The 90s in Bollywood was for polished romantic-dramas and grand family sagas. It was the films of Sooraj Barjatya, Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra which brought a certain urban sensibility to the medium while staying in touch with the cultural traditions. Sooraj said recently that the three won’t be able to make a film on life’s realities as they have not experienced that side of the world.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Sooraj said, “I think three of us are quite similar at one point. Of course, they are much younger to me, but we are from the same generation. We are born with golden spoons. We have not seen the hardships of life. We also travelled in cars.”
He added, “But fortunately or unfortunately, when it came to filmmaking, we were passionate about it too. So, we showed the world that was all fairytale. And the ’90s were such that people wanted to watch fairytales. We went with the flow and found ourselves making a particular kind of cinema. I think Adi, Karan, and I wanted to show dreams. If any of us were ever asked to make a film about reality, or to define what life is, I don’t think any of us would be aware of that life.”
However, Aditya and Karan took on to exploring other genres and complex themes in their films. When asked why he couldn’t do the same, Sooraj said, “Maybe because I am more conservative. Maybe it is to do with my upbringing. If you see us individually also, I think we are on the good side of cinema. Given a chance, even Karan would like to do a Rocky Aur Rani today. Maybe it is to do with our age, but essentially we are making family-oriented films. But yeah, comparatively, I am the most conservative of them all. I think my strength lies there.”
Sooraj is known for making family dramas like Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), Ham Saath Saath Hai (1999), Vivaah (2006) and Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo (2015). His last directorial marked a shift from that when he made the adventure-drama, Uunchai, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher and Boman Irani the lead.
