With one speedy blow, Milan Luthria has managed to create everyone stand up and take notice of his craft. His Once Upon A Time In Mumbai is one of the very few clean hits that Bollywood has seen this year (most notably Raajneeti, Housefull, My Name Is Khan and I Hate Luv Storys). For a film that had to pass from side to side quite a few challenges before hitting the screen, OUATIM has twisted out to be one of the most watched gangster films ever. No wonder, Milan looks back at the whole movie making experience quite fondly. In a two part conversation with this correspondent, he also comes clean on some of the portions in the film that came under fire from quite a few.
In the middle of the film being made, recession had struck. Did that lead to change in plans?
Yes, we did deviate though not from the look and feel perspective but the choice of technicians. We did not go for the big names and instead roped in young and talented technicians for departments like costume designing, background score etc. Also, for supporting actors, we went for lot of theatre actors and for that there were hundreds of rounds of auditions that took place. Another deviation was to move away from the luxurious way of filmmaking. We knew our job and did everything in the budget.
Which was...?
(Smiles) I am under the contract where I cannot discuss numbers. However, I know that it is a fair priced film rather than being exorbitantly budgeted. The idea was not to make something that would result in a producer taking a king size profit while distributor was left in a lurch. (Producer) Ekta Kapoor has been fair in her game. Money was not her primary objective to make the film. She wanted something that was good, path breaking and saw good response from critics as well as audience. She is here to establish her banner and she has managed to do that.
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