Advised to undergo COVID test after he shows mild symptoms, Sudhir Mishra to skip Hostages 2 promotions
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; September 3, 2020)

Sudhir Mishra has to bow out of the virtual promotional plan that he had charted out for the sophomore season of Hostages. Reason — the filmmaker, who has been feeling under the weather, has been advised to undergo a Coronavirus test. "I have been taking the necessary precautions and have quarantined myself. My mother is staying with me, so I have to be all the more careful. But I don't think I have the virus," says Mishra, who lost his mathematician father, Devendra Nath Mishra, in April. "My US-based sister could not come down for the funeral. It was a tough time for my mother and me," he states.

The web series, featuring Ronit Bose Roy and Tisca Chopra, is set to drop on September 9 on Disney+ Hotstar. While the crime thriller was shot well ahead of the lockdown, Mishra admits that completing the post-production during the lockdown has been an uphill task.

The upcoming season, which has Mishra graduating from director to showrunner, will see Dino Morea, Shibani Dandekar, Shweta Basu Prasad, Danish Hussain and Divya Dutta join the cast. With Morea facing the camera after several years, the filmmaker is curious to see the audience's reaction. "It is interesting to bring back an actor in a different way. Dino has worked on himself while he has been away; here, he plays a grey character unlike the chocolate boy image he had earlier."

From airing original web series to re-telecasting Ramayan and Mahabharat, the small screen is here for the big rescue 
Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 29, 2020)

In times of social distancing due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many are stuck at home with nothing to do. And television is going all out to help people stay indoors. Some channels are airing popular old shows, others plan to showcase a mix of original OTT shows and old popular serials.

Zee TV amped up its prime time — 9 pm to 11 pm — with brand new content and, from March 25, began airing three series — Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat (KTBM), Baarish and Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain — produced by Ekta Kapoor for her OTT platform ALT Balaji. Zee TV’s business head Aparna Bhosle says, “We’re also reintroducing classics like Kasamh Se and Brahmrakshas.”

Moreover, after an intense appeal on social media, Union minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted that “on public demand”, two episodes of the mega popular shows, Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan (1987) and B R Chopra’s Mahabharat (1988) would be aired on DD National daily.

Dipika Chikhlia Topiwala, who played Sita in Ramayan, feels the show has been an integral part of our culture and people appreciate it even today. Chikhalia admits as the show is 33 years old, it will seem slow and urges people to have patience with it. She says, “There are people who loved watching the show which became a sensation in the late ’80s, so they’ll definitely tune in. There is a lot to take away from Ramayan.”

Prem Sagar, who’s the son of the show’s late director, says that even though Ramayan aired on different channels, this will be the show’s second telecast on DD since 1988. “The story of the Ramayan is eternal and has been passed down over generations. He (Ramanand Sagar) was born to make the show and only after reading 14 versions of the epic, did he write the show,” he shares.

And while Hotstar’s original series Hostages will air on Star Plus along with other web shows, the entire revamping will also give fresh content for viewers who haven’t seen them online. With two of his web shows being aired on two different channels, actor Ronit Roy thinks it is a great idea to air web shows on channels. He says, “There is a huge section of the audience that doesn’t watch web shows. And now with the lockdown, they have an opportunity to catch up. It is a great idea as most TV shows don’t have a bank of episodes, while OTT platforms have a lot of shows to keep people glued to their screens. It’s a wonderful idea to utilise what they have.”

On learning about the mega shows, actor Neena Gupta says her 1998 show, Saans, should be aired once again as well. And who knows, maybe this re-telecast of popular shows on DD might start a whole new trend, apart from driving away your lockdown blues.
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Ramayan and Mahabharat are still relevant

The country would come to a standstill and streets would be deserted when Ramayan and Mahabharat were aired. Though other versions were produced later, none could match their success. Nitish Bhardwaj, who played Lord Krishna in Mahabharat, says, “Mahabharat is still relevant. It is a golden opportunity for millennials as it teaches you to live, about power struggles, and the correct definition of Dharma, which is not about any religion. Don’t compare its VFX with modern technology, focus on the dialogues by Dr Rahi Mazoom Raza and the performances by the cast.”

Thirty years ago, the digital space would have been a godsend for Sudhir Mishra, when he was making films like Dharavi, Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, and Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. As he makes his web debut with Hostages, he says his best is yet to come
Ekta Mohta (MID-DAY; June 9, 2019)

As film debuts go, no one got a better start than Sudhir Mishra. While an apprentice on Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Sazaye Maut in 1981, he met Kundan Shah, a production manager. Distance can determine friendships in Mumbai, and as luck would have it, Shah lived in Sion, Mishra in Sion Koliwada. Shah first become his drinking buddy, then his writing partner, and then his director. Between several bottles of rum and shared rides on BEST, they wrote Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983). "I don't know why anybody would tell a 22-year-old kid to write," Mishra says. "I had not the foggiest notion of writing a script. I had just seen a lot of cinema, vaguely assisted on one film, I knew Hindi and had a background in theatre from Delhi. So, it was just him provoking me. I must have done something because he gave me the credit."

