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'Our film goes beyond everything'

Rustam Bora

Film-maker Aziz Mirza has defended his just released Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani against strong accusations that the "fun-filled" patriotic movie portrays journalism in a bad light.

"Our film does not deal with the press and our aim was not to hurt the scribes by their portrayal in it," said Mirza, who was in Jaipur with Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla to promote Phir Bhi... "Our film goes beyond the press and beyond everything.

"In fact, it is just a fun film with a message. You can sense a feel of Hollywood's Front Page in it, but it is not a copy of that film in any respect," he insisted, while confessing in the same breath that all his films had a feel of Raj Kapoor, the great showman, in them. "However," he hastened to add, "that does not mean you will find any similarity between my films and any of RK films. It is more like the feel of Charlie Chaplin in Raj Kapoor's films."

Mirza said the only similarity between himself and Raj Kapoor was that both had centre to left leanings in their outlook to life, even though they did not support any extreme ideology.

Responding to the charge that Phir Bhi... incorporated clichés like the flashback rape scene similar to the one in Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho, he said, "Yes it is a cliché," but defended his decision by saying the story is not about what happened but about what happened afterwards.

"We shot only two scenes -- that of the riots and Shah Rukh's final speech in documentary style. Otherwise, the entire film is a reel fantasy, in order to create a patriotic fervour in audience."

Both Mirza and Khan refused to speculate on the fate of their film at the box office. Mirza confined himself to saying he did not see Phir Bhi... as a super-duper hit, which it could well turn out to be, but it would certainly give its distributors a good return. Khan said it was too early to predict Phir Bhi...'s box office fate after just the first week's run. But, he added, the way the picture has been made, it would not disappoint any one.

Juhi Chawla also expressed her confidence in the film. "We all have worked with our dil to make this film. It has received support from several other established banners in Bollywood and has been completed in a year."

Replying to queries regarding the influence of the underworld on the film industry, Khan said it was not good to isolate only the film industry, "Any industry can have wrong kind of money. But, in my nine year long career in films in Bombay, I have found the producers honest. The time has gone when money was found stocked in sofa sets of film financiers."