Director Mansoor Khan puts his father Nasir Husain’s contribution in perspective following the release of Music, Masti, Modernity – The Cinema of Nasir Hussain by author Akshay Manwani in New Delhi recently. Excerpts from an interview:

The book mentions that you criticised the kind of films your father made. What then made you take up filmmaking?

I always thought I wanted to do engineering. I pursued it for 5 years, but when in my last year at MIT, I felt I did not want to be in a 9 to 5 job. I dropped out and returned to India. Around this time, I wrote a short film and shot it with friends. It turned out well and my father felt I could direct. He did not guide me formally, but I learnt a lot sub-consciously when I was in school and college and that is what I recalled while working along with him on the script of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.

Your dad was a dynamic personality. As a son, how do you remember him best, as a writer, producer or director?

I always think of my father first as a writer, director and then producer. That is the order in which he emerged as a film personality. His forte was writing and he developed a unique style that was fresh and counter-current to the times. That is apparent from the movies he wrote and directed.

He wrote dialogues for a number of films but his dialogue writing was always under appreciated?

I feel that he wrote dialogues with subtlety, without being overly melodramatic. Audiences tend to remember dramatic dialogues and that is why he is under-appreciated. That applies to his sense of humour too.

What are the elements that made him standout in the league of top filmmakers?

The primary focus of my father was to entertain the audience with finesse, and leaning towards the new. This combined with excellent music and hilarious situational comedy made a tasty concoction that worked time and again. He made no bones of the fact that he repeated the basic plot in most of his films.

Nasir Husain changed the way Hindi film heroes behaved on screen. Did you have any particular image in mind while writing the role for Aamir Khan in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar ?

In QSQT he had to play an honest man who loved his father and family, and also stayed true to his girl. These counter forces created the endearing moments in the film. Sanjaylal inJo Jeeta…. is a brat who wants the easy way out in life and has a justification for all his antics. He needs to grow up and understand what character and hard work are all about. This he learns the hard way when his actions almost result in his brother losing his life and shattering his father’s dream of him winning the cycle race. So it is not as though I have a particular hero in mind. It has to be true to the premise of the story.

What kind of music he used to listen to? Who were those singers who influenced him?

He had a tremendous intuitive sense of a good melody. It is hard to pin down which singer he liked particularly, because he went mainly for was a good melody. It could be in any genre of music from western pop to Indian folk. He did not advise me as such but he led me to listen to some bands in the early ‘70s like Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake and Palmer that influenced my taste. He bought their albums on trips abroad. That is how I ended up listening to them.

Aamir Khan assisted your father before becoming an actor. But the kind of cinema he makes is different from Nasir’s cinema.

Aamir has a tremendous love for cinema and a great sense of script. He goes by his inner instinct and belief in a good script.

Are you planning for a comeback!

I live peacefully in Coonoor and I am following my heart. I was clear about this even before I made my first film. I will continue to follow my heart and if that leads to a film then so be it.

I will make a film if it comes to me but that has to emerge from within. As of now, I am not planning ,it but be optimistic about the future.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Atif Khan / November 10th, 2016