Milap Zaveri: Don't blame anyone for that lean period of mine

New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) Much like a phoenix that rises from its ashes, Milap Zaveri has marched back into the spotlight with Ek Deewane ki Deewaniyat. After an almost four-year lean period following the underperformance of Satyamev Jayate 2, the filmmaker-writer has made a powerful comeback and said that it feels “sweeter after the bitterness of failure.”

Milap has helmed films such as “Satyamev Jayate” franchise, “Marjavaan” and “Mastizaade”. He has also penned hits such as Kaante, Housefull, Ek Villain and Shootout at Wadala to name a few.

Saying that he doesn’t hold anyone responsible for his lean phase and accepts full accountability for his failures, Milap candidly told IANS: “Well, you know, I think — and I say this in a very simple, humble way… I don’t blame anyone for that lean period of mine. I accept it myself. You know, I made a film that didn’t do well called Satyamev Jayate 2. The business economics didn’t work; the film didn’t work.”

“Then it was, I think, just justified that people were wary of me because it was a film that had a lot of hope. Bahut umeedein thi logon ko us film se. Aur woh film jab nahi utari logon ki umeedon par, toh people were disillusioned by me,” he added.

Recalling how many thought he wouldn’t be able to pull off again, Milap said: “They thought, I would not be able to pull it off again. And there was a period of three, three and a half years where I had very little work. I never thought I’d see this day again — where I’d be sitting in front of you and talking about a superhit film of mine as a director that’s released.”

“There were tough times”, said the filmmaker.

“And I must say thank you to my wife, Gauri, my son, my in-laws, my parents, my friends, Shaad Randhawa, who’s also in Ek Deewane ki Deewaniyat, my best friend Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia, who have always been some of my greatest strengths.”

“The two of them were always there for me. They helped me survive, helped me fight.”

He said that with the success of “Ek Deewane ki Deewaniyat”, the “victory seems even sweeter because there was such a bitter aftertaste of failure before this.”

“I’m just grateful that I got the opportunity thanks to Harshvardhan Rane, Sonam Bajwa, Anshul Garg, and Raghav Sharma. And today this film is a superhit, racing towards a blockbuster, and it feels great.”

So basically, he’s a phoenix rising from the ashes?

“I know! The amount of times I’ve risen from the ashes… people are telling me now, ‘Please, can you stop getting reduced to ashes each time?’”

The filmmaker added: “You know, it happened earlier also with my first film Jaane Kya Sa Hoga, it didn’t do well. Then I wrote ‘Shootout at Wadala’, and I came back with ‘Grand Masti’, ‘Shootout at Wadala’, ‘Ek Villain’, and ‘Main Tera Hero’ as a writer.”

“Then again, my film Mastizaade didn’t work, and I fought back with Satyamev Jayate and Marjaavaan. Then Satyamev Jayate 2 didn’t work. And now I’ve fought back with Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat. I also have Masti 4 and Tera Yaar Hoon Main lined up. And I hope this time the phoenix remains in this avatar only."

--IANS

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