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Master piece

Not all star children have it easy in the industry. Especially when they have their famous and successful parents' image to live up to. So you have a few who don't make it, despite their dream debuts. They fade away into oblivion or take up something else, simply in order to stay occupied.

One such case has been that of Suneil Anand. Son of Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik, Suneil kicked off his own career with a good film, Anand Aur Anand opposite his matinee idol father. Only, it didn't do much for his career. Though his father made many more films after that, Suneil never featured in them in any role.

He had other things to do. He went to Hong Kong. "I have been training under a top martial arts grandmaster," he says. "I have been training in this particular art, for the past 18 years, in Hong Kong. It is called WTQ -- the Wing Tsun Quen style of Kung Fu.

"Quen, in Chinese, means fist. And it is a very scientific system of fighting. Since I was into this for such a long time, I thought it would be nice to present it on screen in India and perhaps around the world. And what better way than to make a film, especially when I had the backup of my instructor and the whole organisation."

Suneil, thus, decided to make a WTQ-based film, which he titled Master. And which has his teacher acting in it.

Jackie Chan meets Bollywood? Will it work? "Yes, of course," avers Suneil. "I believe that there is a market for a martial arts film. The only thing is, nobody can do it because nobody is into it. That is not a problem here, -- I am into martial arts very seriously. So I felt that I was perhaps the only one who could make a good film based on the theme. And I have the advantage of being affiliated to the largest martial arts organisation in the world."

There could be a point in what he says, especially about worldwide audiences. Rediff.com in fact got onto the story when we noticed advertisements in newspapers across the United States, inviting potential buyers for the film to get in touch with its maker. Suneil, apparently, plans to release his film in the States, even before an India release.

"I have already sold my US and Canada rights to a distributor, who has been advertising the film all over those territories -- that is probably the ad you saw," Suneil explains. "He is planning a very big release in America, in fact he has already booked the theatres, mostly IMAX which are big-screen cinemas, about eight-storey high."

An Indian release is not ruled out -- it is merely that Suneil's first priority is the US market, which is the one territory most Indian film-makers consider very lucrative. The thinking seems to be that if the US market covers the costs, then whatever the Indian market fetches is all jam.

"All this talk about big overseas markets is just that, talk," says Suneil, presenting the counter-argument. "I think markets all over the world are volatile. Ultimately, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The film has to be good, if it is good then people will take to it. You've got to produce something for people to think it is worthwhile going to the cinema and seeing it on the big screen, rather than sitting at home and watching it on CDs and DVDs. In that sense, your success and failure is in your own hands."

Suneil says that it may be true that the overseas market is going through a boom phase just now, but cautions that ultimately, the fate of an individual film rests on the film itself. "One shouldn't take things for granted, and think that because there is a boom on, any and every film will do well in the overseas market. The film has to be good, period -- if it does well, it is because it is good, if it flops, something is wrong with it. In that sense, you can't argue with the box office."

Suneil stars in the film -- and taking a leaf from his father, he plans on making more, with himself as central character in all of them. "I would like to plan all my films basically around me, with me being the central character," he says. And adds that the fact that he has not really been able to make it in films earlier is not a downer -- he will be accepted in this second innings, he believes. Which is why, for Master, he hasn't roped in his hugely saleable dad or any other big names.

"Also," he says, "I didn't want known names because known names do not know how to fight, they can't do a hard core martial arts film, they don't have the skills to present this form with any conviction. It needs years of training to achieve that fluidity, that movement, that flow, that technique, that speed and accuracy and power. It's taken me eighteen years."

Interestingly, offers have been coming to him from other producers, but he is pretty clear that will not do films for others, preferring to produce and direct his own. "Working with others is a different ball game, you have to vibe with them, they have to be on your wavelength. It is not that I am shut to the idea of working with others -- if we vibe on the same wavelenght, then yes, I am open to the idea. But I don't like interference, I wouldn't want anybody to interfere with my project. Filmmaking is the kind of process where you need a free hand."

But in an industry where last month's hero is today's history, hasn't he left it too late to make a comeback? "I wasn't really out of the scene," argues Suneil, "because my last film was released just two and a half years ago. It's just that I have been doing things at my own pace. I believe in quality, and not quantity. There's no point in doing twenty lousy films, which are forgotten overnight. I would rather do one or two good films and be remembered for them. So my penchant for quality has made me move at a slower clip."

In any case, it is out of his hands now. The film is with the distributors, the promos are out, the release is imminent, and now all he can do is await the verdict of the box office.

What if it is a thumbs down?

"What if?" he asks in his turn. "It is not the end of the world. Even in failure, there are lessons to be learnt, you simply learn them, and move on."

As you hear him say that, you think -- now where have I heard that before? And then it strikes you -- he could well be voicing thoughts you have heard from his father Dev, time and again.