Director Neeraj Pandey who is all set for fir next ‘Aiyaary’, speaks on reuniting with Naseeruddin Shah and shooting on the same locations as they did for ‘A Wednesday’. “’Aiyaary’ is closest to the film I started with, and since it belonged to the same genre as ‘A Wednesday’, it was imperative to have Naseer Saab. Ten years ago, on the last day of my first film, I was shooting with him in an under construction building. Coincidentally, I started ‘Aiyaary’ with him on a similar location and in many ways, it was like picking up from where we had left off.”
Neeraj confesses on how he got the idea of the film, “It began subconsciously when I was filming ‘Baby’. I interacted with a lot of people from the army and a seed was sown. Then after the release of the Dhoni biopic, my mind drifted back to a couple of incidents I’d heard at the time. ‘Aiyaary’ is a Persian word which I had first come across in Devaki Nandan Khatri’s novel in which he referred to them as shapeshifters (aiyaars) and the tricks they perform as ‘Aiyaary’.”
Manoj Bajpayee praised the Neeraj Pandey and said ‘Aiyaary’ was one of the best scripts, to which the director said, “I value his opinion, but I’d like to believe that my best is yet to come.”
The director talks about his projects, “I made ‘Ouch’, a black comedy, a genre not everyone is comfortable with. And my first script was a love story which unfortunately never got made as we couldn’t come up with the resources and get the actors we wanted.”
When asked if the director has any regrets he quipped, “No, I’ve got over it. Maybe I’ll give it to someone else to direct it at some point.”
When asked if Sidharth Malhotra was the right choice for the film as his last movies did not perform well at the box office the director said, “When you start work on a project a year-and-a-half ago, you don’t know what the talent’s journey will be like. It’s not my business to know how these movies fared; I can only focus on my film. Besides, Sidharth is very hard-working and would come for rehearsals and readings on time. Every film is a risk on multiple levels. But once you put your faith behind a particular talent, there should be no doubt, only the confidence to play around with the talent.”
‘Aiyaary’ on clashing with ‘PadMan’, the director said, “We knew from day one that ‘Aiyaary’ would come on January 26, 2018, because the subject lends itself to this date. I don’t concern myself with what other people are doing. The decisions we take involve several other people who rally behind the project and calls are taken after a lot of deliberations. I believe the films are chalk and cheese so there is no issue with them releasing together.”
When asked about the details of ‘Crack’ starring Akshay Kumar and if he had a fallout with Akshay Kumar, Neeraj said,“It’s on the backburner for now as I’m not happy with the way the script has shaped up. When I find the time, I’ll go back to the material and see how it can be reworked.” That question doesn’t merit an answer. Why would there be a fallout? On what? There are absolutely no issues on any front.”
Neeraj talks about the biopic of ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’, “I had said before the film released that the Dhoni biopic was about the making of the man and the talent. It ended with the 2011 World Cup, a milestone in his life and that of Indian cricket, and most of the stuff that is in the public domain came in only after that period of time. It just seemed appropriate to end with a boy from Ranchi on the world stage achieving this big win for the country along with his teammates. That was the arch of the story.”
Talking about his journey in Bollywood the director said, “I’m not satisfied as a filmmaker as I still believe all the films I have directed have room for improvement. I have to live with that knowledge but I can learn from my mistakes and not repeat them. Fortunately, it’s been a great run for our company as we have managed to work with the stories we believed in. I like to read and I enjoy discovering new places. (Laughs) So, I just try to find an excuse to travel and sometimes plan mock recces.”