Naseeruddin Shah plays a patriarch whose refusal to part with a faulty piece of equipment leads to conflict and hilarity in his next
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 11, 2018)

Debutant director Sudip Bandhopadhyay admits that his film, Hope Aur Hum, is autobiographical in that it takes after the idiosyncrasies of his own family members. The family-drama, which he has written and directed, features Naseeruddin Shah as the 70-year-old patriarch Nagesh Srivastava, who is unwilling to get rid of his malfunctioning photocopy machine for emotional reasons. Aamir Bashir and Naveen Kasturia play his sons.

Sudip points out that the slice-of-life film follows each character as they adapt to change in their own way. “While circumstances are the film’s main villain, I managed to cast fantastic sons for Naseer with Aamir, who plays a bank employee waiting for a promotion, and Naveen, who plays the younger brother who is an architect. They not only look like real brothers, but are also spitting images of Naseer from his younger days.”

The filmmaker adds that Sonali Kulkarni plays Naseer’s daughter-in-law and a mother-of-two. “Sonali’s character Aditi comes from a royal family and even though her in-laws are well-off, she is frustrated with the space constraints that come with sharing a Mumbai house with a joint family. She is keen to get rid of the copy machine so that she can convert the space into a room for her kids. It leads to funny arguments within the family,” Sudip reveals.

The ad filmmaker-turned-director had auditioned child actor Kabir Sajid Shaikh for several commercials in the past, but had never managed to cast him in a role. “I finally found a role for him in Anu, Aditi’s son, who loves playing cricket,” Sudip says.

Since the family is Mumbai based, the unit shot in Bandra and Madh island, with some portions canned at a palace near Palgarh. “I was keen to request veteran, award winning cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, who resides in the same building as me, to spare one of his assistants to shoot my film. He’s constantly shuffling between Chennai and Mumbai and I caught him once asking him it was possible. He asked me about my film and then questioned me in return as to why I wasn’t asking him to shoot my film. I told him it was a small, independent feature but he insisted. I was thrilled. He came on board with a plethora of experience and the cast was so excited to have him on board,” Sudip says.