More than 40 years after the release of ‘Saaransh’, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has revealed the deeply personal experience that inspired the acclaimed 1984 film. Starring Anupam Kher in a career-defining role, the drama revolves around an elderly couple coping with the devastating loss of their only son. Bhatt recently shared that the story was rooted in a real-life tragedy involving his mentor UG Krishnamurti’s family, an event he witnessed closely. He also disclosed that ‘Saaransh’ became the first Rajshri Productions film to be approved without a written script.Mahesh Bhatt reflected on the circumstances under which the film was made. “I was 34 and he (Anupam Kher) was 28. It was like fitoor, madness. My situation was such that someone can take money from me and make me make this film. I had gone through an experience,” he said in an interview with The Rashmmi Virag Show’.Bhatt went on to describe the heartbreaking incident that became the emotional foundation of ‘Saaransh’. “The young son of UG Krishnamurti had died suddenly. He was a copywriter who wrote, ‘Happy days are here again.’ The irony is that he got sarcoma cancer, galloping cancer. Two months later he died. I was very closely exposed to the death of a young man.”According to the filmmaker, what affected him even more was U.G. Krishnamurti’s remarkable response to the loss. “And, the demeanour of UG, how he took that death as a phenomena of life. He saw that as an event or happening which is separate from life. It’s a process of living, death is a part of living. That experience had gotten attached to my bones and it was seeking expression.”Bhatt also admitted that his fascination with mortality began much earlier in life. When asked what led him to transform the experience into cinema, he recalled his childhood curiosity about death. “I don’t really know where it came from but it came in that phase. It was the exposure of a young individual. As a child, I was always obsessed about the topic of death. I used to spend hours and hours in the shamshaan ghaat in Shivaji park,” he said.He further explained how those early experiences shaped his outlook. “I would go and see people lighting the pyre of their loved ones. I realised that the person goes up, the ashes stay there, and then the family goes away. It was like a theme, which was always there in my head. And suddenly, it came out in Saaransh. If you talk about life, you have to talk about death.”When Bhatt narrated the concept to the Barjatya family, they placed their faith in his vision without insisting on a screenplay. Looking back, he believes the film has stood the test of time. “Its that one film which has endured the desert of time. An actor like Anupam Kher, who has done more than 550 films, said that his entire body of work has been reduced to one film. My young writers say that it is a reference film for them. The idea came and I didn’t even write a screenplay. I gave the narration to the Barjatyas, and for the first time in their establishment, they said we will be making the film without a script. I knew every scene like the back of my hand. But, I used to keep it dynamic, I used to keep on waiting to infuse it on a day-to-day basis.”While ‘Saaransh’ eventually became Anupam Kher’s breakthrough film, landing the role was far from straightforward. The veteran actor has previously revealed that he was dropped from the project just days before production was scheduled to begin because the makers wanted a more commercially viable star.Recalling the incident during the Jagran Film Festival, Kher said, “I was 27 when Mahesh Bhatt sahab narrated the story to me for my first film. When I turned 28, I rehearsed for around 6 months for the film. I was going to play the role of a 65-year-old, aged man. But, I was removed from the film 10 days before the shoot, because they wanted to cast a big actor, Sanjeev Kumar ji. They thought it would be a more viable choice commercially.”The rejection left him devastated, to the point that he considered leaving Mumbai altogether. “I packed all my things and decided to leave the city. I was being told by Mahesh Bhatt since six months that I am playing the main role, I had rehearsed so much. And I was kicked 10 days before the shoot! I packed all my stuff and headed towards VT (Victoria Terminus) station. But before leaving, I thought that I should tell Bhatt sahab what I think of him. There’s nothing left anyway, what can he do to me now?”
