In an industry obsessed with telling, repeating, and then underlining with an unsubtle score, Shanker Raman believes in allowing a scene to breathe. Or as we see in the grisly first scene of his second film, Love Hostel (currently streaming on ZEE5), suffocate in a painfully slow manner. Fashioned as a Western around an assassin (Bobby Deol as Dagar) chasing an interfaith couple (Vikrant Massey as Ahmed and Sanya Malhotra as Jyoti) through hinterland Haryana, Raman’s film makes excellent use of the flashback device, just like his debut Gurgaon (2018).
In a time, where his contemporaries are abstaining from ‘political’ films/shows fearing vilification on social media or a court case, Raman’s is a rare fiercely political film in the Hindi mainstream. Even though Raman never mentions ‘Love Jihad’ in the film, or even during this interview, it paints a grim picture of the hostility that inter-faith couples have been facing from the law enforcement and self-anointed vigilantes. The bias against Muslims is so naked that Raman almost seems to be suggesting that the nation’s fabric has been irreversibly altered.
On top of this, to have 90s heartthrob Bobby Deol play the role of a visibly scarred and emotionally wrecked hit man, is an exciting one. Deol, who has been trying to reinvent himself over the last three years, is an effective presence, even if not ultimately earth-shattering.
In this conversation with Firstpost, Raman breaks down his love for the Western genre, Deol’s casting, and the deeper philosophy he was looking to address in his film which certainly earns its importance in today’s times. Edited excerpts:
I want to start off with some personal curiosity: what’s that music playing in the car when Diler (Akshay Oberoi) is driving Ashu (Massey) to his mother’s home? It sounded like Dream Theater…
It was something Clinton (Cerejo) composed. It was a last minute thing, and I just went to him and said give me something to head-bang to. Akshay (Oberoi) who was on set that day was already listening to something heavy that day, and I told him to be in his own world, completely oblivious to what was going on in the film.
Are you a fan of Westerns? I think many reviews referenced No Country For Old Men (2007) and Anton Chigurh…
I’m a huge fan of Anton Chigurh and No Country For Old Men, or anything by the Coen brothers for that matter. Their vibe, their song is what’s usually playing for me when I’m writing. I don’t think I was conscious about it very much while writing the film, but I wanted the setting of the film to feel like a Western. Not in terms of execution, but the emotional landscape, the lawlessness. The fundamental question I was asking was how safe it is to choose freedom. Especially in this day and age. Freedom, as I was seeing it in this case, was something you grant. I’m not questioning a world without boundaries. But within the boundaries, are we free to express ourselves the way we want to? And I might not feel safe, and that’s what I find ironic, that it’s just risky to choose freedom.
Let’s talk a bit about the casting of Bobby Deol.
When I write, I don’t usually have people in mind. Even with my producers, we never really talked about the cast. We obviously wanted a known face, someone the audience could believe. A lot of names were floating around when my producer Gaurav (Verma) suggested Bobby’s name. And I was really taken aback because Bobby is a star who never really ages in my mind. So, I wasn’t really sure at first. And I remember Class of 83 was about to be released at that point. So Gaurav sent me a private link, and told me to watch it before I made up my mind. I really loved it, and thought, “Yeah, let’s pitch it to him.”
I remember after the first narration, Bobby softly declined the part. He raised a few points, all of which were valid. They were not about his character, but about the overall film. He was never concerned about his screen-time, which is an issue for some actors. He was interested in the story at large, he was invested in the arcs of other characters, but he wasn’t convinced about a few directions the story was going in. And he was right. So, we went back and rewrote. We sharpened the areas he had spoken about, he’s very tuned in that way. And I really liked that - engaging with people who care. We took the script back to him, and he really thought he could up the game on this one. That’s where a relationship got formed, and I think I really lucked out.
Was it a Catch 22 situation, when it comes to giving a backstory to a character whose presence works better without a backstory?
No, we did hash out a few backstories. The degree to which there’s a backstory in the film is what we wrote. I don’t think the particulars of a backstory are significant. But the impact it has, is. So, we spent more time discussing the impact.
We tried to think about what could have turned for Dagar, what kind of a person he might have been before all this? I don’t think people are necessarily born evil.
Children are children, openly receiving. I think human beings are inherently good, but that doesn’t mean good always wins. Every single human being has the potential to be free. If there’s desire… there is going to be a counterforce. It’s the psychological entanglement of things in our head that creates drama. I believe Dagar could be someone who awakens. That doesn’t mean he won’t be accountable for what he’s done, but he can awaken to the purity in him. This is what we discussed, we spoke about the contradictions of life, and we spoke about what it is to be in their shoes.
I thought Vikrant Massey was excellent as Ashu. Especially the way he enacts the duniyadaari of someone constantly having to look over his shoulder…
With Ashu, we spoke about the circumstances he’s born into. It’s not something we can hold against him. I imagined him to be a single child, largely apolitical, and he always operates from a place where he thinks he can get away with it. Because that’s what youngsters are, right? You’re almost invincible in that age. I would say he got the best of both of his parents, and he found love in Jyoti. Now, only after falling in love does he realise the dynamic he has inherited. I might not subscribe to that dynamic, but I’m affected by it. Now, to the extent I can accept that I’m affected by this dynamic, is to the extent I’m free. If you’re not expressing, you’re suppressing.
