I shouldn`t have had happy ending for `Delhi 6`: Mehra

Rakeysh Mehra admits that there were some glitches in `Delhi-6`, but says the film`s selection for Venice Film Festival has washed away all these wrongs.

Mumbai: Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra admits that there were some glitches in his movie `Delhi-6`, but says the film`s selection for Venice Film Festival has washed away all these wrongs in the script. "I`ve a new beginning and end. This was how I originally intended the film to end with Abhishek Bachchan`s character`s death. I`ve realised there were people who were genuinely confused by some aspects of the film. After much introspection, I discovered where I had gone wrong.

"One thing was about the mirror about looking within oneself, then the `Kala Bandar` metaphor also didn`t work. The joy of being selected for Venice has washed away all these wrongs in the script. I`ve been invited to share the platform with some of the world`s best filmmakers," Mehra told reporters. Starring Abhishek and Sonam Kapoor, the film was released Feb 20, but didn`t do well at the box office. Talking about the changes he has made in the film for the Venice film fest, Mehra said: "I filmed the sequence of Abhishek`s character`s ashes being immersed in the river. The film now begins with his voiceover announcing he`s dead now. So it`s now a dead man`s story. Everything falls into place now. We also understand why Abhishek played the role so quietly, sensitively. It was such a beautiful piece of grammar. I don`t know why I abandoned it for a happy ending." Mehra says that the exciting part of this festival journey is that the version of `Delhi 6` they saw in Venice was radically different from what audiences saw when the film released. "I sent Venice a new version of `Delhi 6` quite different from the one we saw here. My original script was different. I went and shot another version quite different from the one people saw. I had to do this. Otherwise I wouldn`t have died in peace." The director is on cloud nine right now. "This is quite exhilarating. The Venice film festival is considered as posh as Cannes and Berlin. So it`s great fun. I got the e-mail informing me of `Delhi 6` being selected at the Venice Film Festival Thursday night. They loved the film. It will be screened on either September 2 or 3," he said. Mehra had been forced to incorporate a happy ending for the sake of the distributors. He admits he erred with the substitute ending for `Delhi 6`. Now he wants Indian audiences to see `Delhi 6` with the changed beginning and end. "It`s the director`s cut, like Francis Coppola`s `Apocalypse Now`, which didn`t make sense the first time. Later it went on to make history after the changes. We shouldn`t have been in a hurry to release a film which tries a new grammar and idiom. But the whole experience has been eye-opener. To make the changes in vision and then get selected for such an honour, is such a blessing," he said. The director, who hit the jackpot with "Rang De Basanti", has been missing from the action after `Delhi 6`. "I just went into a shell, writing. I`ve three subjects now and any of them could be my next film. Yes, I do want to do `Mirza Sahibaan` with Sonam Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan. The two are like my piece of the art. It`s crazy what we share. I can`t put it in words," he said. Mehra and his wife N Bharati, who edits his films, have just returned from a camping holiday from Leh and Ladakh. "It was our first holiday since we started `Delhi 6`. We left after we shot the new version. I`ve grown wiser now. I`m happy I`ve gone for the sad ending in `Delhi 6`. This is a creative correction that has made me sleep easier," said the director. IANS