The actress’s next, on man-animal conflict, being shot in the forests of Madhya Pradesh
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 5, 2020)

After Jagan Shakti’s 2019 multi-starrer, Mission Mangal, Vidya Balan kicked off her next, Sherni, on Wednesday, March 4, in Bhoot Palasi in Madhya Pradesh. Directed by Newton director Amit Masurkar, the film features the actress as a forest officer. “I loved Newton and when Amit narrated Sherni to me, I knew I wanted to do this film. The uniqueness of the story and its world appealed to me,” informs the National Award-winning actress.

According to a source close to the production, the drama has strong humorous undertones with Vidya’s character, along with a team of dedicated officers and forest guards, trying to find a solution to the man-animal conflict depicted in the film, while tracing her own journey. “Most of the film will be shot in the dense forests of Bhoot Palasi and Balaghat, along with other locations in the state,” informs the source.

The film, produced by Bhushan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra and Amit, rolled on March 2 and will be shot in a start-to-finish schedule. It is expected to wrap up by April-end and also features Vijay Raaz, Sharat Saxena and Ila Arun.

Newton (2017) bagged the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and was India’s entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. It centred on a government clerk, played by Rajkummar Rao, who is on election duty in a conflict-ridden jungle of Central India. “The story of Sherni is one that needs to be told. I am happy to be working with Vidya Balan, one of the finest actors and human beings in the industry,” Amit asserts.

Sneha Khanwalkar on how Manto’s interest in human emotions altered the way she composed the film’s music
Sonia Lulla (MID-DAY; September 10, 2018)

An interview with the music composer of Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Manto is sprinkled with heart- warming lines of its poet- protagonist, Saadat Hasan Manto. Sneha Khanwalkar makes it evident that in her first collaboration with Nandita Das, she was taken by the director’s method and vision. She discusses recreating poetry from a bygone era, and meeting a special singer in the process of doing so. Edited excerpts from the interview:

Given that the commercial projects you do are far and few, what made you decide to work on Manto?
When I met Nandita [Das, director] for the first time to discuss it, I told myself, ‘This could be cool.’ The interaction with her was proactive. She has a world that I was pulled into; one that I quite liked. Also, the lines of Manto that resonated throughout the narration, the way the bhasha was being dealt with, it all seemed like a different world. Sometimes, it felt as though Manto was right here. [In the past] they would listen to jazz and Western music. Socialising for them meant having interesting discussions with great writers, directors and musicians at house parties. So, musically, I felt this could be interesting.

Can you talk about the process of coming up with the songs?
That was another interesting part of working on it. [Nandita and I] would sit together and read poetry from olden times that could then be used for composition. Nagri Nagri is one such song. It was based on a ghazal by a poet called Meera ji. The writing is beautiful and philosophical. So, the process of looking for poems and finding appropriate lyrics was also interesting. We have used poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Meeraji and Seemab Akbarabadi.

Was there anything about the protagonist, Saadat Hasan Manto, that stayed with you?
I felt, Manto was not afraid of real emotions. He was, in fact, interested in them. Vulnerability, or anything ugly, no matter how truthful it is, is always hidden, or not appreciated. It’s considered a weakness. But, what about the beauty in truthfulness? When I read what Manto has written, [I realised] there’s a respect for human qualities, no matter how vulnerable they are. Manto inspired me to make music truthfully. That’s what I felt after reading about him. I remember, I was in Zurich, when a Swiss man told me that I reminded him of someone. I asked him if she was an Indian too, to which he said that she was from Pakistan. My immediate reaction was, ‘Well, same thing.’ And I couldn’t believe I thought that.

Do you get emotionally attached to your projects?
I do. But, I don’t know any other way to work. So it takes me time to get out of it. Which is also why I work on limited projects.

In an interview, Nandita had stated that you two would take off on long walks on Bandra’s Carter Road and work on tweaking the music. Can you take us through some of those conversations you two had about the soundtrack?
We would carry our headphones and listen to the mixes or scratches, whilst looking at the people around us. Our conversation would revolve around alteration of pitch while we exchanged notes. But, earlier, when creating the music, I would often hum the songs to her when we locked the poems. I would sing it, and she would make me do so again and again. She was hands on with it. Do you know, Nandita didn’t know anything about my earlier work? Even if she did hear my songs, she didn’t know they were mine.

Which of the tracks from the film would be your favourite?
Ab Kya Bataun Main Tere by Seemab Akbarabadi. We had little time to record it. So much so that I had to call my guru to help me. It was being picturised on Ila Arun, who was playing the role of Jaddanbai, the first female music director. So it was special in many ways. It took me a while to crack it because I wasn’t happy with what I was making. Ila ji suggested a singer. I was surprised I didn’t know of her. Shubha Joshi is a 70-year-old singer who lives alone in a Borivali flat. She sings classical beautifully.

Singers Anu Malik, Shaan, Ila Arun and Baba Sehgal have guest turns in her upcoming home production
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 8, 2018)  

Mirror had recently reported (August 4) that Kajol’s next, Helicopter Eela, will feature the actress in two looks that move from a college-goer to the single mother of a teenager, played by this year’s National Award-winning actor Riddhi Sen. We have now learnt that the filmmakers have roped in singers Anu Malik, Shaan, Ila Arun and Baba Sehgal for special appearances.