I thought Aditi Vasudev was an excellent choice for her part…
I remember really liking her audition, I really believed her when I saw her on-screen. I think she is someone who has a past that changed the course of her life, but she holds that with grace and ownership. I believe she can continue to be the person she wants to be. I think people who do ‘good’, who take a stand for others, it’s not like they don’t feel fear. But there’s a certain grace with which they do it. And, if you find yourself in a spot where you’re possibly responsible for someone losing their life, it’s a very hard place. The debilitating guilt can consume the best of us. When I saw her audition, she absolutely fit the picture. I didn’t have any context to how she was going to perform, but she did it with economy. She brought the part of Nidhi to life.
I thought Love Hostel was one of those rare films that fearlessly dealt with India’s Islamophobia. It seems like you’ve given up on the situation improving, I’m referring to a scene where Diler says “this is who I am!” Is that a fair reading?
I think you’re mostly accurate. But then, that scene featuring Diler, was intended more for his honesty rather than my confession. It was the grace of honesty of someone who did what he did. And this scene was the reason I wanted Akshay (Oberoi), otherwise, it’s a throwaway part right? Why would someone like Akshay agree to do such a part? He’s a sweetheart, and he was more than happy to do it. And it was someone like Akshay saying “Laakh chahne par bhi nakli ho jaata hai, yaar!” I wanted to see the tenderness in him in that moment, even though what he’s done has set off a horrific chain of events. I was really interested in the moment when he comes to the realisation that the more we try to change, the more we remain the same.
I was really unnerved by the hotel room scene, where there’s almost this relish in the way Manoj Bakshi repeats every line of a joke aimed at Ashu’s religion.
When we’re watching a film, we see it as going from point A to point B. But that’s not true, it’s a wiggly path. To say that “I know where I’m going” is never true, it’s always something we discover. The scene is, at best, ragging. So, how do you rag someone? And what impact does it have on somebody? Being born and raised in Delhi, I’ve heard jokes about where I come from, how I look. So, that’s what the intent was with the scene, rather than a specific commentary only on caste, class. You’re someone who doesn’t want to be here, but you’re here anyway, so I’m going to take your trip. You’re not as honest as you say you are, so I’m going to trip on you. According to me, that’s not cool, but that’s how people speak to each other. Such is life!
I really liked how you touch upon social media as an integral part of these “love jihad” stories, something you do so without hammering us on the head about it.
Politics for me is you're always interested in what other people are doing. And that’s also what social media is. You want to see what other people are doing, and you form an opinion on it, and then you want to express that opinion on what other people are doing. It’s human nature to talk about what other people do, and that’s the foundation of social media. You have something to say about what I’ve done, and I’ll say something about what you might have said, and it will go on… You may think that it’s a platform for you to share your most intimate thoughts and feelings, but how people receive those thoughts is completely out of your control.
As Snowden might say, people can tell what was your last expense, where did you spend it, is there a pattern to the way you spend — they can come up with a story based on the data at their disposal. That doesn’t mean the story is true or valid, but they have the power to tell the story. I might be baring my soul on a social media platform, but someone might interpret it in a totally different way. Whether we accept it or not, it affects human relationships. We feel unsafe and insecure, after which you’ll either fold in or detonate. Where’s the love?
Both Kehri Singh and Dagar are two haunted men at the centre of your films. While we sense some regret in Kehri, we see Dagar almost remorselessly going about his ‘business’. Do you see any parallel between the two?
There are some similarities, but there’s also a key difference between the two that distinguishes them. Kehri Singh isn’t interested in going after the outsider, he’s more invested in going after his own children. He was looking at his own sons as bad luck,
In Dagar’s case, he’s going after the outsider. And therefore, he’s an undiluted force of nature. Calling Dagar ‘evil’ is like calling an earthquake ‘evil’. His commitment to his work is so deep that he’s almost built up a God-level ability. Sort of a folklore around the man, almost like he’s an urban legend. What we often forget is we’re hung up on our fixation with principles, rather than principles themselves. And, I think that’s kind of been true for humankind since the beginning of time. Our fixation with something, rather than the thing itself. I was curious about how long this fixation will last? Can it last? It just feels endless. You look at all the great wars that have been fought, and you see all the fascist cadres, you see the criminality has always persisted. When it’s at its peak, you think to yourself “My God, when is this going to end?” But it never ends. It dies down, and then it resurfaces. And that’s part and parcel of this life, you cannot affect a change by changing some rules. The core really is: how do we invest in a world where everyone feels safe?
Tatsam Mukherjee has been working as a film journalist since 2016. He is based out of Delhi NCR.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
from Firstpost Bollywood Latest News https://ift.tt/Zds7JKA
No comments:
Post a Comment