Nidhi Dutta, daughter of noted director/writer/producer J P Dutta, has produced the war epic, Border 2, and she is only in her 20s. She spoke to Subhash K Jha about the experience before the film was released.
As the release date closes in, what are your feelings?
As the release date is getting closer, there is definitely nervousness. Of course, there is. As I think any child that is doing something in the same field as their parent is trying to carry a legacy forward. I juggled my wifely and mom duties with producing this vast film. And I think I’m just a kid trying to make my father proud. And before you get your exam results, that nervousness of, will I let my parents down? Will they be proud of me? It’s the same feelings, to be honest. I know I’ve done my best. I know the team has given it their all. We all have done it to the best of our ability. So yes, we are anxious, we are excited, we are nervous, but we’re confident, we’re happy with what we’ve made. And we just hope that the audiences feel the same. And mainly, I hope that my father feels the same.
The audience is expecting another Border from you?
Where people that are expecting Border is concerned, honestly, Border is a film that for us, especially for Papa (J P Dutta) and me, it is a legendary movie. It is, I think, if I may say so, the best war film that’s ever been made in Indian cinema or otherwise. But Border is a film for us that primarily told stories of our heroes of the Indian Army and Air Force. My Uncle, who was in the Air Force, had come back from the war and narrated the incidents to Papa. When Papa was in college, that’s when he had written Border. And then, when he decided to become a producer, he chose to make Border as his first film.
Actually he shot another unreleased war film, Sarhad, with Vinod Khanna before going into Border. Any particular reason why Border was JP Saab’s first release?
Because he was so connected to the Armed Forces, because our family is an Armed Forces family. My father’s cousins are from the Armed Forces. So, for us to tell stories of the Armed Forces, whether it is Border, whether it is LOC Kargil, whether it is Paltan, it’s always been from that point of view, to tell stories of the bravehearts. Border, too, is the same thing. It is telling stories of bravehearts of the armed forces.
How is Border 2, which is directed by Anurag Singh, different from your father’s Border in 1997?
This is the first time ever that in Indian cinema that we have a tri-service film, as I call it, which has the Army, Navy and the Air Force. Because the 1971 war was the first war that had the Army, Navy, and the Air Force together for the first time, which is why it is very important to tell people that this was the first war where all our forces had fought together and protected us. And that’s why this film is different anyways from Border, because it has tri-services. Border had two, just the Air Force and the Army. And it can have the same feeling, it can have the same emotion with new stories.
Any fear as war films are not doing well?
Agreed, war films that are not doing well currently, honestly, there are many aspects to it. There is, of course, a commercial aspect. It’s also about, you know, today, of course, it’s the star cast, it’s, you know, how you market the films, it’s about how you mount a film. It is, it does come down to that. But I think that no matter how a box office result is, if a film has been told the right way, if our heroes have been immortalized on screen for the audiences, I think somewhere it finds its audience, it will find its place in the hearts of people. And I think, and I hope that our film will too. And I would like to congratulate people like contemporary producers, who are our colleagues in the industry, who are now striving towards telling more stories on Armed Forces. There are two films that have recently released on the Army, and I think it’s amazing that they’re, you know, shedding light on all these heroes that have laid down their lives for us to keep us safe. And it’s nice and it’s always heartwarming to see more people telling stories of Armed Forces.
How did you manage the egos of all those actors?
As a producer, egos, I didn’t, I’ve actually had a very smooth run. I have had a fantastic team standing with me, starting with Bhushan Kumarji, who is my co-producer on the film. I think he has believed in this film the way maybe if my father had another son, he would have been just like that with me. It’s literally been like having a brother with me, who wants to carry the legacy forward with the same dignity and the same passion. So, he’s been an absolute dream to work with. And whether Sunny Deol Sir, Varun Dhawan, Ahaan Shetty, Diljit Dosanjh, everyone has just been a dream. It’s just been a group of passionate people trying to bring these stories to life. And I’m absolutely blessed with my team. Of course, my two pillars without whom this film would have not been possible is my co-producers Shiv Chanana and my husband, Binoy Gandhi. They have been my rock-solid support because I was actually pregnant, as you know, throughout the film’s shoot. So, you know, they were literally, you know, shoulder to shoulder making sure that I didn’t take too much stress and just had a very, very smooth making of the film.
How has J P Dutta Saab contributed to Border 2?
So, dad’s contribution actually in the film has been that of a producer. I think this is the first film where he has let go of the creativity gap, and he has just been a producer because the story of the film has been written by me. For the first time, I have actually written something. The stories actually are actually the truth, so we actually owe this to the late CDS of India, Chief of Defence Staff, who we lost a couple of years ago. That was General Bipin Rawat. He had actually invited Dad and me a few years ago to Delhi and given us a bank of about twenty-two biopics that he wanted us to make. Out of that, I actually picked out four characters that the film is inspired by and I wrote the story myself and then I took it to dad and dad was, of course, overwhelmed and very, very happy to do it. And then we decided to produce it. So he has been overseeing it in that manner. And of course, we have Anurag Singh, who’s directing it, and Dad being a director and a filmmaker first himself. He has the understanding that a director that comes on needs to have his space, which is what we’ve done. We’ve honestly given Anurag a lot of space and let him take the story and run with the story and give it his vision.
Closing thoughts?
We’re just making sure that everything goes well and the release goes well, and hopefully everybody likes what we’ve done. Recreating ‘Sandese aate hain’ was absolutely Bhushan Kumarji’s idea because the minute he heard that it was the 1971 war, he said, we have to have the same song because it’s the same war. And he managed to get it, and we have recreated it. And I think everyone has already loved it. As I’m speaking to you, we’re at some, I mean, social media reels and everything, we’re at some 600,000 reels that are being made. And as we speak and the song has been accepted with such open arms and it’s been loved so much that I’m just very, very grateful. So yes, very grateful, very excited, very nervous, and just praying.
