Sudhir Mishra calls himself an ‘adiyal’ filmmaker, says he sticks to what he wants to do: ‘If you change one thing…’

Mishra hopes that after watching Tanaav, the audience will have a better understanding of the situation in the Valley. He told indianexpress.com, “The hallmark of a good story is you try and understand every character, the conflicts are elaborated on. In the end, you come up with an understanding of the situation. Hopefully, that will happen with Tanaav.”

But basing a story in and about Kashmir seems to be a bit of a courageous task given the current intolerance in the country, especially around the work of people from the Hindi film industry. But Mishra suggested that he is somebody who stays away from ‘sensationalism’. “I am not a sensationalist. I look at all sides of something and I am not a biased person,” he said while adding that he, in fact, is a compassionate person.

“I am not a guy who likes to offend anyway. If you tell the truth, you are compassionate, and you do things with understanding and love, then how can you offend? If I do something while being filled with hate or anger, then I can offend. But I do things affectionately and with love. I am not here to offend, that’s not how I get my kicks,” the filmmaker stated.

Tanaav is backed by an ensemble cast including actors Manav Vij, Arbaaz Khan, Sumit Kaul, Rajat Kapoor, Shashank Arora, Zarina Wahab, Ekta Kaul, Waluscha De Sousa, Danish Hussain, Satyadeep Mishra, Sukhmani Sadana, Sahiba Bali, Amit Gaur, Arslan Goni, Rockey Raina, M.K. Raina, Sheen Dass, and Aryaman Seth among others. The makers of the series have made a deliberate attempt to star actors from Kashmir. Even the characters speak different languages that you get to hear in the Valley, from Hindustani, Dogri to Urdu.

“Most of the main characters who are Kashmiris are played by Kashmiris. To keep the authenticity of the place, the characters speak in various languages that you get to hear in the Valley. And, we have also subtitled the show,” informed Mishra.

One of Sudhir Mishra’s most celebrated works is his film 2005 film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, starring Shiney Ahuja, Chitrangada Sen and Kay Kay Menon in the lead roles. Though the filmmaker has done some great work with films like Chameli, Dharavi, and Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin, people still associate the filmmaker with Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. “I feel very sympathetic towards my other films. I feel sorry for them. But then it is inevitable,” he expressed.

Also, the 63-year-old filmmaker believes that he has churned out a lesser number of films from 2006 to 2016 because “the producers and the money slipped away.” Also, he feels he is stubborn as a filmmaker which is why he loses on projects.

He said, “There are a lot of films that didn’t get made. I was about to make a movie with Mr Bachchan (Amitabh) called Meherunissa, but it didn’t get made. I should have made 3-4 films more between 2006 and 2016. Those were bad times. The producers and the budget slipped away. Also, I am an ‘adiyal’ (stubborn). I stick to what I want to do. With this attitude, you suffer, but you gain too. You can’t complain, you are what you are. If you change one thing, then they will change other things. It’s not like I have never compromised, but much less. That’s the way I like to work, I don’t know any other way of making a film.”

Afwah yeh hai ki aajkal mai editing kar raha hoon ! pic.twitter.com/JNxgAZop60

— Sudhir Mishra (@IAmSudhirMishra) September 9, 2022

Now, after Tanaav, Mishra is confident that his next film, titled Afwaah will become the talking point when people will talk about his body of work. The film, led by Bhumi Pednekar and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, is billed as a ‘quirky thriller’. Produced by Anubhav Sinha, it will hit the theaters in February 2023. He has also shot a short for an anthology with Taapsee Pannu, the other parts of which will be helmed by Hansal Mehta and Sinha.

Mishra, who claims to have many ‘younger brothers’ in the film industry, also spoke about his equation with Anubhav Sinha, whom he has known for many years now. He shared, “We think quite alike. I can say something and he can complete the sentence. There is genuine regard and affection. I like his work a lot, especially Mulk. We even give feedback on each other’s scripts. Maybe he doesn’t do what I suggest, but he does think deeply about my suggestion. When you react to a filmmaker’s work you do not tell him what to do, you instead ask questions which provoke a filmmaker. He also does a lot of that with me.”

Not just Anubhav, Sudhir Mishra sees a ‘kid brother’ in Nikhil Advani too. And, he says there are a lot of people in the industry who have learnt from him and are “commercially more successful than him today.”