Suneel Darshan turned director with the Sunny Deol and Karisma Kapoor starrer Ajay. Before this film, he had been a producer on movies Inteqam (1988) and Lootere (1993), both starring Sunny in the lead. Ajay was a romantic action drama, which also starred Mohnish Bahl, Reena Roy, Kiran Kumar and Sadashiv Amrupurkar. On the film’s 28th anniversary, which was on December 20, Suneel Darshan looks back at the film in an interview with us.
28 years of Ajay: Suneel Darshan on his fallout with Sunny Deol, “I landed into a trap that almost destroyed my very financial existence”
Ajay, your first film as director is 28
While every movie is a pleasurable experience, this was a true challenge to take on right from its outset. Sunny Deol, who was the leading man of my earlier productions Inteqaam and Lootere, had evolved as a performer with Ghayal and was emerging as the first choice as an ‘angry young man’ but I attempted to add versatility to this dimension by projecting him as a complete entertainer where he danced (his ‘Chhammak Chhallo’ steps are popular even today), and portrayed multi-dimensional human emotions.
Karisma Kapoor was a last-minute replacement for Juhi Chawla?
Yes, Karisma Kapoor, the leading lady had come in to replace Juhi Chawla. She was at the brink of stardom and a perfect choice due to her zeal to achieve greater glories. Karisma and we went on to collaborate in five movies through the decade.
Ajay was a very expensive film to shoot?
The movie was shot in five foreign outdoors, seven outdoor spells within India and on sets in Mumbai’s studios. My determination and unfettered efforts surmounted all the hurdles and star-tantrums that I was subjected to in the interest of my movie and trust me, it was a herculean task to bear it all with a smile. I was sure that I had a winner on hands but it came at a heavy price.
You mean, your fallout with Sunny Deol?
Yes. You can’t challenge destiny. After working with Mr Deol on two projects as a producer, I wanted to move on to explore other alternatives in the male lead and had almost succeeded until I got gullible in Sunny Deol’s emotional talk and landed into a trap that almost destroyed my very financial existence. Fortunately, my decision to move on kept me going and making another dozen movies to-date. Meanwhile, Sunny Deol who assured me that my monies would be returned along with the compensation hasn’t lived up to his word 27 years since!
How could he do this to someone who trusted him as a friend?
Have you come across someone with ‘selective amnesia’… I can explain that without mincing my words but I don’t want to cross boundaries hence silence is golden. The matter remains lingering in the Bombay Courts to date. By the way, I worked with Bobby Deol in three movies back-to-back and have no grievances. He was clearly professional and was paid his dues timely.
How has Sunny dodged legal consequences for so long?
There’s an endless list of the aggrieved, some of whom try to raise demands for recovery of their rightful dues but this powerful family from a film family has created an influential mechanism to scuttle such aggrieved voices until the aggrieved tires and gives up.
More Pages: Ajay Box Office Collection
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