Nishikant Kamat: The Dual Role in Action and Cut!

Indian filmmaker Nishikant Kamat has passed away in Hyderabad. He was unwell and undergoing treatment at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology in Hyderabad. The filmmaker was 50 and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. After fighting for his life, Kamat breathed his last on Monday.

Kamat directed films like Ajay Devgan and Tabu starrer 'Drishyam', Irrfan Khan starrer 'Madari'. Apart from this, he made films like 'Force' and 'Rocky Handsome' with John Abraham. He made his directorial debut in the year 2005 with the Marathi film Dombivali Fast. His very first film also received the National Award for Marathi Best Feature Film. The film was one of the biggest hit Marathi films of that year. In Bollywood, Kamat got recognition from the 2015 Ajay Devgan, Tabu and Shreya Saran starrer film Drishyam. Nishikant Kamath has also acted in some Marathi films. Nishikant directed the 2005 Marathi film Dombivali Fast. The film went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year in Marathi cinema.

Nishikant Kamat was a hotel management graduate by education and he admits that he likes cooking for others. And while he considers himself extremely emotional, sensitive, soft-spoken and warm, he is certainly not vulnerable.

The journey into: Lights! Camera! Action!

Nishikant first assisted an ad-filmmaker and later worked as an editor. He made his acting debut with the internationally acclaimed movie Hava Aney Dey (2004). The movie which was shot in the northern suburbs of Mumbai consisted of a mixed crew of Indian and French technicians. The movie premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004 and won several international awards.

In the same year, he wrote and acted in the successful Marathi movie Satchya Aat Gharaat.

The following year, Nishikant made his Marathi directorial debut with the critical and commercially acclaimed movie, Dombivali Fast. The movie opened to positive reviews and went on to become the highest grossing movie of the year 2005. Nishikant won the Best Director (Swarovski Trophy) at the 2006 Asian Festival of First Films. The movie also won the 2006 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi (Silver Lotus Award). The success of the movie prompted Nishikant to remake the movie in Tamil, with R. Madhavan in the lead role.

The Tamil remake of the movie was titled Evano Oruvan. Released in 2007, the movie received good reviews at the box office.

He says: "I felt the story was more suitable for regional cinema, than Hindi. That is why I decided to make it in Tamil." Madhavan, Seeman and Sangeetha were brought on board for the Tamil version, `Evano Oruvan,' which, he says, is not a carbon copy of `Dombivli Fast.'

He further says: "I travelled in buses and local trains during peak hours, watched movies in theatres sitting in the front row, ate at local joints and went on long walks to learn about Chennai and Tamil culture."

Evano Oruvan, he says, is a very realistic film. It is the story of an ordinary man "... who lives in Palavanthangal; gets up early to fill water from the tanker; takes the local train to work [at a bank] everyday; eats thayir saadam for lunch; and buys vegetables on the way home after work. It is about the problems he faces every day- water, corruption, garbage on the roads, traffic indiscipline. It portrays his angst, and how he deals with it. What happens when he decides to question the wrongs happening around him?"

"These problems are not specific to any city. The people in Los Angeles, Dubai, Singapore and Germany were all able to identify with them. The problems are universal. And the common man is the same everywhere."

He candidly admits that `Dombivali Fast' was inspired by Martin Scorsese's `Taxi Driver.'

After the success of the Tamil movie, Nishikant made his Bollywood directorial debut with the movie Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008). The film, which is based on the Mumbai train bombings of 2006, stars R. Madhavan, Irrfan Khan, Paresh Rawal, Soha Ali Khan, and Kay Kay Menon. The film was critically acclaimed and won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. Nishikant was next seen as an actor in Prawaal Raman`s thriller movie, 404 (2011).

In 2011, Nishikant also directed the action thriller movie, Force, starring John Abraham, Vidyut Jamwal, and Genelia D`Souza. The film was a remake of the hit 2003 Tamil movie Kaakha Kaakha, directed by Gautham Menon. John Abraham`s performance was praised by the critics and it was another successful turnout for Nishikant at the box office. Almost a decade after his debut Marathi movie, in 2014, Nishikant directed his second Marathi movie Lai Bhaari, which marked the Marathi cinema debut of the popular Bollywood star, Riteish Deshmukh. With a total collection of INR 33.74 crore, the movie went on to become the highest grossing Marathi movie at the time of its release.