With his silver hair combed into a neat hairstyle, his 6'4 frame stretched on an armchair, while chewing gum and constantly adjusting his crooked glasses over large eyes, Mishra looks like a mad scientist. In a commander's voice, occasionally flashing a blinding smile, he says, "From now on, I'm going to attempt to make another 10 great films. I think I still have a good 15 years left." He hasn't done too bad so far. In the last three decades, he has written and directed Dharavi, Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Khoya Khoya Chand and Yeh Saali Zindagi. Not one of them was a money-spinner, but all of them have a long shelf life. Mishra was making movies for the web, way before the web was born. "I wish it had appeared 20 years ago, because I would have done much more work. The web series world is not dependent on a hit or an immediate recovery. So, you are making a thing that lasts. It's there forever on some web space. It's like a novel on the shelf. Somebody may read A Hundred Years of Solitude today. Some kid will see Breaking Bad many years later, and that's great."

This month, Mishra made his web debut with Hostages, on Hotstar, a thriller with Tisca Chopra and Ronit Roy. An adaptation of an Israeli show, it isn't his best work, but a sort-of Take 1. "I liked the idea of the series and the two main protagonists. I also wanted to get into the web space and understand the grammar, telling a story over 10 episodes. My job was to rewrite and adapt it for the screen here. So, I didn't mimic a shot or how the sound is played. I tried to make it mine in shooting, edit and post. All the adaptation flaws, if any, are mine."

Mishra has fallen for the medium because, "The web series is a kind of long form cinema, with the contours of a novel. Anyway, my films have a novelistic structure. I veer naturally towards the telling of side stories, of minor characters, their beginning and ends, giving them some kind of a life." So, he's currently working on three scripts. Manu Joseph's Serious Men, which he's adapting for Netflix with Nawazuddin Siddiqui as lead, is currently in its 13th draft. For the past year, he's been writing a series called Taang Kiski Hai for Applause Entertainment. "It's a black comedy, [set] in a place that god forgot. It's about four days in the life of a village, where a cut leg is found on the tracks. The town goes a bit haywire." And, for the last three years, along with a team of five writers and a script doctor, he's been shaping a series called The Nawab, The Nautch Girl And The East India Company, a fictional look at "how India was won." He says, "The right stories, you have to allow them to find you. I think this is one that did because I'm interested in history. It's probably the best thing that I've done. After this, they'll remember me as the guy who did [this series]. Till now, they say he's the guy who made Hazaaron."

As the guy who made Hazaaron, Mishra identifies most with Geeta, Chitrangada Singh's character. "I'm not a fixer; I'm not a Naxal. Manu Joseph wrote a piece on me called 'The Collector of Frail Men'. The men in my work are little confused, little weak. They want to die because of their mistakes. I like telling stories about women, because women accept frailty much easier. The struggle inside women, of the necessity of what you have to do, when you are living in a world that doesn't allow you to express yourself. I'm not good at stories that lead you to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I like to leave stories somewhere in between. Like Hazaaron. At the end of it, you are left holding each other's hand and life continues."

It's a lesson he learnt in his debut film. "In its essence, Jaane Bhi was a deeply pessimistic story. Kundan couldn't give a happy end. The essential message was that innocence is always violated. When people ask, 'Where are you from?' Some people say, 'I'm from a film institute,' but I say, 'I'm from Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro,' because that's where I learned everything. It was a crash course with the best. I sometimes still think about it and say, 'How lucky can you get?'"


Ronit Roy in a scene from Hostages, currently on Hotstar

Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; August 6, 2018)

Ever since Taare Zameen Par (2007), which won Tisca Chopra rave reviews for her performance as the mother of a dyslexic boy, the actress has been playing strong roles in films that are off the beaten track. She will be seen next in Lashtam Pashtam, which is about brotherhood and friendship. Here, she talks about her role, working with newcomers and doing a web series...      

The title Lashtam Pashtam has created quite a buzz. What does it mean?
It is from a song in the film, which is very catchy. The makers thought they would keep that as the title. It means a code of brotherhood. It’s also a folk proverb. I actually got to know the title after we finished the shoot!

Tell us about the film and your role.
The film is essentially about two boys — one from Pakistan and the other from India — who live in Dubai. They become friends, but their relationship takes a turn for the worse. How their friendship triumphs is what the film is about. I play a woman who is affected by one of the wars between India and Pakistan. She lives with the emotional scars of a personal tragedy, which she passes on to the next generation. It’s a character that starts off young and ages through the film.

How was it working with a debutant director, Manav Bhalla, and the newcomers?
It’s always nice to work with fresh directors. They bring such passion and enthusiasm to the work. It was fun working with Manav. The new actors are full of ideas. It’s lovely working with them. They are all a lot more trained than we used to be. 

Did you share screen space with Om Puri in the film?
No, I didn’t share screen space with him because we are in different segments of the film. He plays a Pakistani character and I play an Indian. But the day Omji passed away, I was with Naseer sir (Naseeruddin Shah) and he told us a lot about him and one could gather he was a wonderful, warm man.

Besides this film, what are you working on?
I am shooting for a web series Hostages directed by Sudhir Mishra. It’s the official adaptation of an Israeli show by the same name. Then, I will start a bunch of films in September. I am also scripting a feature film.