Sanjay Gupta has changed creative lanes. “I don’t mean to pull down anyone. But there are too too many wannabe Guptas around. I’ve changed my style completely in Zinda. Even reviews of other directors mention me. It seems a lot of the kids today are rampantly trying to rip off my style. That style is something I did six years ago in Kaante. In a review of Ek Ajnabee in Time Out I’m mentioned! I’ve moved on. Leave me alone,” says Sanjay Gupta who’s been out of it for a while.

Even Gupta’s trendsetting music albums are being ripped of endlessly. “And they’re making such a hash of it. Every other album has as remix of my songs from Kaante or Musafir. It isn’t funny anymore. When you’ve item songs in films you create music with a surety of returns. But my Zinda is songless. We’ve created music based on my film. I sat down my musicians ? Shivani Kashyap, Vishal-Shekhar, Strings, Nikhil Chinappa, Krishna ? and gave them an exhaustive narration of the film. And based on their interpretation of the theme they’ve come out with their songs. We’re a nation of music lovers. I love doing up songs for my films even if they don’t occur physically in the film that I make. I’d have loved to see what kind of music Alfred Hitchcock would’ve created for his films.”

Then comes the shocker. “Sunjay Dutt has collaborated on the theme song. He has sung, written and co-composed what’s basically his interpretation of what Zinda means. He and composer Vishal have sat nights on end to work on the track. Even the opening lines ? Kabhi muskura ke mushkilon se mil gaye/Kabhi hans ke gham ko pee liya ? is his. Sunjay has sung it with a lot of soul. To do a soundtrack which isn’t directly linked to the script is very difficult. We didn’t know which way we were heading. It’s got jazz, blues?all the elements that Bhooshan Kumar of T-Series doesn’t empathise with. I’ve always had a fantastic understanding with Bhooshan. He never liked the music of my Musafir. I told him he better not like my sounds of Zinda. If he likes it, I’m in trouble.”

Now with the trendsetter’s new movie soundtrack being released, Sunjay is back in the news. The music of Zinda is being released in Pakistan as well. How did it happen? “Well?Faizal and Bilal who have done some songs in Zinda, were very keen that the album be released in Pakistan. The music video featuring Sunjay Dutt and John Abraham is being screened on Pakistan TV and is already a rage there. They were quite taken up with seeing two of their hot singers with two of India’s hottest stars.”

With Zinda, Sanjay Gupta moves away completely from his trademark style of shooting. “In Zinda I’ve opted for a straight in-your-face style of shooting. I’ve left my usual style to the wannabes. I don’t blame them. When I was starting out I was always waiting for a J.P. Dutta, Mani Ratnam, Rahul Rawail or Mukul Anand film. I always looked forward to their films to learn something new. Today I’m sure there are new movie-makers who look forward to my movies. In Zinda there’s a lot more technique at play than visible to the eye. The palate of the film is starkly black and white.”

Gupta describes Zinda as “an extremely dark thriller?it’s about the price you pay for the smallest mistake in life?When you come out of the film you don’t know who’s the hero and who’s the villain?Though my presentation is black-and-white, the morality is certainly not.”

This time the Kaante creator is in a more original mood. “Zinda isn’t a ripoff of any Hollywood film. But it’s a homage to Korean films about revenge and redemption, like Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, etc. It’s a film belonging to the school of excesses. Zinda isn’t for the weak-hearted.”

Zinda will reflect the director’s dark mood. “I haven’t been very happy. That’s bound to reflect in my work. At the same time this has been an amazingly satisfying film. I’m not doing much talking this time. Let Zinda do the talking. All I’ll say on behalf of Sunjay and John is, these are f****ing career-defining performances. Sunjay will shake you up. It has been an exhausting film for us. Nothing will prepare audiences for what’s in store for Zinda. “We called ourselves the KP Gang?. Every evening we got back, took a shower, got into our kurta-pyjamas, took a drink and?watched cartoons to unwind. Zinda has been my most difficult film. The question for Dutt and me is, what next? We’ve nowhere to go after Zinda. Even John, whom I just visited in hospital, wonders what next.” Next, Sanjay Gupta will probably do a comedy with Sunjay and Preity. “It’ll be based on an international bestseller that Priya and Anju Dutt recommended.”