasy both, and in full measure. And I have had to pay heavy price too, for not walking the established track as well as for adhering to the old worldly value called integrity.

Q - You have been a civil servant, film maker, writer. Tell us about your journey and perhaps also about unfulfilled dreams and wants!

A: Dreams never end. Often they mutate into higher objectives of life. Age does its own garnishing. Even in your cherished pursuits – like films, TV, writing, you aim for more evolved a plain. That's the case with me too. My grit; many say that I have some; comes from enormous number of failures in worldly terms .Obstinacy not to give up! We now have our own YouTube channel VPEOrg (short for Vinod Pande Entertainment Organisation), on which many of my films and some episodes of my TV shows are uploaded for free viewing.

More are on the way. All of these fetch us revenues which are improving steadily. No dependence on financiers, distributors, exhibitors, sundry producers, only we - ourselves. Now we are the independent and daring creatives-of-the-free-world in earnest…We have already made a short film Panaah on a highly relevant subject in today's conflicted times. It is showing on our channel. The dreams appear to be within reach for once…!