“Since the role spans from the ’90s to 2018, with Kajol playing an aspiring singer, we wanted to recreate the music scene of that decade for one of the most important sequences. And since it was vital that we keep it authentic, we decided to get in touch with these four industry stalwarts who graciously agreed to be a part of the film. They haven’t changed much over the years so that fit the part well. Kajol’s Eela meets all of them separately at a party and we had a great time shooting it,” informs director Pradeep Sarkar, adding that the film, which is produced by Ajay Devgn and Jayantilal Gada, also features several lesser known musicians.

Interestingly, cars from the ’90s also played a vital part in making the sequence ‘real’. According to the National Award-winning filmmaker, the film’s team has incorporated the cars that musicians travelled in at the time. “For such shoots you have to transport yourself to that era. Also, since they are all playing themselves, I wanted the shoot to be spontaneous and believable, so we avoided rehearsing them,” Sarkar points out.

The shoot doubled up as a reunion for the musicians. “Bahut gaana bajana hua (there was a lot of singing and playing instruments), it was a complete riot. You’ll have to see it to believe it,” the director signs off.


Clockwise from top: Shaan, Baba Sehgal, Anu Malik, Ila Arun; Kajol (right)

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 26, 2017)

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 10, 2017)

Amitabh Bachchan has lent his voice to National Award winning director Srijit Mukherji’s Bollywood directorial debut Begum Jaan. The opening sequence of the period drama which unfolds soon after the Partition, will have him introduce the theme.

While Big B has earlier done voiceovers for films like Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Lagaan and more recently Hindi-Telugu bilingual The Ghazi Attack, he has never collaborated with the Bhatts before.

Producer Mahesh Bhatt told Mirror, “It’s very generous of Mr Bachchan to give his time and attention to this significant film coming from the banner. It’s an unusual creation by Srijit and his voice sets the tone and context for the film which deals with the birth of our nation. It’s a painful chapter in our history and of our nation and Srijit wished for Mr Bachchan do the voiceover and my brother Mukesh was prompt in giving expression to Srijit’s desire. The manner in which Mr Bachchan has spoken the important and poignant words is a precursor to this emotionally powerful film.”

Begum Jaan which toplines Vidya Balan, is the Hindi adaptation of Srijit’s Bengali film, Rajkahini, which follows the Bengal Partition through the newlydrawn LoC between India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) which runs right through a brothel which houses 11 women.

Given the subject and the profession the women are in, the film, Bhatt admits, has a few cuss words. But despite this it had an unusually smooth encounter with the Censor Board. “They were overwhelmed by the content and surprisingly supportive because they felt the film had integrity and its heart was in the right place. We had to do away with a few expletives, in two places the words were changed keeping them close to the originals, but otherwise they did not tamper with the film. It was one of our rarest of rare encounters with the CBFC,” he signed off.

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MEANWHILE...Vidya Balan moves like Madhuri Dixit on Kapil Sharma's comedy show

On Kapil Sharma’s comedy show Vidya Balan, requested her Begum Jaan costar Ila Arun to croon her Khal Nayak charttopper, “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” and replicated Madhuri Dixit’s bosomheaving moves.

A source reveals, “When the subject of “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” came up, Ila turned emotional, saying that while it’s often dismissed as a vulgar song the lyrics conveys the importance of a woman’s heart. Impressed Vidya broke into the jig.”

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 6, 2016)

MUMBAI MIRROR (March 26, 2014)

For Shyam Benegal’s 10-part series on the making of the Indian constitution, Samvidhaan, which airs on Rajya Sabha TV, costume designer Pia Benegal underwent meticulous research based on archived photographs, newspaper clippings, documentaries and also interviews on All India Radio.

After all, the task was to recreate historical figures including the likes of Dr. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel.

When informed about a project, Pia quickly formed a team consisting of two assistants, four stylists and six tailors, who began working on the project six months prior to the shoot.

The fabrics she chose included cotton, linen, khaki and wool. “I got the shock of my life when I was told that there will be 264 characters in all. Later, they reduced it to 165,” she says, adding, “For instance, Gandhi’s costume was easier to design as having done it in the past, I knew just the place to source the dhoti, the glasses and his wrist watch from,” she smiles.

However, the most troublesome one was designing the look for Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Narendra Jha). “Jinnah was extremely particular about his wardrobe. He was a dapper guy who wore fine suits, sourced from London, which had broad stripes, as well as crisp bandhgalas. Now where would I find those? We get only narrow ones these days,” she laments, adding, “My search, which also involved dabbling with some Italian fabrics, ended at a local shop of an Indian brand!”

The ideology behind the designs for Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Dalip Tahil) was similar too. “For Nehru, we avoided dark colours, sticking to light and vibrant hues, while keeping the accessories minimal and ministerial,” she reveals. While for Hansa Mehta’s (Ila Arun) character, a special handloom saree, bearing the colours orange, white and green was made. “And to be historically accurate, we ensured she wore it in the traditional seedha pala style.”

Sachin Khedekar, who plays the part of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, had to look fuller as he had lost a lot of weight and was reluctant to put on. “So we used a lot of layers while sticking to darker hues like brown, beige and grey to match his outlook,” she reveals.