Abhijeet Chatterjee & Raj Vaidya

Abhishek Bachchan's search for that elusive BO blockbuster continues with Shararat. The fourth film of his career, it is also his second with a debut director.

If Abhishek is perturbed about the dry run in his career, he doesn't show it. He is perfectly at ease chatting up journalists and replying to the toughest of questions with a disarming smile.

Clad in a black leather jacket, black jeans and dark glasses, he looks every inch the rich, arrogant teenaged collegian he is playing in Shararat. He is ready to face the camera for the next shot being canned at the Worli Seaface in Bombay.

How close is the real-life Bachchan Jr to Rahul, the character he plays in Shararat? "Not a bit!" smiles Abhishek, adding, "I am not half as disobedient as Rahul." The conversation is interrupted as he is called for the next shot.

In the shot, Abhishek is driving a modified Sixties' Impala. Painted red, yellow and orange, the convertible is filled with teenaged boys and girls out to have a whale of a time. Abhishek is at the wheel and speeds off instantly after the director shouts, "Action!" A camera in an open-top jeep follows the car.

"This is the opening sequence of the film where we establish Abhishek's character," says director Gurdev Bhalla in-between shots. He adds, "The sequence shows him in a race, even breaking the law. You can see him going over the dividers, the pavements, generally breaking traffic rules. Yes, he is playing a spoilt brat in the film.

"After the sequence, his parents come in and the story takes off. I am shooting this elaborate sequence to establish this character because I believe that establishing characters through their actions on screen is more effective than having them mouthing their own introductions."

Shararat is the story of how this young spoilt brat undergoes a sea change when circumstances force him to spend 30 days in a home for the aged. Once there, he is privy to a facet of life he has never seen -- parents who have been abandoned by their children.

"The film raises the issue of old age and how one discards one's parents in their waning years. My film discusses how far this is right. The question that the film asks is whether homes for the aged should exist in a civilized society. Parents raise their children with a lot of love and affection and strive at getting them the best they can afford.

But the same children, when they grow up, turn their backs on their parents, and that too, at a time when the parents desperately need to be taken care of. I agree, a lot of children do support their parents in their old age, but, quite often, it is only because they have to do it. The parents raise their children with love, but the children never -- no matter what they say -- look after them in the same way."

For Bhalla, sensitivity in treatment of the film is very important. For him, making a film in itself is making a statement. "This is the reason why you have to be very careful in what you are trying to say," says he.

The germs for Shararat came from Urmi Juvekar, who has written the story and screenplay of the film. When Bhalla heard the story, he couldn't help but agree with the thought behind the film.

He has tried to give the film a higher, noble purpose and not churn out just another story. He says, "We have made the film within the accepted parameters of commercial cinema, but I'd like to stress that it has a higher purpose. If the film induces even one child to reaccept his or her parent, I'd think our efforts in making the film have been worthwhile."

Bhalla allays fears that the subject might be too offbeat by saying that the film remains within commercial parameters at all times. He says, "First, the film has seven songs. It has great locations. It also has 'commercial' casting. We have a great-looking heroine in Hrishitaa Bhatt, who has modeled for Liril.

"For the other characters, I could have taken people from theatre. But I have taken Helen, Dara Singh, A K Hangal, Shubha Khote, Tinnu Anand and others who are all known faces. A person from the so-called parallel cinema, or one who is making a so-called art film would have opted for new faces as they come without having an established image.

"He may have chosen real old people, real old age homes in which to shoot the film, but we consciously tried to offset this. Not only did we cast established actors in character roles, we also shot the film on a sprawling set in Manali. The three-acre set near the Beas river had everything -- bright colours, scenic beauty and such elements that give the film a very fresh look. Besides these, the film's cutting, the treatment and the dialogues have all been done keeping the film within the commercial format. All in all, the film is packaged in a very commercial way. We haven't gone wrong in that aspect."

