The BOY who grew up telling STORIES

It is indeed the last of the three things that makes one sit-up and take note of the director. “I was in Standard One,when I went for a family vacation and my older sister,with the due diligence of a storyteller,told my cousins and me a horror story.” Hearing the story Abbas’s cousins were terribly scared but he was simply awe-struck by his sister’s ability to fabricate stories. Post the vacation,when Abbas went back to school and his teacher asked him to narrate a story to the class,he told them the story and the reaction that followed left an unforgeTtable impression in young Abbas’s mind. “All the kids sat up with their eyes wide open. I loved their reaction and the experience of telling a story to the audience. I think that I when I got initiated to storytelling,” says the director.

His debut film left the audience impressed but one wonders why he would chose to director another ‘Boy Meets Girl’ love story in such a short time? “JHS is a romantic comedy. There is a boy and a girl and there are the friends. But it is different in the telling,“ argues the director. He adds,“I am a romantic at heart and I like to believe that life is happy. I would have ideally preferred not to make a romantic film post Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na,as the film was such a hit. But at the time that I had to decide what to do next,I didn’t have a script ready. Pakhi,my wife,had spent the last year writing a script and it had turned out really well. So it was like the film chose me rather than I chose the film.”

Critics have criticised Abbas’s decision to cast his wife,as the the leading lady of Jhootha Hi Sahi. One critic wrote,‘The heroine is suicidal.’ But the truth is that it was John who cast Pakhi,after listening to a script narration from her. It is known that the husband and wife stayed in separate rooms while they were shooting at London. They rarely interacted with each other,and held hands and walked on the streets only once the shooting was over! The director adds,“Pakhi and I had both committed ourselves to the project and we both tried hard to completely forget that we were husband and wife for the duration of the shoot .”

Before venturing into direction,Abbas has been a successful scriptwriter,dialogue writer and lyricist and has worked with the Who’s Who of Bollywood. He wrote the screenplay for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool,the dialogues and the screenplay for Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na,the dialogues for Rajkumar Santoshi’s Munna Bhai M.B.B.S and Santosh Sivan’s Asoka,among other films. So,what prompted him to move from scriptwriting to direction? “I was happier writing scripts. It takes a lot less work. I don’t like the work that goes into direction as it’s life consuming. But people liked what I did with Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na,so I said if I can do it with one film,I can do some more too. “

Abbas’s first ever print interview was called ‘Abbas Tyrewala: A one-man show’. According to the director,the interview reflected his temperament at the time that he was a scriptwriter. But according to him,things have changed since he sat on the director’s seat. He says,“As a director I get my team involved in the process. I make them feel that the film belongs to them as much as to me. Earlier in my life,all I cared about was my work. As soon as I was done with the script I used to tell my director ‘You are happy,I am out’”. As a scriptwriter,Abbas dreaded interacting with people. But he hopes to meet a scriptwriter with the same temperament as him in the future. “It would be fun to work with him,to kick his a** and teach him more about life,” jokes Abbas.

Quiz him on the different genres that he would love to direct someday, and you will be surprised by his reply. “I hope to direct a film on the darker side of life and the underworld. Of all the movies that I have worked on till date,Maqbool has come the most natural to me. and I hope to make a film on the similar lines someday,” he says.

Speaking about his future projects,he adds,“It is really premature to talk about my next project. Yes,there is a movie in the pipeline,that I want to make at some point in my life. It will be called Jaane Kya Toone Kahi. The title is not locked. I have always wanted to make three movies on the three phases of my life. Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na was soon after college,Jhootha Hi Sahi just before marriage and one final film will be a love story post-marriage. That will complete my trilogy of love stories. I might make it next or at a later point in life,I don’t know. I would also love to work with Mani Ratnam and Shekhar Kapur in the future,except for the fact that Kapur is even lazier than me.”

So,does he plan to take a break-post Jhootha Hi Sahi? “I have not planned what I’ll to do next in life. In the last 15 days I have been repeatedly asking myself,‘What next?’. Maybe I will go on a vacation. I have co-produced the film. If I happen to make some extra money,I guess that will be a great plan,” he concludes.