Following the path of success, Nishikant`s next Hindi movie, Drishyam, which is a remake of Jeethu Joseph`s Malayalam movie, titled Drishyam as well, went on to be a huge hit at the box office. Starring Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, and Tabu in the lead roles, the movie grossed INR 91.97 crore at the box office.

In 2016, Nishikant once again teamed up with John Abraham for the action-thriller movie Rocky Handsome.

His ‘Rocky Handsome’ Role:

It’s not easy for actors to get into the psyche of characters that they don’t relate to at all, all the more when they have to direct the film as well. But director Nishikant Kamat is different. The filmmaker, who played the villain in the film, had to shave his hair to maintain the look of the film and the multi-tasker that Nishikant is, he managed to do the same with ease.

The director who plays a bald villain had to shave off his hair each day for a period of 30 days on a regular basis, to maintain the continuity of the film shoot.

When quizzed Nishikant about it he said jokingly,

“I have put in a lot for this role (laughs) getting my hair shaved off each day, and my AD’s were always behind me to do it. If one day also I would not go without shaving off they would be there to point it out that I need to shave it off as continuity needs to be maintained”

Bombay Times describes him as: He is a simple, happy-go-lucky person who is straightforward and honest. He is very shy and just cannot blow his own trumpet but gets bored easily, which is why all his films have been so diverse. Ahead of his upcoming family thriller Drishyam, he had a talk with Bombay Times about his personal life.

Talking about his journey to a filmmaker, he says:

“I am a Maharashtrian, born and brought up in Mumbai. I have had a simple middle- class background, where my father taught at a private college as a mathematician, and my mother was a Sanskrit teacher. I had no idea what I wanted to do in life, so tagged along with a friend to apply for hotel management, passed the test and completed my hotel management from Goa. It was in Goa that I got interested in theatre and became the cultural secretary of my college.”

“I came back to Mumbai and first assisted a small-time ad filmmaker, then became an editor for three years, then became a TV director for seven years, then writer for four years before I finally made my first film Dombivli Fast in 2005 after fifteen years of being in the industry. While I had a good simple life, prior to 2005 I had not done much in life, but my parents were always supportive of me as the film line initially is very tough. In fact, coincidentally after eight years of living separately, my father is now moving in with me. My mother always wanted to see me as a filmmaker, but as the drama of life is, I became one only after she passed away in 2003 due to a heart attack.”

On his friendships within the film Industry, he says:

“Film industry is not my life, it’s a part of my life. My friends are outside the industry. The period of three years from 1999 to 2001 was my toughest. I was actually sitting at home with no cheques coming in. I could not tell my parents that I did not have work. But I would make it a point to leave the house at 10 am every day saying that I was going for work and would come back at only 10 at night. I would in reality go and hang out with friends at Ruia College. “

“I would have tea if a friend bought me some and would have food if someone paid for it, otherwise would sometimes even skip it but I would not take money for food from home. All those friends I still vouch for and live for.”

“But as luck would have it, just two months after my mother died, the tables turned and I made my first film. I still feel very empty that my mother was not there at that time. She only saw my bad times. She had a lot of health issues and my not being successful would also have contributed to her illness. Initially, she was very sure that I would do well but then those seeds of doubt start coming in as time passes. I have a friend Vinayak Kotian, who owns an Udupi restaurant in Matunga.

“During those three years, every day he would give me Rs 50 and he never asked me for it. Today I have won over 18 trophies for Best Director in the world including the prestigious Filmfare Critics award for Best film for Mumbai Meri Jaan, but every time I win a trophy, I go straight to his restaurant first.”

Nishikant was an excellent director as well as an impressive actor. He has experimented with versitality like no other with films like 'Hath Aane De', 'Satachya Aat Gharat' (Marathi), '404 Error Not Found', 'Rocky Handsome', 'Phuge', 'Daddy', 'Julie-2', 'Bhavesh Joshi' and acting in Hindi films. He was preparing to direct a Hindi film called 'Dar-Ba-Dar', which was to be released in 2022.

Revisiting his works of art will always leave bitter-sweet feeling, now that he is no more with us! But nonetheless, we at Apeksha News Network pray for his undisturbed peace till eternity!