Director-producer Mahesh Bhatt recently discussed his reputation as a film director over the phone. Radio AddictionBhatt said that he adopted this method to protect the producers from losses.

Mahesh said, “Yes, I used to direct films over the phone. I had signed so many films that when they all came in the same schedule, I would not cancel them. I would ask my assistant to arrange the scene and shoot it while I would go to another film to take the shot. That was the era of the phone. I learnt this from my father (Nanabhai Bhatt), who was also busy at that time and he too was known as a phone director.”

He also explained why he adopted this practice. “It was a time when producers’ dates clashed and if you asked a producer to cancel a shoot, he would suffer a loss. So, it was a kind of internal adjustment. Understanding someone’s helplessness, you worked to save him but you became his disgrace Mahesh said, “I worked to save him from loss, but got a bad name as a phone director. This is how Vikram Bhatt got a chance to become a director.”

Mahesh Bhatt took over the director’s chair for the 1999 film ‘Kartus’, after which he took a break from the film industry indefinitely. He then directed ‘Sadak 2’, which starred his daughter Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapur, Jisshu Sengupta and many others. The film was a direct sequel to the 1991 hit film ‘Sadak’.