Subhash Ghai crosses over to streaming platforms with ‘36 Farmhouse’

Bollywood’s showman opens up on his OTT debut, why visually-compelling content is key, and plans to make Broadway plays

“I am not a man who lives in the past. I like to remain in today and prepare for the future,” says Subhash Ghai. At 76, with the Hindi film 36 Farmhouse, the director is “consciously trying to break his image of a filmmaker who creates only larger than life images”. Directed by Ram Ramesh Sharma, the film (currently streaming on Zee 5) marks Ghai’s OTT debut. “I want to grapple with the issues and conflicts of today. The days of baap ka badla [avenging one’s father] are over,” says the filmmaker, who delivered a series of blockbusters in the 1980s and 1990s when revenge was a common theme.

Inspired by the movement of migrants during the pandemic, Ghai has not only written and produced the comedy but also composed the music. “I have a background in theatre. I spent my university days acting and directing plays before I got admission to the Film and Television Institute of India [FTII, Pune] where I came across art and world cinema,” he says, adding that if he has made blockbusters such as Karma and Saudagar, he has also written small-budget films like Joggers’ Park and Black & White.