Akshay Kumar owes his career to Ajay Devgn and Sunil Darshan!

Suneel Darshan is back to direction again after a seven year break with his son Shiv again (had produced Shiv’s Karle Pyar Karle in 2014), Upen Patel and newbie Natasha Fernandes, with a musical thriller titled Ek Haseena Thi Ek Diwana Tha which releases this week.

Looking back…
In the 1990s, after Akshay Kumar’s supporting role in the Yash Chopra’s Dil Toh Pagal Hai, his other releases, including Lahu Ke Do Rang, Insaaf, Daava, Tarazu, Angaaray, Barood and Zulm turned out to be duds at the box-office. Few were willing to sign him till Suneel Darshan approached him for Jaanwar. Directed and produced by Suneel, the action drama co-starred Karisma Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty and the film became an instant hit and marked the actor’s comeback. From then on Akshay and Suneel went on to give more hits including Ek Rishta, Andaaz, Barsaat, and Dosti: Friends Forever, which was one of the year’s biggest hits overseas. The next year Suneel’s younger brother Dharmesh gave the khiladi another big hit in Dhadkan. Suneel and Akshay’s last film together was Mere Jeevan Saathi which didn’t do well at the BO and after that both stopped working together.

In an interview, Suneel tells us why he stopped working with Akshay, his love and respect for Ajay Devgn and why he is directing Ek Haseena Thi Ek Diwana Tha after a decade…

You have given so many hits with big actors Akshay Kumar and Sunny Deol. Did you also take a break because you were disappointed with them?
I did not work with big actors. Correct yourself. I worked with Akshay Kumar in Jaanwar. At that time he was not happening. He had 14 flops behind him. There was another actor who was sailing in the same boat as him and he had said if things didn’t work for him, it was time to retire. Also I clearly remember telling Akshay that it was okay if he wanted to give his career another shot but if things didn’t happen, it was still okay. Somewhere I saw a big potential in him but which didn’t get realized as he didn’t have the right opportunity. He wasn’t backed by the right filmmakers and those who had backed him at that point and made films with him didn’t hold him in high respect and esteem. Those elements are very important. A filmmaker needs to have faith in his actors and support their self-confidence. You have to do a lot to create these actors, make them into stars, and deliver better performances. Better performances create better films and better films create bigger stars. We did seven films in as many years. It was a process of re-building which is always more difficult than building actually. Thanks to all the efforts, support and blessings of his wife, mother, family and secretary, things went right for him and I am very happy with what Akshay has achieved today.

How did you give Akshay your film Jaanwar when nobody had faith in him?
He was taking a backseat because the other two-three movies he was acting in had all taken a pause. Some were not getting completed and some stalled… Jaanwar was written keeping Sunny Deol in mind but there was a fall-out with Sunny before that. I was ready to start with another big star of that time who expressed his desire to work in the film and I had almost signed him on. But just before I could sign him on I got a call from Akshay Kumar who was very keen to meet me immediately and when I met him, I saw this boy who appeared very sincere, honest and had all the time in the world to focus on my movie. I thought that was a great opportunity. Maybe I won’t make money or I am risking it all on this boy but at least I would have the opportunity to make a good film. That was too tempting for a filmmaker. I said forget everything and let’s go with Akshay.

Who was the big star who you didn’t take in Jaanwar?
That’s an actor for whom I have so much respect and admiration. All the films that I produced were distributed by his company. At that time there was only one actor who was into distribution and that actor was Ajay Devgn. I explained to Ajay that I was signing Akshay and he was extremely supportive about it. Even after that the films that I have produced have been distributed by his office in Mumbai which was helmed by Mr Kumar Mangat. We still share a mutual relationship of great respect. At one point they wanted to make a movie with me and I was always available to him. For me gratitude is an important thing that I offer people. If people don’t reciprocate that’s okay. I kept working with my actors again and again till it was time for them to move ahead. I didn’t.

Tell us about your next release Ek Haseena Thi… and what made you decide to direct again after a decade?
After his debut film didn’t do well, Shiv lay low for a while. I watched him go through that process. The whole attempt was to drop the past and start afresh. I had a story which I had written and narrated it to him and we decided to do make the film. Shiv is a boy who has strong, visual appeal and certain intensity to him as an actor. As a human being he’s a good one and you need such people in cinema. In the film Shiv doesn’t play your run-of-the-mill, boy-next-door, nice guy. It’s a very different and difficult character that he has portrayed as right from the first shot when you see him, you will want to discover what he’s all about. There’s an enigmatic quality to his character which Shiv has portrayed very effectively.