Lost Connection

As a film-maker what would you do to ensure that a small budget film makes money?

Good marketing and a well- planned distribution strategy should clearly go in a small film’s favour. Humour, maverick casting and one kickass song helps a small film attract eyeballs. Also the first promo you cut is important as the first impression is very critical. That way Sonali Cable had the song Ek mulakat which got more than a million hits on YouTube. As for the cast, we had Anupam Kher, Swanand Kirkire and Raghav Juyal an extremely popular dancer from the reality show Dance India Dance, and the film had a reasonably new subject, but still…

How did the idea of a female cable operator taking on a large corporation strike you?

I remember having had some connectivity issues with my cable network once and calling my local cable operator. And I came across these youngsters who were in charge. I found them leading a very fascinating life as they were underprivileged, not very educated, but very enterprising. That’s when the idea to make a David verses Goliath underdog kind of film where small businesses are constantly under pressure of being routed by big corporations, struck me. I was sure that people could relate to it. I pitched it to Rohan Sippy (co-producer of Sonali Cable) and he liked it.

What has the response from the people who have seen the film, been like?

I won’t say Sonali Cable is a great film, but people have liked the world the film is set in, the songs and the conflict between Rhea (Chakraborty) and Anupam Kher. Some people from outside the industry tracked me down to tell me that they had liked the film. In fact, I got a message from a guy in Afghanistan who thanked me for making it! The media has been quite unkind to the film, but I have to take that in my stride, I guess. I was not expecting big numbers, but I was expecting it to do reasonably well.
Most of the mainstream reviewers ripped it apart saying that it was not up to the mark. One constant criticism was that I should have cast a different girl in the leading role. They felt Rhea didn’t look like a Maharashtrian girl, while others felt that she was too pretty and sexy to be a cable operator. Also that Anupam Kher’s quirkiness like pulling people’s ears was not realistic. I find that stupid, because everyone has a lot of opinions when a film is in a slightly realistic setting. Also people felt that the climax should have been a little more drastic.

What were the challenges that you faced while making the film?

There were challenges like inclement weather and a lot of running around was involved since we covered several locations in Mumbai over 36 days of shooting. But a major challenge was shooting the long love-making and kissing scene between Rhea and Ali (Fazal). During rehearsals, we would take the sequence up to the kissing point and then break off as you cannot really practise smooching. When we started shooting, I was a little nervous because I did not want the actors to look awkward. I was thinking how to create the mood when Ramesh Sippy came on the set. He took the actors in the vanity van and explained why it was important to give their 100 per cent to such scenes as the emotions would not show if they were embarrassed. That really worked!

geety.sahgal@expressindia.com