FILM INTERVIEW: SUDHIR MISHRA

Last week, Bollywood director Madhur Bhandarkar made the leap from serious films to romantic comedies. This week, it is Sudhir Mishra’s turn to do the same thing, as his romantic thriller, Yeh Saali Zindagi, releases on February 4th. Starring Irrfan Khan, Arunoday Singh, Chitrangada Singh, and Aditi Rao, Yeh Saali Zindagi may just be the film he enjoyed making most, especially since he evolved from a mere romance story to romance thriller.

 

In developing and directing his romantic thriller, Mr. Mishra said he was more than a little content in making quite the departure from his usually gritty or serious content in films such as Main Zinda Hoon (Rajendra Gupta) and Calcutta Mail (Anil Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee).

 

“It is the happiest film I have ever made. Although it shows how life exasperates you at times, the audience is going to leave the movie hall feeling good,” Mr. Mishra told the press. “I have tried to do something different with this film. When I set out with the script, I wanted it to be a romantic film, but the elements of a thriller came in later. Yeh Saali... is a gripping roller-coaster ride. Its first job is to entertain.” 

 

Of course, if one seeks to entertain, it helps to have some great entertainers attached to the project. Mr. Mishra definitely had one of the greatest entertainers to work with in Mr. Khan.

 

“I wanted to work with him for a long time. He is a great actor who knows exactly how much to deliver in his performance, where to act, and where not to,” the director informed the press.

 

Cast as a gangster in the film, Mr. Mishra was also pleased with the casting of Mr. Singh (who bears no relation to the Ms. Singh starring in the film).

 

“For the role of the gangster, we needed somebody with a tough physique and the innocent smile of a boy--Arunoday fit the bill. Also, he was perfectly comfortable jumping around on the rooftops in Delhi,” Mr. Mishra said. “Arunoday is a gangster who wonders why he is unable to be tough with his wife. The film tracks the journey of the two men in search of love, albeit in a roundabout way.”

 

Mr. Mishra also had to get the film past India’s Censor Board in a roundabout way, but at day’s end, apparently love prevailed.

 

“The film opens with Irrfan choosing love over work and running to Chitrangada, only to find her with another man,” Mr. Mishra told the press, explaining why the Censor Board took issue with Yeh Saali Zindagi before offering it a certificate. “It’s a nice feeling to make a film about love.”

 

Interestingly enough, making a film about love is one thing, yet in working with or around him, one best be sure to avoid being lovey-dovey on a regular basis. After all, the director expects to be challenged.

 

“I encourage people who question my decisions. I hate to work with subservient people,” Mr. Mishra told the press.

 

Nonetheless, perhaps the one decision he hopes no one questions is the decision one makes to watch Yeh Saali Zindagi in multiplexes and theaters around the world during its silver screen run. 

 

Indeed, be sure to catch Yeh Saali Zindagi, opening on the big screen on February 4th.