Director Rajiv Rai talks with Subhash K Jha about his 2001 romantic Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, which featured Suniel Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Keerthi Reddy, and was the debut film of Arjun Rampal.
What do you remember the most about this project?
Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat was a film I shot in, I feel, the most scenic and beautiful countries of Europe. And that’s how I visualized the film. I wanted to shoot it in beautiful places. And to me, Switzerland is a very beautiful place, so is Scotland, which is a little unexploited, and even slightly underrated. And it has very scenic sort of views. It has lakes and hills and mountains and beautiful countryside.And a lot of sheep, I think, like New Zealand, and not so many people. It’s very rainy, very coastal, and the people are very nice there. Very, very hospitable and good.
So special on many counts?
It was a very good experience. I had introduced Arjun Rampal and Kirti Reddy also. So, that was a special film for me, bringing in Arjun Rampal to the audiences. So, I remember that very vividly. He was a friend of mine, and he’s a very fine actor. That was an excellent experience.
And of course Viju Shah’s music?
I think we gave a beautiful score, different to the usual music, which you and me do, which you was in a different form altogether. His style was different, and we were attempting something different. Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat was the first romantic film in my career. I don’t think I’ll do any more. And that was the first one that I had done.
Why wouldn’t you do another romantic film?
I’m not a very romantic sort of director. So, for me, that was very special to attempt another kind of a genre. I also remember that it was start to finish. So, it was a good experience. We were moving countries, but first we were in one place, then another. I can’t recall which was first. I think it was Scotland, and then I suppose we went to Switzerland. Maybe it was Switzerland first. I’m trying to think about that. I think maybe Switzerland first. So, that was, yeah, it had a very unique storyline.
This was my first review on a national platform
Personally, it’s a special film to me as well as it is to you. It was a film I did completely, completely out of the country. I had done Vishwa Atma also a lot out of the country, and this one too. And so, whatever India I showed, actually I shot it in Scotland. So, it was completely an outdoor shoot for me. I was, at the end of it, quite happy with the film the way I thought it over. And it was a great experience shooting in foreign lands and, you know, locations that have never come before. So, most of the locations, I think if you see, I won’t say all of them, but a lot of them are very virginal. You don’t see them in other films. So, that was also a point I was trying to make within the film, were the locations, the photography, the songs, and the entire mood.
