J P Dutta is to Indian cinema what David Lean was to British cinema. His epic vision swept across Rajasthan’s sandscape in colossal dramas, which remain a testimony to.
“I don’t know why most of my films were located in Rajasthan. Maybe I was born in Rajasthan in my last life,” a faint smile cracks JP’s grim visage at the mention of his Rajasthan fixation.
After Yateem(1988), Hathyar(1989), Batwara(1989), Kshatriya(1992) and Border(1998) JP has now moved on, leaving both Rajasthan and the Deols behind.
Border remains the single most important war epic of Indian cinema. Recalling the film’s success, filmmaker J .P. Dutta says, “There was a lot of junoon and passion behind that film. Although we didn’t have the financial resources of international war epics Dunkirk or 1917, we made it exactly the way we wanted to without compromise. All the actors — Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Pooja Bhatt, etc. — were fiercely dedicated. They spent months on locations where there were no amenities, forget luxury hotels.”
27 years have passed since J P Dutta’s iconic war film was released. It remains the work this epic filmmaker is most closely identified with, although it isn’t the finest film he has made.
The song Mere Dushman Mere Bhai from J P Dutta’s Border, sung with immense affection by Hariharan, had Anu Malik pulling out all stops to create the perfect tune for Javed Akhtar’s outstanding poetry on across-the-border brotherhood.
JP says, “It wasn’t easy writing a song in Border that pleaded for sanity between the two countries at a time when politicians were baying for blood. But I believe we needed a voice of sanity. I didn’t project anti-Pakistan sentiments in Border. The film was born out of my anguished comprehension of a complicated and tangled relationship between India and Pakistan. We’re brothers and yet, we’re enemies.”
JP, always reluctant to speak about himself and his films, agrees, “Border just connected with audiences. It was destiny, I guess. There were some other films that I was equally proud of like my first release Ghulami, then Hathyar and Batwara. I am also very proud of my other war film LOC Kargil.”
Border also saw the end of JP’s long friendship with Sunny Deol. Deol played a Sadar soldier in Border. He never worked with JP again.
What went wrong? Apparently, Sunny’s production company Vijayta Films(now defunct) wanted a financial statement about the foreign exchange earnings they earned from the equipment they had used for JP’s production company. Since JP himself owned an export company he naturally wanted to use the FERA benefits for his own company and declined to give the required letter to the Deols.
Now 28 years later, all hostility between JP and Deol has been washed away. They are working together in Border 2. However, JP would in no way be involved directly with the making of this so-called sequel. His daughter Nidhi and director Anurag Singh are helming the project.
Border remains the work this epic filmmaker is most closely identified with, although it isn’t the finest film he has made.
JP, always reluctant to speak about himself and his films, agrees, “Border just connected with audiences. It was destiny, I guess. There were some other films that I was equally proud of like my first release Ghulami, thenHathyar and Batwara. I am also very proud of my other war film LOC Kargil.”
LOC Kargil with a cast as vast as occupants of Lokhandwala Complex, did not do well.
Says the Movie Moghul, “It was a lean patch. But I am no stranger to struggles. Right at the beginning of my career as a director my first film Sarhad was shelved after extensive shooting. I thought it was the end of the world. But I was able to start another film Ghulami,” says JP.
At the moment the greatest joy of his life is to see his elder daughter Nidhi look after his production house.
“It was Nidhi’s idea to celebrate 20 years of Border. Otherwise, do you think I would have ever done this on my own?” asks JP known to fight shy of the limelight throughout his career.
At the function to commemorate 20 years of Border, J P Dutta sorely missed his father writer O.P Dutta.
Says JP, “My daughter Nidhi did a wonderful thing that evening. She quietly handed over the trophy for my father to me….As one day, the trophy meant for me would be handed to her.”
