Home director Habib Faisal: Housing should be a fundamental right

Would you say it’s a political show?

It doesn’t get into party politics. But it is political in the sense that regular citizens of the country are constantly surprised by decisions that have been made by somebody out of reach. It draws on the world that we live in, with its governing laws and how they affect citizens whether it is housing, morality, sexuality or gender.

Why did you decide to make this in the digital medium?

As the economics of filmmaking is changing, more and more large-scale spectacle movies are being made and they are the ones people go to watch, but that does not mean human stories which are big at heart but not spectacular will go away. It was actually the story and I would’ve made it, for the big screen or as a web series.

The digital platform usually targets a young audience. Will this story interest them?

It’s a family of five — a grandfather, a couple and their children — and that allows you to look at the issue from everyone’s point of view. A 55-year old person reacts differently than a 22-year old… We have not taken any special measures that way. The story is interesting enough for all age groups, hopefully.

How did you come to cast Supriya Pilgaonkar and Annu Kapoor as leads?

Casting is instinctive. We were not looking at who is saleable and who is not. Annu Kapoor is a great actor. He’s got a crazy energy even if he is sitting still. His character is that of a scared, ‘droopy shoulder’ guy. If I had cast someone who is already like that, then the character would be boring. Supriya also has this amazing energy. I always believe that the energy that any actor brings from their personal space must be injected into the characters.

What is your personal take on this case?

We went through demonetisation thinking that black money will go out of real estate buying but it is still very much there. When regular people go to buy a house, they are not able to cough up 40-60 per cent in black money. In the system, hard-earned money goes to waste, homes get taken away and there’s nothing we can do to protect them. My views are simple, everybody needs housing, depending on what they can spend. It’s good that now we have education as a fundamental right. Housing also ought to be a fundamental right. It’s inhuman that the citizens of a country have to grow up on the streets, without any healthcare or sanitation.