The Master, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is back! And is ready to strike for a fifth time! After Khamoshi, HDDCS, Devdas, Black, it is now time for Saawariya.

We all know what a confidential director SLB is. For example, last year, who knew that a movie like Black was in the making? It is extremely hard to get inside news on SLB's movies, so when we get a complete interview from the man himself, it should surely be cherished.

Here is SLB's first official interview for his next movie, Saawariya.


Sanjay Leela Bhansali has started work on his next film, Saawariya, and this time, the Master director as i like to call him, is staying away from the big stars, casting newcomers as leads.

Tell us about your cast.
My film stars Ranbir Kapoor (Rishi and Neetu Singh’s son) and Sonam Kapoor (Anil Kapoor’s daughter). It HAD to be Ranbir and Sonam for Saawariya; after Black, where I worked with established actors, I reached a point where I needed to go beyond the stars, to rediscover my own innocence, with the help of new talent. Saawariya is about innocent love. I needed to be adventurous with my cast.

When I worked with Amitji in Black, I was fulfilling a dream. Having experienced that, I needed the challenge of moulding talent, shaping new actors into my own vision. Ranbir and Sonam gave me that liberty.

This is the first time you’re working with absolutely new talent….
It’s important to move away from expectations — your own and others’. Saawariya is straight from the heart. And Sonam and Ranbir emerged from a completely natural instinct to cast the right faces for the two leads in the film.

How did you zero in on them?
The kids came to assist me. Ranbir joined me two years ago, on Black, when he’d just returned from abroad.

A little later, Anil Kapoor called to say his daughter is back in India and wants to work only with me. The first thing I noticed about them was that they were star-material. I told them they were the kind of faces I’d like to put before the camera.

At that time, Ranbir and Sonam said they weren’t sure about this. Later, they confessed they had come with the primary intention of being noticed and cast by me. It was a confession that melted my heart.

What do you think of their potential as actors?
I wouldn’t have cast them merely for being star-children. Both have a special aura about them. And they’ve been preparing for the camera before coming to me. In the last eight months, I’ve been training them intensively and fine-tuning what they don’t know. I’m enjoying this process of moulding new clay.

Do you think being star-children is an advantage?
It does give them access to important filmmakers. And secretly, they nurture the dream of following in their parents’ footsteps. So they start following their dreams from childhood.

Ranbir and Sonam have never been exposed to the undesirable side of the film world. Like most star-kids, they’re very well brought-up children. They’ve had the best education and upbringing.

Now, they’ll face the serious disadvantage of being compared with their parents, who were superstars in their own right. They’re both tremendous talents — Ranbir’s talent comes from four generations of the Kapoors; Sonam has inherited her father’s dedication. And both have star quality. They’re absolutely uncorrupted and mouldable.

After working with huge stars, how does it feel to work with newcomers?
I feel I’ve gone back to my formative years as a filmmaker. It’s like watching lives being shaped. Full credit to Ranbir and Sonam’s parents, for completely entrusting me with their children’s talent. I find the kids extremely clued-in. They’ve sat with me while I wrote the script. They know what to do and how to do it.

It’s great fun working with them. And they’ve just one film to focus on.

Why should that be such a big virtue over here? Abroad, every star works on one project at a time. I hope these kids continue to work on one film at a time. As I watch them evolve as actors, I’m so proud and happy with the journey they’ve made in eight months. They’re so focussed, sometimes, it rattles me! For them, Saawariya is everything.

And for you?
For a filmmaker, each film is important. I can’t go wrong with Saawariya. It involves the career of two new talents. I feel Ranbir and Sonam can bring a new style of film acting in our cinema. Of course, they have their parents’ qualities.

But finally, they’re complete individuals in their own right. Indian popular cinema needs more talent at the top, and these two fit the bill. I feel Ranbir and Sonam will take audiences back to the innocence that has been missing in our films for a long time.

What are your dreams worth, if they don’t fulfill other people’s lives? So far, I’ve fulfilled my own dreams through my films. Now, it’s my turn to fulfill the dreams of these two kids and their families.

You turned a year older on February 24.
I got the best possible gift for my birthday when Black won all the major Filmfare awards in both the critics’ and popular categories. What more could I have asked for? Such recognition rejuvenates a filmmaker. You remain young forever if you work with young people. In Saawariya, no one in the crew is beyond 25. Their enthusiasm, sparkle and gusto on the sets are contagious.

Note: Salman Khan and Rani Mukherjee also play key roles in Saawariya