Exclusive | Sanjay Leela Bhansali on 'Love & War': 'Very Important Film For Me, But Also A Difficult One'
The filmmaker's next stars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal
Legendary director Sanjay Leela Bhansali turns 63 today, as everyone waits for the filmmaker to deliver magic again with his next project Love & War.
Love & War, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, doesn't have a release date yet. The film has “no pillars, no costumes, no horses; it's different,” Bhansali had revealed earlier, in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter India.
Without giving away any spoilers, he addressed the many Internet theories about Love & War being a remake of Raj Kapoor’s iconic film, Sangam (1964).
“Not at all,” he said. “I love Sangam. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) is also like Sangam, where I tried to make Aishwarya Rai [Bachchan] into Vyjayanthimala, who’s the most beautiful woman on the Indian screen, according to me.”
But, he later realised that nobody had ever envisioned Vyjayanthimala, or for that matter Zeenat Aman or Padmini Kolhapure, as beautifully as Raj Kapoor had done.
Bhansali loves studying the mannerisms of the people he spends time with, and wishes he could’ve done so with some people from the past whom he admires. “I wish I had met him [Raj Kapoor] for five minutes. But [considering] all my love for Raj Kapoor, you never remake a great director’s classic.” After all, how does one remake cult classics like Mughal-E-Azam (1960) or Pakeezah (1972)? “Heeramandi (2024) was a tribute to Pakeezah; of my love for [director] Kamal Amrohi. He knew what beauty was, what life was.”
“Those are the great people whose films you cannot remake. So why would I remake Sangam?” he asks.
While Bhansali was careful not to let any details slip, he did mention that Love & War is a film that he’s very excited about. “I'm working with Ranbir [Kapoor] after 18 years and I can't stop working with Alia [Bhatt] because there's still so much [potential] to tap into; The chota-packet-bada-dhamaka girl that she is. I’m also working with Vicky Kaushal for the first time. But besides being wonderful actors, they're wonderful people.”
He added, "It’s a very important film in my life, but it’s also a difficult one for me, so I’ll take a little time to make it properly; not take myself or my great actors for granted. There’s a lot of responsibility, so we have to do it well.”
Meanwhile, speaking about the nature of the film, Vicky Kaushal had also told THR India, “It is a love story,” before delving into what it feels like to work under Bhansali’s famously exacting and imaginative direction.
“What I’m enjoying the most is it’s genuinely such a learning experience to just be around him,” Kaushal said. “He’s like a child who is curious about everything, who is wanting to go deeper and explore more with the actors, the material, the camera, with the set. Everything. He’s just like, 'Okay, what more can I do?’ In what other way can I make it more magical, more new, more cinematic.”
Kaushal also reflected on the demands—and inspiration—of Bhansali’s process. “With Mr Bhansali, till the last shot—if you're packing up at 6 AM in the morning also, there could be a new idea of the same scene you’ve been shooting for two days. That’s what makes me realise, ‘Why did I stop thinking as an actor?’ He’s still exploring the scene, why did you stop? As an actor you should also keep exploring, keep asking, 'What more?’”
What stands out most for him is the freedom Bhansali creates within his vision. “I just feel like I go in so much more relaxed. I don’t feel the need to cement my thought process on the character so much,” he says. The actor is clear that preparation comes first, but he leaves space for discovery. “Of course, I know the character. But how to enter a scene, how to approach it, how to commit to it emotionally— that’s where he’s such a master,” he says.
Kaushal also describes him as a director who pushes actors to explore not just one interpretation, but many. “He’s a master of exploring the possibilities of what this character, or these two characters, or these three characters, could do in a given circumstance. There’s so much joy and so much adrenaline in exploring, and he really makes you do that as an actor,” he added.