The point Bhalla is perhaps trying to make is that even while staying within the commercial format, it is possible to create a film of substance. The rationale behind this seems to be, "If I churn out yet another ordinary commercial film for my first venture, I will be lost among the growing breed of newcomer producers and directors." Bhalla hopes that Shararat would immediately put him in a separate league altogether.

The film was initially an ABCL project. A couple of years ago, Jaya Bachchan had commissioned Bhalla to make the film with Abhishek in the lead. The deal, however, failed to materialise.

Meanwhile, Bhalla's association with ABCL continued. He and Abhishek continued to bump into each other. Then, one day, Bhalla told him that he believed in the subject so much that he was going to produce it as well.

As always, getting the required funds posed a problem. Says Bhalla, "Fortunately and by the grace of God, I found a man, Jayantilal Gada of Popular Entertainment Network (PEN), who believed in me more than my script."

He admits, candidly, "No other newcomer would have got an opportunity in his first film like me. Not only did Gada invest in the film, but has also been co-operative and non-intrusive all along in the its making."

Incidentally, Gurudev Bhalla's launch vehicle was supposed to be Samna, starring Ayub Khan and Deepti Bhatnagar, which he was directing for producer Xavier Marquis. The film, nearly 75 per cent complete has been stalled a long time for some reason. When quizzed about it, all Bhalla says is, "I honestly don't have a clue about what's happening on that front. I have moved on and lost all contact with producer and the production department, nor have they tried to contact me. I don't know what they are trying to do with the film."

Back to Shararat. Initially, wasn't it Preeti Jhangiani who was to play the female lead? Bhalla confirms that it was indeed so, but is tight-lipped when asked why she was replaced.

Bhalla shot nearly 90% of the film over just five months, beginning June 2000. Earlier, he recorded the songs of the film innovatively. He explains: "We had already decided to shoot the film in a single stretch and wanted to do the same for recording the music. Several music directors had told me that the reason why A R Rahman's music succeeded so much was the fact that his working was not constrained by time.

"Having his own studio enabled him to record music as and when he liked. For instance, if he got an idea at, say, 2 am, all he had to do was get to his studio and record it. This is not possible for other music directors who don't own a studio. Also, it is not easy to hire a studio and technicians, etc, at such short notice. So we went ahead and blocked Bombay's Empire Studio for a month, ten months before the recording was to take place! We hadn't even decided on a music director at the time."

The choice finally fell on newcomers Sajid Wajid primarily because Bhalla found that "they had the talent and the time as well." For the director, the idea of signing well-known music directors to compose for Shararat wasn't a happy one.

He says, "I went to a lot of big names because, initially, I wanted a big name. But they all gave me a feeling that they were doing me a favour by working in this film. And here I was, thinking how it would be such a great opportunity to work with any of these stalwarts! Anyway, I had my own beliefs which dissuaded me from working with anyone who would walk all over me simply because I was a newcomer. I didn't want to work with someone who behaved like he was doing me a favour.

Sajid Wajid, by the director's own admission, were very humble and polite, never once making him feel that they were doing him a favour. Bhalla simply told them, "I will give you a studio for one month. Assuming that there are seven songs in the album, you have three days to record each song. I will give you nine extra days, just in case. More than this would be a waste which I can't afford. For this entire one month, you are at liberty to block your technicians, your musicians, whatever you need. But the songs should be completed at the end of the month. If you can't, there's something wrong with you."

The audiocassettes and CDs of the film will be released by Tips Cassettes in March. The film will hit the screens in the second week of May.

At the moment though, Gurudev Bhalla is totally consumed in completing his first baby. The film has had a lasting and profound impact on him.

He says, in parting, "I have matured a lot while making this film -- the way I look at my parents has changed over the last year. I've transformed from a boy into a man. I remember once, during a trip abroad, I fell terribly ill. There was no one to take care of me. I was looking for something in my bag and found some medicines that my mother had packed away, just in case. I took them and got better.

"I realised then, that there I was, thousands of miles away from home, with not a soul who knew me around, but my mother was still taking care of me. It was a very touching and an enlightening moment. It is these little, little things that teach you the greatest things about life."