Many times we hid the camera and shot on the streets of Agra: M S Sathyu on 'Garm Hava'

'Garm Hava' opened in a digitally-restored version on Friday, director M S Sathyu talks about making one of the most talked-about films in Indian cinema.

What are your thoughts on the entire making of ‘Garm Hava’?

It was a huge challenge for all of us to shoot on the streets of Agra. Being my first film I had the passion to pull it off. It was a first film for many of us. We had very little shooting equipment. We had only six lights.

‘Garm Hava’ figures in every list of best Indian films?

That used to surprise me initially. But now seeing it objectively I understood why it is so important. Before ‘Garm Hava’ the Mumbai film industry had not made any significant attempts to understand the minority community. I think that’s what made ‘Garm Hava’ so daring.

Prior to ‘Garm Hava’ there were the Muslim Socials?

They were very unrealistic and represented a feudal background that had long ago ceased to exist. Characters in ‘Mere Mehboob’ and other films were spouting shayari and seemed far removed from reality. India has the second-largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and no realistic films about them were being made. In our films the minority communities are generally lampooned and caricatured. I wanted to show my characters as belonging to the mainstream.

What makes ‘Garm Hava’ so relevant is that the Muslim community in India continues to feel isolated even after so many years?

Yes, and people like Saeed Mirza and Shyam Benegal have attempted films on the theme of a minority community’s isolation. Later on the films made on the theme became anti-Pakistan. That is dangerous. The Indian Muslim is as trustworthy as an other Indian.

I feel your career as a filmmaker got eclipsed by ‘Garm Hava’?

Yes, it happens. Sometimes you hit the peak in your very first film. For example I consider Satyajit Ray’s ‘Pather Panchali’ his best. I don’t think he ever reached that level in his later films.

So would you say ‘Garm Hava’ was your ‘Pather Panchali’?

(laughs) In a way. But then I later made some significant films that didn’t have the same impact. My fourth film ‘Sookha’ for instance was an important film. But it was a dry subject. It lacked the emotional value of ‘Garam Hava’. But making ‘Sookha’ was far more difficult than ‘Garam Hava’.

Did you ever expect this kind of impact with ‘Garm Hava’?

No, not at all. We only wanted to make an honest film.

How did you shoot in Agra?

It was very difficult. We did a lot of candid photography. Many times we hid the camera and shot on the streets. Luckily for us Balraj Sahni was the only actor among us who was known.

What prompted the impeccable casting?

All of us were working together at IPTA. Even the actors who played students were from Agra and Delhi. I think the authentic casting worked. No one was in it for money. There wasn’t any.

The dubbing was done without audio?

I couldn’t afford a Nagra. In any case there was no point in recording in the noisy streets of Agra. So we edited a ‘silent’ film and then invited all the artistes from Mumbai, Delhi and Agra to dub. Because they were from theatre it wasn’t difficult for them to remember their lines during dubbing.

Balraj Sahni Saab died the day after he finished dubbing?

When I had finished his dubbing he wasn’t satisfied with one line. So he called me over to re-dub that line at Raj Kamal Studios. So I went there at lunch time and re-recorded that one line.

You haven’t directed a film in a while?

My last film was ‘Ijjodu’ in Kannada in 2009 for Reliance Big Pictures. They proved to be the most unreliable movie producers. No doubt they allowed me to make the film. But they didn’t release the film.

Any plans to make a new film?

Yes, I want to make a film on the life of a Hindustani-Carnatic singer. It brings into play many styles of music. I want to make it in Karnataka, Hindi, and Bengali. This would be my first full-fledged musical. ‘Garm Hava’ had only one Qawwalli. ‘Sookha’ didn’t even have background music.