‘I let Naseeruddin Shah direct himself’: Rehmat director Gurvinder Singh

You have earlier adapted the writing of Waryam Singh Sandhu (Chauthi Koot), Gurdial Singh (Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan, Adh Chanani Raat) and now stories by Ajeet Cour. What draws you to literature?

Some years ago, when I met painter Arpana Caur, the daughter of Ajeet Cour, she said she was aware how difficult it was to raise money for independent projects and offered to fund the film based on her mother’s work. That set everything in motion. I re-read all the stories by Ajeet Cour to see them from a fresh perspective and to also find links between the stories, both thematically and narrative-wise.

Rashid in the original story and the character of Rashid (essayed by Shah) in the film have nothing in common. Everything is reimagined, rewritten and recreated. Somehow, the short stories excite me more for adaptation than the novel.

When I directed Sea of Lost Time (2019) with Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, with acting students featuring in it, we picked 11 characters from Gabriel García Márquez’s stories and brought them together in a new presentation. This is both a subversive and cerebral act.

You had previously worked with Suvinder Vicky in Chauthi Koot but this is the first time you are directing Naseeruddin Shah in a movie.

I had an outline for the film before developing the script. While thinking of Rashid, who is visiting his ancestral village from abroad, I kept imagining Naseer in this character. He isn’t a Punjabi and he doesn’t speak the language. But he is such a great actor that language would never be an obstacle for him.

During my first call to him, he said: ‘I am definitely doing this film. I really don’t need to read the script. But just out of curiosity, I want to see the script.’ That is when I started writing the script. So, Rashid was written with him in mind. That was new for me.

When I called Vicky, I told him it wasn’t a big role but an important one. The moment he heard his scenes are with Naseeruddin Shah, he said ‘yes’.

Suvinder Vicky with Naseeruddin Shah in a still from Rehmat.

The cast of Rehmat also features non-professional actors. How do you handle them alongside the professionals?

Bringing professional and non-professional actors together is something I’ve done right from my first film. If I don’t find a professional actor suitable for a role, I naturally turn to a non-professional.

I cast Jaswant Zafar, a poet, as a grieving father after failing to find anyone convincing. We did a script reading, and that was enough. With non-professional actors, I never conduct conventional auditions. I don’t expect them to perform emotions in an artificial setting. I simply ask them to read the lines and observe their face and listen to their voice.

Do you do much hand-holding before the shoot?

Before the shooting, my chief assistant usually rehearses with the actors. Once they present the scene to me, my involvement begins. I make adjustments, suggest changes and fine-tune it. Many filmmakers spend days discussing character psychology, motivations and backstories. None of that is particularly important to me. For me, the cinematic image comes first. I construct the shot, and the actors have to find their place within that image. The image is not created for the actor; it exists as a spatial and temporal construct into which the actor fits.

Naseer put me completely at ease when he told me that all the great directors he had worked with had never really directed him. From then on, I simply let him direct himself, while offering inputs wherever necessary.

It is interesting how you have used classical music, which Rashid plays while relaxing, in Rehmat.

By putting a background score, you are basically using something external to help you create certain moments or ideas or emotions in a film. This time, there was a possibility of the music being woven into the script itself.

So, I used a group of women singing bhajans in the first part; a school prayer; and a girl who sings at the school function. I wanted Rashid to listen to music. For that, I chose songs of Ustad Nazakat Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan who, for me, represent the finest of the classical music tradition in Punjab.

Your previous features are currently not on streaming platforms. Are you planning to release Rehmat in theatres?

A theatrical release (of an independent movie) lasts for a week at most, perhaps two weeks on one or two screens. After that, the film has to find another life. Earlier, films were released on DVDs. You could buy a film and keep it with you for as long as the disc survived. That power has been taken away from us.

Now, everything depends on streaming platforms deciding whether to host your film and for how long. What was supposed to become a more democratic distribution channel for independent and low-budget cinema has, in some ways, created another struggle.

Perhaps, this time the platforms will be more interested in acquiring Rehmat because it has actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Suvinder Vicky.

Are you already thinking about your next film?

It’s difficult to think about the next film immediately. Right now, I need a break. I also want to spend time painting. That’s something I really need to get out of my system. I’m working towards holding my first exhibition sometime next year. Earlier, I painted without any particular goal. Now I’m painting with the intention of exhibiting the work, so what I’m creating now is different from anything I’ve done before. I’m bringing together different styles. I’ve always been interested in both abstract and figurative work, and now I’m trying to combine the two.