When Mahesh Bhatt made ‘Arth‘, rumours were rife that the film was largely inspired from ‘Silsila‘. The film dealt with an extra-marital affair where Kulbhushan Kharbanda who was married to Shabana Azmi, leaves her as he’s having an extra-marital affair with Smita Patil. People said that the film was inspired from Yash Chopra‘s ‘Silsila’, which is memorable today, because of its casting coup, as it had Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha.’Silsila’ had released in 1981 while ‘Arth’ released in 1982.
In a recent interview, Mahesh Bhatt has denied speculations of ‘Arth’ being inspired from ‘Silsila’ and infact, has slammed the Yash Chopra movie for being unrealistic. The film-maker said during a chat with Radio Nasha, “I made Arth taking an inspiration from my own experiences. I had never criticised Silsila as such. Arth was mostly an experiment. Because my first four films that I made were flops and I made those films as per the market’s demands. But, unfortunately none of them worked. So, when it was almost like the end of my career, I thought why not take a risk before leaving. I thought of making a film in my style. Luckily, I found a producer who was willing to take the risk.”
He further added how people called him a flop director as Chopra was making this film at such a big scale with such a cast. “When I was making it people told me that you are a flop director and you are making such a film! Yash Chopra has a big banner and he is making a film with Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri and Rekha. I said let him make. What I want to say is that you don’t have an extramarital affair to go and dance in tulip gardens. Its a secret relationship where the feeling is of guilt. I was so sure about it because I have experienced it myself. When you put a little bit of realness in your film, then audiences relate to it better and sense the truth,” he added.
In a recent interview, Mahesh Bhatt has denied speculations of ‘Arth’ being inspired from ‘Silsila’ and infact, has slammed the Yash Chopra movie for being unrealistic. The film-maker said during a chat with Radio Nasha, “I made Arth taking an inspiration from my own experiences. I had never criticised Silsila as such. Arth was mostly an experiment. Because my first four films that I made were flops and I made those films as per the market’s demands. But, unfortunately none of them worked. So, when it was almost like the end of my career, I thought why not take a risk before leaving. I thought of making a film in my style. Luckily, I found a producer who was willing to take the risk.”
He further added how people called him a flop director as Chopra was making this film at such a big scale with such a cast. “When I was making it people told me that you are a flop director and you are making such a film! Yash Chopra has a big banner and he is making a film with Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri and Rekha. I said let him make. What I want to say is that you don’t have an extramarital affair to go and dance in tulip gardens. Its a secret relationship where the feeling is of guilt. I was so sure about it because I have experienced it myself. When you put a little bit of realness in your film, then audiences relate to it better and sense the truth,” he added.