00:00What is this Dubai connection you have, because you always talk about Dubai.
00:10I was born and brought up there. I did all my schooling there. My parents had their business
00:14there. So that's where I lived. That was my home.
00:16Okay. And I have also heard that Shah Rukh and Gauri stayed at your house.
00:21Yes. You were there that time. I was directing a cricket match. Bollywood
00:26stars and the bomb blast happened. So this was the 1993 Bombay blast. So it became an
00:35issue and we were scheduled to have this match and we were expecting a full house because
00:41we had every leading actor from Dilip Saab to Shah Rukh Khan and name them, Saif. Everybody
00:49was there playing the match, heroines. And because of this issue, I believe in Dubai
00:55there was an announcement that nobody will go for the match. So Dilip Saab tried to make
01:03requests to people, you know, general appeals to people, Raj Babbar, Mithun. But unfortunately
01:09nobody came and we still had to have the match and it got the promoter into such diastrates
01:18that you know, next day morning he said, guys, time to vacate. Take your, you know, get earlier
01:28flights and leave because I have lost everything. I'm bleeding. I can't keep anyone for an extra
01:35day. Normally promoters don't do this. So the Venus family, Shah Rukh, Gauri, they were
01:44there and you know, Is Dauran Baazigar lagi thi. It had not yet like become what it is
01:52today, a cult movie. Probably Shah Rukh hadn't realized he's become such a big star and he
02:01said main ek do din rehna chahata hoon. Early days for him also. So Sheeva said I have a
02:06lovely apartment across the lake. You can come and stay there. So he was more than sweet
02:11and she had a big massive four bedroom, five bedroom house. So it is bad that I had to
02:19stay in a hotel. We weren't married. You got married in 96. And this is 93. So I can't
02:29We weren't dating each other then. No, we weren't. We were not in Dubai. Oh, at the
02:34end of the trip, me and Himalaya came and I gave you one first gift from there to set
02:39things rolling. Yeah. So we weren't dating. So he stayed there. So I said both of them
02:45come and stay home. So they stayed at home. So what was it like as guests? Lovely. Absolutely
02:50lovely. We were all so much more chilled out in the night. You know, we're all friends
02:56and we used to hang out together. Till today, Bharti. Gentleman to the core. Intelligent
03:03to the core. Such a brilliant person. He deserves every bit of this. I believe he asked
03:10you for the title. Dunkey. See, I, during COVID, I spent the first one and a half years
03:20when I'm when I met somebody who said, you know, I have a friend who's just been thrown
03:26out of America trying to illegally enter America. So I asked him how he was going to America.
03:32He said, I didn't even know this. It's a donkey route. You go from Punjab to Istanbul,
03:38you get a fake passport from there, and from there you are dropped off in Panama. Then
03:43there is no guarantee you'll make it. There's only a 2% survival rate. But you go from Panama,
03:48Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and then you try to jump the wall anytime in the
03:54next one, two, three years. Otherwise, you're living in a gutter below Mexico. And on the
04:01way, you can die of a bee attack, of an alligator attack, when you're passing lakes, or you're
04:07drinking contaminated water, you'll die of diarrhea, you'll die of bee bite, malaria.
04:12But still people used to go. I'm saying there are 5000 Indians going every month and there
04:18is no body and there is no road. You're just going. Let me tell you that you carry water
04:24biscuits with you because it's like three months of walk. There comes a time when you
04:28run out of water and biscuits. And there is no lake or pond coming nearby. You start
04:35staring, when will somebody feel like peeing? And I collect the pee and I drink it. I'll
04:40die of thirst otherwise. These are facts. And you will, when you, and then I collected
04:45about 1000 videos, it's all available on the net. Like I said the skeletons are sitting
04:50on a tree. Somebody must have taken a break, I'm dying or I'm tired. The rule of the donkey
04:56route passage is that if someone falls ill, you have to leave them. Because if you're
05:01going in a group of 15 people, if one falls ill, 14 people won't stop. There is border
05:06patrol, there are drug traffickers, there is a lot. It was the same in the film Goat Life.
05:12So I spent the best of Covid instead of being frustrated that I can't go out of the house.
