(From left) Kavya Thapar, Prit Kamani and Eisha Singh

How often have we heard of two co-stars dating ahead of a film’s release? Over the past many years, it has become almost a staple promotional gimmick to grab eyeballs and pique curiosity around the movie. Ratnaa Sinha’s upcoming directorial venture, Middle-Class Love, stands in stark contrast to the practice. Ahead of the shoot of the campus caper that launches debutants Prit Kamani, Eisha Singh and Kavya Thapar, director Ratnaa Sinha and producer Anubhav Sinha included a clause in the actors’ contract that forbade them from being romantically involved off screen during the film’s making. 

Ratnaa reasons that the clause, unusual as it may be, was put in place to ensure that the equilibrium on the set was not disrupted. “Right when I hired my actors, I ensured that their contracts have a clause asserting that off-screen romance during the film’s making is off-limits. The film has three leads, and a situation where two of them were dating would have hampered the dynamics. We wanted to ensure that everyone is comfortable and feels like the film belongs to each of them,” she explains.

This isn’t the first time that such a clause has been effected in Hindi entertainment. In 2016, the makers of the show, Rishton Ka Saudagar — Baazigar, had made lead actors Vatsal Sheth and Ishita Dutta sign a no-dating clause. Nidhhi Agerwal, who forayed into Bollywood with Munna Michael (2017), was made to sign a similar contract. In a telling sign of the industry’s patriarchal ways, the film’s hero Tiger Shroff was not bound by such a clause.

In Middle-Class Love, however, Ratnaa asserts that the rule was laid out for all three actors, thus creating a work environment that was transparent and fair. “I am glad we put this rule. The actors were more than forthcoming when this was brought up. They are bright, ambitious, hard-working, and are here to make a career. I was impressed by their work ethic. Now, this is among the things that we all joke about.”

Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha has a knack for challenging the norms with his movies — be it Article 15 (2019) or Thappad (2020). This time around, with Middle-Class Love, he is throwing his weight behind rank newcomers Prit Kamani, Eisha Singh and Kavya Thapar. Sinha, who is backing the Ratnaa Sinha-directed offering, begins, “This film demanded newcomers. How else do you make a campus film?”

It’s refreshing to see new names in the billing at a time when it’s common for star kids to bag big-ticket projects. Nepotism in Bollywood has been called out time and again, but there is little on-ground change. “I am not saying that it’s not an important discussion to have, but it mostly gets into mudslinging. There are children who were born in Bandra and Juhu, they played in the backyards of movie stars and filmmakers. It’s only natural that they would get their blessings. [But] repeatedly pushing people with limited talent is unfair. When [it comes down to choosing between] a child from the industry or not, that becomes unfair. I am an outsider, and it’s my responsibility to make sure that whenever I get an opportunity to work with newcomers, I [rope in] people from outside of the industry. I worked with newcomers in Tum Bin [2001], and with Bipasha [Basu] and John [Abraham] in music videos. They became popular, not because of me, but because of who they were. For Middle-Class Love, Ratnaa found these kids who did commercials, television and music videos until they landed a lead part.”

Casting star kids has certain advantages — they grab more eyeballs, thus becoming a more lucrative proposition. However, the filmmaker says everybody, from the media to the audience, has to do their bit to make it a level-playing field for newcomers. “It is more lucrative to [rope in] this one’s son and that one’s daughter from the announcement perspective. But it’s important to choose outsiders. I also blame it on the press. They don’t write as much about the other newcomers. [The press will] blame the readers who don’t read articles about them. It’s a cycle. Ratnaa has made a great film. Now, it’s up to the media and audience to bless the kids because they need those extra blessings.”

From left: Kavya Thapar, Prit Kamani and Eisha Singh