'I'm so fond of acting that it does not tire
me playing villain again and again'
 "Yes, we were inspired by the script; we didn't see the film, In fact I even suggested that we see the film, but Javed (Akhtar) and Amit said no, that we should not in any way get affected by it. So Javed wrote the script and everyone was very excited."
But if he was so impressed with the script why did he tamper with the climax? The original ended with a message of hope. With John Doe living on unlike the pessimistic Main Azaad Hoon.
"We did not tamper with the ending. You see the director of the original film was so confused that he shot five different endings for the same film and kept on changing them in different theatres. We were not confused at all. Our protagonist kills himself to prove his detractors are fakes and not him. And by killing himself he clears his name.
"You see, that this kind of story idea demanded the ending we gave it and I'm very proud of it." He adds sadly with a shrug, "After that I have not directed a film in the last seven years."
Anand, unlike many directors, moved from direction to acting and made a mark as a character actor.
But if a director acts, when he returns to direction will he not demand that his actors act the way he would? Anand thinks not.
"The director starts understanding the mechanics of acting if he is an actor himself. He may be a very stubborn director, wanting an actor to perform his way, but as an actor he will realise the actor's problems and give him more freedom," he said, citing the example of Singeetam the director of Pushpak.
"He had the image in mind but not on paper. We would do a scene and he would tell us to curb it in certain places until we gave him the idea he had in mind... I can say that Pushpak is not only a director's film but it is everyone's else's film."
 A wide smile lights up his face, one that even makes him look awake, as he remembers a battle he had with Amitabh Bachchan (left).
"When I was making Kaalia I had a tiff with Mr Bachchan... It was my first film with him and I wanted him to deliver a dialogue which he didn't want to. He thought it was irrelevant to the film. I said if he didn't say the dialogue I would leave the film. He asked me to change the actor. I told him the dialogue would get a lot of applause from the audience. He said that every director says that. I told him if the audience did not clap for that particular dialogue I would leave the film industry and challenged him that if they did then he would leave acting.
"Two weeks later, he send a producer to sign me for another film. And yes, he did say the dialogue the way I wanted it. I think he must have admired the fact that this young man, who is just starting his career, had the guts to stick by his decision. Amitabh was already a superstar. It was this incident that started the rapport we share with each other."
While Anand may have beaten others as a director, he is regularly thrashed as an actor, since he has stuck to playing a half-witted wimpy sorry excuse of a villain, who sometimes is inclined to sadistic excess. Why doesn't he do other roles?
"I'm so fond of acting that it does not tire me playing villain again and again. I go to the theatre and see people watching me on the big screen. It is the ultimate high for me.
When I'm feeling depressed, I stop my car on the road and get out and interact with people who recognise me. My biggest nightmare is no one will recognise me when I walk the streets. I feel the need to entertain other people.
"I don't even want to know what the role is as long as he pays me my fees. The most memorable roles in my career have come to me that way, I didn't even look at the scripts of Pushpak, Nayakan and Agneepath," he admits, with a sheepish grin, running his hand on his head and sinking back into the folds of the sofa.
A brief silence as he gathers his reserves. A match flares up singing the end of the cigarette that turns the colour of Anand's eyes. The grey fumes issue and his eyes narrow as he withdraws into the happy land of Narcopia. Till he remembers something else.
"Lemme tell you about this really funny incident that happened when I was selected to play the role in Nayakan."
 I had gone to Madras for the shooting, we had decided on the costume of the character: he would wear a khaki shirt and shorts. I landed up at the sets the next day everything was ready, I faced the camera, but Mani Ratnam (left) refused to start shooting. He kept whispering to his cameraman, to his assistants, but the shooting just would not start. I got the drift that it had something to do with me, so I approached Mani and asked him what was the matter?
"Mani looked at me and said that it really perplexed him because he did not know what was wrong with me. I was saying my lines perfectly, but I don't look the character. He apologised to me and said that something like this has never happened to him before. So I asked the makeup man for a mirror and saw myself. And suddenly it hit me, it was my hair, I had a hair cut at the Taj the other day, and my hair didn't look like that of a mentally retarded person. So I asked for a pair of scissors and cut my hair myself (my wife will kill me if she hears this - she is a hair dresser) and when I was done, Mani had a big smile on his face. He cried out, 'Okay, lets take'," says Anand. "And it was me who gave him the idea."
What about his new Amitabh venture, Major Saab?
"I don't want to talk much about the story and the theme of the film, because out here you let out a little bit and then next thing you know is that someone else....." He would rather leave the dark ways of Bollywood only to the imagination. Then relents a bit.
 Major Saab, he explains "is about a major (Amitabh Bachchan) who teaches in a military academy in Khadakvasla in Pune. He trains cadets to become army officers. Among the new recruits he comes across a cadet (Ajay Devgun,right) who is arrogant, filthy rich and who has joined the academy only so that he can be thrown out. A bond develops between the two arrogant men... The story develops along those lines," he says cagily.
He pooh-poohs rumours that Major Saab, made by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd has been shelved due to shortage of funds.
"This is pure nonsense, I don't know who is saying this because my film is eighty per cent complete. We have just shot for 52 days running and I'm leaving for Australia tomorrow (Thursday). My whole unit is already there."
Anand has made his last three films with Bachchan. Can he work with no one else?
"This happens with a director who has worked with a complete actor. The director feels the void, because Amit is so complete as an actor, you can have him do anything. He fits into a role with such great ease, he doesn't have to work very hard; it comes naturally to him. It does stilt the growth of a director, but Amitabh gives so much on a platter that even if you see a better dish, you feel too lazy to reach across and stretch your hand to take it." Now he has condescended to take Ajay Devgun along with Bachchan.
 Anand is also making Ek Hindustani starring Sunil Shetty (left), no relation to Bachchan's debut, Saat Hindustani.
Ek Hindustani is about a person who comes from Allahabad (sic), a person who has never been in a big city before and how the city brutalises him - it is the story of the brutalisation of the native who is swallowed up by the city. This film has a lot of special effects."
Isn't there any new idea, some new path to explore?
"I doubt the themes will change. You will now have all the themes, a little bit of this and that. I definitely don't see a totally romantic film or a totally violent film emerging, but, we'll still believe in the age-old formula of Manmohan Desai, but done well. People won't take the same shit anymore. It has to be packaged well. The audience has been exposed to a lot of television, which makes you aware of what is going around you." He points that corporations are streamlining film production, like Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd, Plus and UTV.
There are few more tales to tell, few more heroes to put on a pedestal, he says. He gets up to usher in his assistant, then turns around to proclaim, "Now will come an era of special effects and gizmos. The trend is over in Hollywood... He pauses then admits, "But then we are always 10 years behind them."
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