After ‘Vishwatma’ (1992), I was accused of doing another take on ‘Tridev’ (1989) although it was nothing like my previous film. In fact, ‘Vishwatma’ scored better than ‘Tridev’. I wanted to get out of the ‘Tridev’ and ‘Vishwatma’ mould so, I approached Amitabh Bachchan through Viju Shah (music composer). Amitji wasn’t signing films though. It was a very good script, but for some reason it didn’t materialise and I never made it. It was titled ‘Dada Thakur’ and I had worked on it with Anees Bazmee.I had a vision for ‘Mohra’ (1994). Suniel Shetty was my friend and got around to him with this idea. At the time, I thought that Suniel should work in one or two films and get a little seasoned before he works with me. I was taking a risk with all the actors in the film.

I had already signed Divya Bharati but I let her sign another film that was to feature Suniel. In the meantime, I wrote the screenplay of ‘Mohra’ and was very happy with it. It was a two hero story at the time, not the three hero film that we made with Suniel Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Naseeruddin Shah. But with ‘Tridev’, he created magic. I can take only a slice of that credit. Sometimes I feel that another actor would’ve spoilt that film. Naseer was a very strong force in that movie.

If you recall ‘Mohra’ there was a suspense angle which was beautifully done. I remember, I had gone to Naseer and said that I need a villain who is handicapped. He said to me that he had done this film titled ‘Chakra’ (1981) and had spent a month in Pune in an institute for the blind. He had lived with about 40 visually challenged people and when he came back home, for weeks he used to blindfold himself and become a blind man in his own house. He was confident that he could play a blind man very well. So, the blind man angle came from Naseer; it was not my contribution. I had shot about 10-12 days with her and we had to reshoot that portion for the film. She signed up with me as I had introduced her in ‘Vishwatma’. She was a lovely person, a talented actress who gave me zero trouble. I kind of miss the fact that I did only one film with her in which she didn’t have much of a role. I was looking forward to a film in which she had a proper role. But unfortunately that never happened.

I had to immediately find a girl and my dad suggested Raveena Tandon because all of Ravi Tandon’s (Raveena’s father) films were distributed by my father. Dad said, ‘If you need a girl in a hurry go to Raveena’. But then I was of the opinion that her films didn't seem to be working. My father told me that every Ravi Tandon film that he distributed ended up a hit. So, he said that maybe I would bring some luck to this girl. I called Raveena and went to meet her.Everyone says that they’re not part of the rat race, but that’s a lie. Everyone wants to be the next Satyjit Ray, Mehboob Khan and Raj Kapoor.

Whatever success I have got, I owe it to my parents and my craziness for cinema. I would go watch English films at Akashwani (theatre) from morning to evening. But I knew I would not be making those films. Because I don’t think there was a big audience for that kind of cinema in India. My audience was those who watched ‘Mohra’ and this is where my father’s advice helped me.

I was travelling in a car to the Modern Movies’ office at Lamington Road. At a traffic signal, beggars came to our car. I rolled up my window. My father said, ‘Tum yeh jo inn logon ko dekh kar window bandh kar dete ho na, yeh log hi tumhari audience hai. Also, unlike today, back then there was no controversy over the word ‘cheez’. You cannot do that with poetry, now. If you are versed with drunken poetry coming from popular shayars, you will have to censor the whole thing, especially the way they talk about a woman. I remember after ‘Oye Oye’ (a popular song from ‘Tridev’) folks in the real world would call girls using ‘Oye Oye’ and some were chased by the police, too. If you have a dirty mind, tum unn shabdon ka ganda meaning nikaloge agar nahi toh you will take 'cheez badi' as poetic (If you have a dirty mind, you’ll find innuendo in those lyrics, but if that’s not the case, then 'cheez badi' can be poetic).