05:17We called a writer and I had an AD and the three of us sat down and wrote season 1,
05:23season 2, season 3, season 4. On the donkey? The donkey route. About 15 people from different
05:29states who get together and from Delhi they go to Istanbul and then what happened? And
05:33everyone's backstory. Why would you burn your bridge and go and take this path where
05:38there is only a 2% survival rate and you're still going? So what happened? It didn't
05:42happen? No, Netflix approved it. Now it's gone for reappraisal because after Covid everything
05:46got delayed. So it's like they've signed Seal, we signed Ritesh Shah. I'm doing it
05:51with Bani J. I mean I was supposed to do it, it has to start soon, if it doesn't it's
05:56a different idea. So will you direct it yourself? No, you've got to have a director with his
06:02boots on. You can't do it now? No, I signed, why am I forgetting his name? I loved his
06:10films. Osama, Man with the Striped Pyjamas. Abhishek? No, the Iranian filmmaker. Even
06:20Majid Majidi assisted him when he used to be free. I called him. He had made opium
06:26fields and all that for Afghanistan. For Iranians? Siddique Barma. He's taken shelter
06:36in Paris. After he did opium fields, they issued a fatwa. So I wrote Donkey Root, got
06:46an approval on Netflix. It's right now in the cold storage despite them having given
06:51enough money for reasons best known to Bani J. who are my partners in handling. Anyway
06:57that point was, so then we said Donkey Root, the road to death. Then the one who came to
07:04tell me what happened to him in Punjab, he was a Punjabi, so he would say donkey.
07:09I got to know he was getting a donkey, so I went for it. I said it's interesting,
07:14let's register a donkey too. Coincidentally, Rajkumar Hirani thought on the same lines
07:21then Shah Rukh said, what's the title? He said Donkey. So Shah Rukh said, apply for
07:27it. It's an oddball title, no one will have it. I said no, there's a cine-tech Akash
07:33in his name, don't talk to him. So this is also an incident.
07:40So Shah Rukh called you and asked?
07:42No, I'll tell you that incident. So I was in my office editing room, I have an editing
07:47room at home. If I want to make a presentation, so I was making it at 9 at night with my
07:54editor. The phone rang, unknown number. The number came, but unknown. So I picked it up
07:59and said hello, this is Motez Shah Rukh speaking.
08:04Who's playing a prank with me at 9? I mean, I have done 3 world tours with Shah Rukh.
08:09I was there with Vivek Vaswani to receive him when he came to Bombay for the first time.
08:13We stopped to have breakfast at Jaya Pradha's house and all that. So I knew him from then
08:16on and off and on. But in between, I got a call, Shah Rukh, I hung up.
08:22Then again the phone rang, as polite as he always is. Listen, I think I've caught you
08:27at a wrong time, you're busy. Save my number, I'm not on WhatsApp, I'm on, what is that
08:32called? Message. So when you'll be free, I'll call you. Wait a minute, wait a minute.
08:37By then I understood. Then I came out and all. I said, no, sorry, I just thought somebody
08:41is playing the prank with me. So he said, you still like me? You like to sleep at 5
08:45in the morning? I said, yeah, I never sleep. Work or no work, I don't sleep before 4-5.
08:49Come over tonight, we'll have dinner together. Then tell me why.
08:52He loves to talk, he's so well-informed.
08:57Absolutely.
09:00I asked him, how is Sheeba? What are the kids doing? I said, one has gone to the US,
09:04one to London. He said, my kids have gone too.
09:08He said, we'll have dinner at the second meeting. I said, do you have a title for
09:12Donkey? I said, yes, I'm doing a web series for Netflix, Donkey Root.
09:16I even registered a donkey for that. I said, I want a donkey.
09:20He said, sure, take it.
09:24I said, but let's do one thing. You're free for a couple of days.
09:28I said, yes, what's the problem with COVID?
09:32I said, I'll call Rajkumar Hirani tonight.
09:36Joshi, another lady writer has gone. I said, I'll call her.
09:40Let's do one thing, you listen to me and I'll listen to you.
09:44So that we don't have the same elements.
09:48I think these people made me wait till 3 in the morning.
09:52I need an audience. I picked up the pen after a long time.
09:56So I screenplayed a dialogue of 8 episodes.
10:0032 episodes were ready. I'm still saying, anybody go and shoot it.
10:04It'll be the biggest show on earth.
10:08There is a reason for every backstory. Why did he come to Bangladeshi?
10:12Why did he leave his home and come here?
10:16One brother is caught and the other brother goes to find him.
10:20Somebody is going to just make it because you've just narrated the whole story.
10:24So you narrated your story.
10:28He narrated his story.
10:32Then his office said, sir, money.
10:36I said, one title that I know I'm not using.
10:40I'm using Donkey Root. The caption is The Road to Death.
10:44I said, I won't take money from Shah Rukh Khan.
10:48So that happened between Shah Rukh and you.
10:52He was so touched. I said, don't be silly.
10:56But that's again.
11:00When we hear these stories, we know it's very possible.
11:04I joked with him one day.
11:08I think the public perception of these actors is worse than they actually are.
11:12I always tell people
11:16that they are different from three people.
11:20But one on one, they are fabulous people.
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