Changing Gears

The film whose release date got pushed back to October 8 due to last minute change in release dates for Sidharth Anand’s Anjaana Anjaani,is about the grave subject of honour killings across the northern belt of the country.

Priyadarshan says he has been cautious in his approach. “This is my attempt at changing my tag since people don’t take you seriously once they know you make comedy films. But I have portrayed the story in an entertaining fashion that will draw the masses to the theatres. I did not want to get lost in the seriousness of the subject that will interest only a section of the audience. Look what happened when I made Kanjivaram — hardly anyone saw it,” adds Priyadarshan,who in the past has made films like Virasat. This time the film will not be a Hindi remake from one of his Malayalam films,like in the past. “I have exhausted my inventory of Malayalam films which can be remade into Hindi. This is an original story,” he laughs.

The film takes inspiration from a series of reported incidents on honour killings across the country in the past decade. Set in the fictitious town of Jhanjhargaon in North India,the story,set in 2001,begins with the disappearance of three college students who go to watch the Ramlila celebrations in their village. A few days later they are reported killed. To investigate their deaths,two CBI officers from Delhi are sent to the village,where they uncover a thriving nexus between police and local politicians in caste-related murders. “Even though caste crimes and honour killings are prevalent in the South,I deliberately chose a northern setting since we hear about that more often in the news,” says Priyadarshan,who shot the film last year in Karaikudi,Chennai.

The idea of the film surfaced a year ago when Priyadarshan saw news reports on TV about rampant honour killings. “We researched on their occurrence and realised that they have been happening as a ritual for long. My film is not a critique of honour killings. I have just tried to probe the causes behind its occurrence,” explains the filmmaker who took a year to write the script. His next untitled project with Ajay Devgn deals with the threat of terrorism on a London-Paris hi-speed train. “The shooting begins on October 10,” he says.

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