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The story of Gehraiyaan began with a desire to write something on infidelity because the idea of love has long been oversimplified in Hindi cinema, says Shakun Batra who has “zoomed out” to explore the greys in relationships in his first film after Kapoor & Sons.
The pre-release buzz for the film, starring Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa along with Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapoor in supporting roles, is strong and the filmmaker said he is waiting to see how the world receives his take on relationships when it premieres on Amazon Prime Video on February 11.
The story revolves around Padukone’s Alisha, a woman whose six-year-old relationship has grown monotonous. She has an affair with her cousin Tia’s (Pandey) fiance Zain, played by Chaturvedi.
“I’ve been trying to write something about infidelity for a while. It was something that was on my mind even before Kapoor & Sons,” Batra told PTI in a Zoom interview.
“Infidelity because I feel for the last so many years the idea of romance and love has been oversimplified in Hindi films and it did not feel authentic to me, it did not speak to me. I just wanted to zoom out and start seeing more complexity in the idea of love. I wanted to go to a place that did not seem so black and white. I wanted to explore the greys,” he added.
Batra, who made his Bollywood debut with 2012 film Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu has also introduced an intimacy director in Bollywood, a practice he hopes more filmmakers will adopt going forward.
Intimacy directors not only help in making intimate scenes feel more authentic, they also ensure the well-being of actors involved in those scenes.
“I knew that intimacy was an integral part of the story but I wanted to make sure it does not stick out and stays consistent with the storytelling and what the characters are feeling. It is something that, to be honest, even I was very scared of.
“I called my friend Dar Gai, who’s a wonderful filmmaker and I have seen her work. I did not just want her advice but also her presence.” Dar Gai is a Ukrainian filmmaker based in India.
According to Batra, it was important for him to give his actors a safe environment in the post MeToo world.
“I have been reading about intimacy in the west in post MeToo world. I wanted to encourage that system of security and safety. I wanted actors to feel mentally and emotionally in a more safe environment. ”We had intimacy workshops, which are not very different from theatre workshops. They are trust-building exercises to make sure that everyone understands each other’s boundaries, consent. I am glad that I did it”‘ Batra has shown a mastery when it comes to exploring interpersonal relationships and family dynamics, which he said are great fodder for storytelling.
The story of Gehraiyaan crystallised in his head in January 2019 when he was in Alibaug, a coastal town just south of Mumbai. He felt like he had a setting. He fine-tuned the story further by collaborating with Ayesha Devitre, Sumit Roy and Yash Sahai.
“What I needed to do was tell a story that felt authentic to the world that I inhabit, it is the world of Mumbai apartments, of Alibaug…
“This aspiration quality to the urban setting does not feel real anymore to me. There was a time when New York and London felt like the world we wanted to understand and know because it felt so much better than ours. But today, with the exposure that we have, we are very aware of what someone’s life could be like at least at a surface level.” So he moved away from aspirational stories to delve into a more authentic representation of lives.
The director said the idea of a soulmate, infidelity and the moral stands around it played on his mind even before he became a filmmaker.
“The more films I saw, the more I questioned it. It felt like it was a pill that was given to you to have a worldview that felt clean. But I felt conflicted with the idea.” Unlike Kapoor & Sons, casting Gehraiyaan was not challenging. Not many in Bollywood were willing to play a gay character in Kapoor & Sons, a part that was eventually played by Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
Batra said the cast for his latest film happened organically.
“There was no back and forth like Kapoor & Sons where I was sitting at home for a year for the right cast,” he said.
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