At one time he seemed to be dangerously teetering towards extinction; he was petering out as a poor man’s Mahesh Bhatt. That was the time Vikram Bhatt, flush from the box office success of Raaz and Awara Paagal Deewana, took on a plethora of films, bought himself a Merc and practically finished his career with a flurry of flops. Although Vikram had told me then that he was too much of a control freak to let his assistants do his job, for a long time it had seemed like déjà vu. Like we were watching Mahesh Bhatt at work.

Years ago, after making a mark with sensitive films like Arth, Saaransh and Janam, Mahesh Bhatt had signed on so many films that he soon became famous as the absentee director. (He’d give instructions over the phone to his assistants.) An alarmed Aamir Khan who saw his starrer Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke sinking without a captain had saved the situation by unofficially sitting in the director’s chair and taking the film to its release. Aamir succeeded with Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke but Shah Rukh couldn’t replicate that when he stepped in to complete Yash Johar’s Duplicate, another film that had suffered when Mahesh Bhatt had directed most of it by remote control. Almost all of Mahesh Bhatt’s films had flopped miserably in this time period. Ajay Devgan who had watched it all from the sidelines had put his foot down and agreed to do Najayaz only on the explicit condition that Mahesh Bhatt would personally direct each and every shot of the film. Mahesh had agreed and the film went on to be one of his better-received films, typically Bhatt with semi-autobiographical, heart-wrenching moments.

Watching Vikram at work was like a reincarnation of the Mahesh Bhatt of those indifferent days. Like a director on a signing spree who was more keen on his fat fee than on delivering passionately-made cinema. The similarity didn’t end there. Slowly, like Mahesh Bhatt who had decided that he had no secrets from the world, he’d hang his dirty linen out to dry in a public courtyard. Vikram began to live openly and dangerously. His marriage (like Mahesh’s to Pooja’s mom, Kiran) was the first casualty and moving in with Sushmita was a by-product. Like Mahesh, Vikram turned articulate, non-apologetic and fearless about airing his personal moments. Ankahee, the Esha Deol film in which Vikram went autobiographical, was another Mahesh-like move. But, unlike the senior Bhatt (by the way, Vikram and Mahesh are not related, they only happen to share the same surname), Vikram messed up his ‘auto’ by making the wife (played by his then steady girl, Amisha Patel) the blameless victim and the girlfriend (Sushmita Sen’s character enacted by Esha Deol), a wacko, without the emotional punch of his mentor.

But making Ankahee, however faulty its scripting, was Vikram Bhatt’s first step towards a rapprochement with his estranged daughter Krishna. The film may not have worked but his ploy did —young Krishna is now become a part of his production company, she is the apple of his eye and not any of his heroines. Much like the Mahesh-Pooja father-daughter team, Vikram and Krishna are also colleagues in the same workplace.

To go further with the similarities, Mahesh and Vikram Bhatt share an extremely affable nature; they’re both a pleasure to meet. Mahesh has settled down as the king-maker — he makes successful directors out of first timers and doesn’t direct films any more. In this role, like the chairman emeritus of a company, Mahesh Bhatt creatively oversees all his productions, gives a good script more attention than he would to stars, and makes money out of new, untried faces. Vikram Bhatt too, does that today — 1920 is a classic example of a subject that worked, not the stars, for there were none. Vikram Bhatt has resurrected himself splendidly.

Mahesh and Vikram run their own production houses, farm out work to other directors and don’t pay ridiculous salaries to film stars.

For two people who don’t see eye-to-eye any more (it’s Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt Vs Vikram), the two Bhatt men are also excellent writers. Vikram has, mighty happily, shaped up as a fine writer and, take it from me, the man understands good copy, he respects deadlines. As an editor, I have to say that he is a delight to work with when he pens a piece that needs practically no editing.

The Vikram Bhatt of today is an organised, ‘one film at a time’ guy who plans and makes money on every little film he backs. Mahesh, as we know, is a unique success story of his own.

As if so many similarities were not enough, Mahesh Bhatt wrote a book for Penguin. And now the gifted Vikram Bhatt is also penning an autobiographical Frost In Summer Time, based on relationships. The man’s beginning to get more and more interesting.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor Movie Mag International