‘Small films have a short window’

While I would say that the producers and distributors are the suitable people to answer this question, I think that the manner in which the film was pitched and promoted, it couldn’t manage to garner interest. Usually, what happens is that the directors are kept out of the planning and strategising or marketing and promotions of the film. Since I am new to the film industry, I was very surprised to learn that. The logic was that directors are very sensitive about the subject of the film, and a person with a little distance from the film is better suited for promotions.

So, you think if the promotion was done differently, the film could have yielded better results?

The film was promoted keeping in mind that it should draw the target audience on the opening day. But the marketing didn’t work in the film’s favour hence it hardly got the audience on Friday. In my opinion, one should not take away the soul of the film. In this case, the film wasn’t a comedy, it spoke about a social issue. However, the product was marketed as a comedy. As a newcomer, I couldn’t even argue. Also, it was the money of the producers that was at stake.

Considering the film was a take on a serious social issue, do you think the three songs in the film could have been avoided?

Not really. It’s a very personal and subjective perception. The songs were in the film to give it a commercial garb. I included a romantic song to show the chemistry between the girl and the boy. There was no other way to show it. Similarly, the kink of the Chief Minister could only come out with the song Ghoor ghoor ke…. Had I not put any songs, the film would have come across as dry. It was an effort to make the film more saleable and not just preachy.

The projects that you have done on television (Bade Achhe Lagte Hain, Kumkum Bhagya and Karam Apna Apna, etc) are romantic, family dramas. Your film is drastically different — featuring an issue like corruption, a satire on India’s social setting. How did it come about?

The subject chose me. The producers (Nautanki Films, owned by Abhinav Shukla) came to me with the story. However, I have been a really aware citizen and such issues have always interested me. Television has its own parameters and thus I never got a chance to work on similar subject there as a director. But my television production, Aarakshan, was around a social issue and in future too, it would remain that way.

What are the lessons learned? Your plans for future?

This experience has been an eye-opener for all of us. I kept away from television projects for two years to give this film a shape. While I have got rave reviews as a director, I would have been happier had the producers also earned money. I learnt that small films have a very short window. One has to get the right audience to the theatres on the first day. If one manages to do that, the word of mouth works and helps the film. The feedback that I got was that the audiences took it as just another comedy while the film is a good cinema. It was only after the reviews later in the weekdays that the perception changed. By then, it was too late. The situation could have been salvaged by holding screenings etc, but again we were at the hands of the producers. For my next projects, I would like to assure that I work with a group of people whose sensibilities matches with mine.