Director Ananth Mahadevan’s next, Past Tense, sees father-son Paresh Rawal and Aditya Rawal share screen space for the first time. What makes their on-screen dynamics interesting is that they play two strangers confronting each other in the human drama. The director says that he had gone to narrate the script to Paresh at home, when he met Aditya.

“As I started conversing with Aditya, I realized he was the perfect fit for Past Tense. Rarely do you find an actor so sensitive to his socio-economic environment, and having cinematic sensibilities,” says Mahadevan of the actor, who was last seen in Bambai Meri Jaan (2023).

Inspired by a real-life episode, Past Tense revolves around a young man, who lives with his adoptive parents and is consumed by the desire to know why his biological parents abandoned him. “The newspapers had reported about this boy, who had discovered that he was abandoned by his biological parents [and set out to find them]. The media reports didn’t go that deep, but I took it beyond the abandonment and discovery. It’s a mistake he makes because sometimes the truth can hit you so badly that you wish you had never sought it,” shares the director.

While Aditya plays the protagonist, Paresh essays one of the five pivotal characters he meets on his journey. Mahadevan says the two actors had to undergo workshops to slip into their roles. “Their chemistry was intriguing to watch. They had to shed the father-son mindset. Since it was the first time they were acting together, it must have taken them a lot of energy to assume their volatile parts.”

The film also stars Adil Hussain and Sharib Hashmi.