Sabbir Khan: I want to direct realistic films

He has tasted success with commercial hits like ‘Heropanti’ and ‘Baaghi’ and director Sabbir Khan hopes to consolidate on it in order to venture into realistic cinema, a genre that he believes in.

Sabbir says mass entertainers help directors establish a name for themselves in the film industry so that big producers are confident enough to invest in their ideas.

“I am hoping to get a little bit of success to reach a certain platform where I can tell stories which I want to tell. Films that I am doing right now are a stepping stone to what I want to do in future. I hope to gain some success to experiment,” Sabbir told PTI.

“People only experiment with a middle-class boy, who is not producing his own films if they see that he has done a certain number of films and they are successful.”

The young director says he is impressed with the way filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani tells his stories and wants to imbibe his aesthetics.

“I think I want to say more human dramatic stories, try to break new ground, try to say universal stories in a more interesting way like Rajkumar Hirani does.

“Our generation of filmmakers are fortunate that they are making films in the same era as him. I want to say stories in a little bit more realistic manner.”

But while there is still time for him to dabble into experimental films, as a guy, who grew up in a middle-class family with no connection in the film industry, Sabbir says he is “fortunate” to be even able to direct movies.

“I am a middle-class boy. I have worked as an assistant director. It’s such a beautiful, fortunate thing for me to actually just get a chance to direct films.”

The director says even if in the smallest possible way, he has tried to blend his ideology with the commercial domain of the films he has done so far.

“The day we green-lit the story of ‘Baaghi’, I worked very hard with my group of writers to add layers to it and say some subtle messages through the film so that it doesn’t look like a stereotypical action film.

“My heart lies in picking a story and then telling it with absolute conviction. I was absolutely convinced about ‘Heropanti’ and ‘Baaghi’ and the story behind them.
While Sabbir wants to break new ground with his work, he says he would also want to keep alive the essence of “quintessential Hindi cinema”.

“I have grown up watching those films, which later got a negative connotation and were termed as masala movies. I don’t know what ‘masala’ means. I have grown up seeing people reacting to goodness and evil in big theatres. Just because we are going through a transition we should not let the uniqueness of Hindi films that is drama, song-and-dance go…

“I want to do a mix of both new and quintessential Hindi movies. I think an honest critic will smell an honest, entertaining film as opposed to crass stuff, where some item songs are added just to sell it.”

Sabbir has a few ideas for his next project but the director is yet to green-lit one.

Inputs by PTI

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