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Of late, in Bollywood, the director - more often than not - has to kowtow before A-list stars, who dictate drastic changes in the script, demand their own specific co-actors and even intervene in the final edit.
Worse, just a select few directors have succeeded in retaining their distinctive imprimatur. Or have avoided compromises in the way they envisioned a film - right from its conception to the ending, its promos and release. As it happens, a director's signature is becoming illegible to the point of disrecognition.
Another example: Sooraj Barjatya's homely, catering-to-family-audiences brand of helmsmanship from Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) to Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015) has been dispiriting - to put it politely.
Meanwhile, Indian cinema's Hyderabad-anchored wunderkind S.S. Rajamouli, of the two Bahubali techno-dazzlers, has been saluted as an unparalleled director of blockbusters. Attempts to woo him to the Bollywood fold have been in vain.
In the event, there are just a fistful of Bollywood directors who have succeeded as powerful brands. Over, then, to a personal selection of the five whose oeuvre has a certain style, sense and sensibility, their output appealing to the trade as well as viewers across generations:
At the beginning of his career, the Film and Television Institute of India graduate choreographed dance sequences of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 1942: A Love Story (1994). Thus far, he has completed eight feature films, kickstarting with Khamoshi: The Musical (1996) and is now about to unveil the ostentatiously-mounted Padmavati, one of the most awaited films of the year.
In 14 years, the once would-be chartered accountant from Nagpur has batted out four feature films besides countless ad endorsements. At the age of 54 today, he is filming the biopic of Sanjay Dutt, who received a new lease of life as an actor with his Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai three years later. These were followed by the box-office smash hits 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014), both toplining Aamir Khan.
The six feature films helmed by Karan Johar - also an ubiquitous TV personality and occasional actor - have been youthful, on-the-go, trendy and have sought to evoke a balance of smiles and tears. The 45-year-old son of Yash Johar, the late charismatic producer of Dharma Films, KJo - as he is fondly called - has kept the banner flying high as a producer too, with a rapid array of designer entertainers handled by young directors he has mentored.
From Delhi, he studied engineering but chose to assist his elder brother, Ravi Rai on TV serials. Going solo eventually as a director, his debut feature Strangers (2007) - adapted from Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train - and an oddity titled Thodi Life Thoda Magic (2008), are barely recallable.
He made a whopper impact with the modestly-budge ted, out-of-the-box comedy Vicky Donor (2012). Before that, there was the critically lauded but commercial clinker Yahaan (2005) with Jimmy Shergill that examined the ongoing strife in Kashmir.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com
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