Anees Bazmee recalls shooting ‘Pyaar Toh Hona Hi Tha’ with Ajay Devgn and Kajol, sharing why modern film budgets and massive crews aren’t always necessary.
Making a movie costs a lot of money, but where does that money really go? Director Anees Bazmee thinks every rupee spent should show up on the movie screen, not behind the scenes.
In a recent chat with Variety India, the filmmaker shared a story from his famous 1998 movie Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, starring Ajay Devgn and Kajol, to show how much movie making has changed over the years.
When they went to film outdoors, the whole team had only 42 people. Everyone traveled together in one single bus, without any big star attitude. When the old bus could not drive up the steep mountain roads, everyone got out to help. Kajol carried her own bags, while Ajay Devgn carried heavy lights and chairs up the hill alongside the rest of the crew. They worked like a close family just trying to make a good film.
The big surprise came when they went back to Mumbai to shoot the dance song Aaj Hai Sagaai. Suddenly, there were almost 400 people on the set. Bazmee asked the producer why they needed so many people, especially since they had already filmed most of the movie with just 50 people.
Today, making movies has become very expensive, and smaller films are struggling. Bazmee believes that having huge crews actually slows down the work instead of making it faster. His rule for making movies is simple: spend money on things the audience can actually see on screen. Anything extra is just a waste. In the end, a great movie comes from teamwork and smart spending, not from having a giant crowd on set.
Inspired by Meg Ryan-Kevin Kline’s 1995 romantic comedy French Kiss, revolves around Sanjana (Kajol), a clumsy woman who travels to India from Paris to win back her fiancé Rahul, only to unexpectedly fall in love with Shekhar (Ajay Devgn), a charming but troubled man hiding from the law.
