When I enter the Prabhadevi office of Rajshri Productions — all very white and polite, like their films — it’s a hive of activity. Young actors are milling about in the lobby, enquiring about ‘interviews’. A gold-fonted standee announces their 2025 slate: two feature films, two web shows, and two television serials. Inside his office, Sooraj Barjatya is taking copious notes in long hand. The director of enduring family sagas like Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! and Hum Saath-Saath Hain won the National Film Award, at 58, for Uunchai(2022) — a story of three old men who set out to conquer Mount Everest. The film’s unexpected success (it earned around ₹50 crore at the box office) has creatively reenergized Barjatya.
“My films have never worked in Andheri, Malad, Nariman Point,” he says. “I was surprised by the collections from big cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Calcutta. Although I did lose out on my conservative tier-2 audience. They are still expecting the pageantry and festive fervour in my films.”
In his quiet, incremental way, Barjatya has been expanding his horizons. His next, Bada Naam Karenge, is a web series aimed at Gen Z. Directed by Palash Vaswani, known for the beloved series Gullak, it’s about a young couple forced to cohabitate during the pandemic, and how that affects their families. “A lot of people told me that OTT belongs to action and crime. They said the Rajshri-style family narratives won’t work.”
When he did get the call from Sony, he presumed it was for their television channel, Sony TV, and not their streaming platform, SonyLIV. “But they were certain they wanted to bring the Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! audience to the web space. I was quite taken aback.”
A still from ‘Bada Naam Karenge’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Barjatya hasn’t watched Breaking Bad or other iconic crime shows that have defined the medium. But he does keep up with what he likes. “I recently watched Nobody Wants This on Netflix. I am a fan of Brothers & Sisters and This Is Us. In fact, everybody keeps telling me to make something like This Is Us in India.”
While he’s generally averse to violence in cinema, he swears by The Godfather trilogy, calling it a ‘masterpiece of characterization’ and a deep study of family dynamics. “The dinner table scene at the end of Godfather 2, it can go along with a Rajshri production,” he laughs.
Has he seen Animal, the 2023 blockbuster that bastardized The Godfather? The film, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, is a savage skewering of the wholesome family film epitomized by Rajshri.
“I am waiting to find the heart to watch it,” Barjatya confesses. “Knowing the maker, I know it will be a powerful film and I want to be prepared for it. I had seen his Kabir Singh and it just blew me away. It was a wonderful film, but it affects you as well.”
Along with Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar, Barjatya represents a generation of filmmakers who peddled dreams and aspirations. Each of them inherited a studio and a legacy they had to carry forward. While he stands by his body of work, Barjatya holds filmmakers like Ram Gopal Varma and Anurag Kashyap in high esteem, outsiders who shifted the syntax of Hindi cinema.
FILE: Sooraj Barjatya at Rajshri Productions Office, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, on 05-02-2019
| Photo Credit:
DINESH PARAB
“Karan, Aditya, I…we were born with golden spoons. We have honestly not seen any hardships. We have always had cars and bungalows. We have always travelled comfortably, and worn good clothes. Fortunately, we were passionate about cinema and worked hard. The times were such that people wanted to see dreams on screen. Then came a generation of strugglers who have seen life the hard way and they brought the truth to cinema. I believe both worldviews can co-exist.”
He feels disheartened that marketeers and trade pundits have hijacked creativity today. “I feel sad that box-office has become everything. If you read how The Godfather was made, it was all passion. That enthusiasm is missing in our cinema, and it needs to come back.”
Barjatya’s grandfather, Tarachand Barjatya, had produced two landmarks films of Middle Cinema—Piya Ka Ghar (1972) and Chitchor (1976). The genre that addresses middle-class concerns with humour and warmth has endured in the modern age. As it happens, Barjatiya’s upcoming directorial, purportedly starring Ayushmann Khurrana, is a family comedy-drama in the Middle Cinema space. “I had loved Badhaai Ho by Amit Ravindranath Sharma. My next will be in a similar zone. It will be announced officially next month.”
FILE: Sooraj Barjatya, Tarachand Barjatya and Kamal Kumar Barjatya in Mumbai on January 22, 2011.
| Photo Credit:
STRDEL
He is still scripting his film with Salman Khan, his star of four past projects. Barjatiya says he wants to ‘get it right’ and not rush into development. “During Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, I got carried away and tried to introduce some action elements to suit Salman’s image. I don’t want to repeat that mistake.”
Saman Khan and Sooraj Barjatya on the sets of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’
| Photo Credit:
@rajshrifilms/Instagram
He wants Salman to play his age in their next film together. “I have to come to terms with the fact that we are both getting old. We have to find a subject that is suitable for our ages. It is easy to make another action film with Salman bhai. But to make a family drama, and to make a new ‘Prem’ out of him, I need a little more time.”
Is Salman, soon to be seen in Sikandar, an action thriller, open to an image makeover?
“Yes, he is an intelligent, practical man, who knows what he has to do,” Barjatya says.
Published – January 29, 2025 06:11 pm IST
