Bollywood's versatile genius

Film director, producer, writer, actor, lyricist, music director and screenwriter Subhash Ghai has worn many hats over the course of his illustrious career.

- NEHA KIRPAL

Film director, producer, writer, actor, lyricist, music director and screenwriter Subhash Ghai has worn many hats over the course of his illustrious career. The self-made man behind some of Indian cinema's most iconic movies recently released his memoir, written along with journalist and author Suveen Sinha, which recounts his inspiring journey spanning over four decades in films.

Ghai was born in Nagpur in 1943 into an educated, well-to-do family. After Partition, his family moved to old Delhi. His friends during his childhood days included sons of tonga drivers, rickshaw-pullers, halwais and handymen. The group of friends were crazy about movies, and often bunked school to watch shows in the theatre. When he was 10, Ghai's parents separated, and he started living with his father. Consequently, he also became responsible for his two younger siblings. Though his grades were low, he liked music, singing and plays. When his father brought home another woman, Ghai ran away. When brought home, he consumed poison out of defiance. Though he survived, he silently promised to become someone big someday.

For as long as he can recall, Ghai has looked at the world through a sort of viewfinder in his head. "It is like I have been watching this great drama of life unfold before my eyes," he writes in the book's Foreword. This is what probably led him to write and direct plays while pursuing commerce in college.