Mar 26, 2025 08:48 AM IST
Devashish Makhija, known for acclaimed films like Joram and Bhonsle, has opened up on his experience of working for Yash Raj Films.
Director Devashish Makhija assisted Anurag Kashyap on Black Friday and Shaad Ali on Bunty Aur Babli early in his career. The filmmaker chose to go the YRF path and was helming an animated film for Yash Raj Films, but it was unceremoniously shelved three years into production. The filmmaker opened up on the ordeal in a recent interview. (Also read: Devashish Makhija is struggling financially despite getting awards for Manoj Bajpayee’s Joram: ‘I am bankrupt’)
Devashish Makhija on working with YRF
In conversation with Screen, Makhija talked about his early years getting into direction. “It’s been a very confusing journey. That’s why I’m 45, and I’m making my fifth film. If I had the two paths, choose one option, I’d be sitting on my 11th or 12th one. After Bunty Aur Babli, I was making an animation film for Yash Raj Films and Disney. When the first animation film they made, Roadside Romeo, tanked, they pulled the plug on my film. That was three years into production. I was to fly and do the final production at Pixar. I lost three years there.”
Talking about how the decision to do mainstream films affected him, Makhija added, “I don’t know, accidentally or synchronistically, I went down the Yash Raj path. But because that film got shelved, I walked away from a three-film deal I had with them. Because nobody told me a film three years in production can get shelved. They just wiped out three years of my life.”
Devashish Makhija’s career
Devashish Makhija eventually made his directorial debut with the acclaimed Oria film Oonga in 2013. He has since directed Bhonsle and Joram, both starring Manoj Bajpayee. Both films were critically acclaimed and won awards but did not exactly set the box office on fire. His next directorial is Gandhari, starring Tapsee Pannu.
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