Films and reality are two different things: Anees Bazmee (Interview)

MUMBAI - Big budgets, big stars and big doses of masala are his forte and director Anees Bazmee admits candidly that he has no intention of ever making a realistic film with a message because his job is essentially to make people laugh.

“I like making larger than life films because I feel films and reality are two different things and they should be treated differently. I like it when my film has a big budget, a grand scale, big actors so that when people go to see the film, they forget all their worries and just get entertained,” Bazmee told IANS.

“I don’t want to educate people and I don’t want to give a message. I feel my job is to make them laugh. It is also a big thing because today our day-to-day life is filled with so many tensions that people hardly laugh.

“People spend so much money to watch a film, so they deserve entertainment. I think the fantasy we sell through films makes people forget everything about their real lives,” he added.

After blockbusters like “No Entry”, “Welcome” and “Singh Is Kinng”, the director is ready with “No Problem”, another multi-starrer, big-budget film that releases Friday.

Produced by Anil Kapoor, the fun flick has a host of big stars - Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Sushmita Sen and Akshaye Khanna. Along with them features Kangana Ranaut.

Unlike others, Bazmee doesn’t feel audiences’ taste has changed in terms of movies. “Audience taste is same. They just want entertainment. This factor has not changed over the years,” said the director who also claims that he doesn’t serve cheapness in the name of comedy.

“In all the comedy films that I have written, I never wrote double meaning dialogues, never tried to make it vulgar. My intention has been that the entire family should be able to see it together. My target audience is not a specific set of people. I want everyone to like the film,” he said.

Bazmee also specified that Anil was more of an actor on the sets than a producer.

“Anil is a friend, he liked the script and that’s why he decided to make it. He knows that I am an experienced director, so he never interfered. He left things to me. It’s a pleasure making a film with him. He was more of an actor on the sets than a producer,” he said.

One factor common in most of Bazmee’s films is the presence of an ensemble cast.

Isn’t managing so many people together a mammoth task?

“It’s not difficult to manage so many actors together. If you work with honesty, your intentions are clear to your artists, if they know you are not a manipulator and that you won’t be biased towards people, then there is no problem.

“All my actors know that I am very honest with my film. I tell them what their role is. I don’t exaggerate because I am a very simple person. So I never faced any kind of problem,” he said.

Bazmee has finished working on “It’s My Life”, “Ready”, “Naam” and “Thank You”. In the near future, the filmmaker has his hands full with projects like “Hera Pheri 4″ and “No Entry Mein Entry”.