Vivek Gomber with Jai Mehta on the set

It may have been a month since the final episode of his latest work, the Disney Plus Hotstar action drama Lootere released, but Jai Mehta says words of appreciation continue to pour in. “I am humbled. It has been interesting to see the reaction because it wasn’t a conventional show. It does not [cater to] the target audience of the web platform. But the response has been reaffirming—the audience watches everything, and we can’t take them for granted,” he says.

Lootere, which chronicled the tale of the hijacking of an Indian ship by Somali pirates, marked Mehta’s independent feature debut after co-directing the 2020 Pratik Gandhi-starrer show, Scam 1992, with his filmmaker-father Hansal Mehta. For Mehta junior, the audience’s reception of Lootere was crucial, as he believes this project is a fitting reflection of his vision as a storyteller.

“Scam was ultimately Hansal Mehta’s brainchild. I love Scam, but Lootere takes me closer to the filmmaker I want to be. I like to focus on the style, music and scale of a project. Although I have been part of production ventures that were [challenging to film], like Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs Of Wasseypur and Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh, Lootere was one of the toughest of them all.”

But Mehta isn’t one to rest on his laurels. “I am working on a lot of stuff,” he smiles, sharing that he is developing a period crime drama based on a true story for Abundantia Entertainment. “It has been co-written by Vishal Kapoor and me. Vishal also wrote Lootere, with me. I have been writing it for five years. It’s a homage to all the films that have made me the filmmaker I am today. It’s a hat tip to films like Memories Of Murder, I Saw The Devil, select Ram Gopal Varma films, and all the movies that I have enjoyed in the crime drama space. This will be my love letter to them.”

Mehta plans to take the film—set in Bihar in the ’80s—on floors this year. “Visually, the film will look big, because I will shoot it with wide-angle lenses. It will be an emotional offering,” he signs off.

“Disney’s mandate doesn’t allow the title of father on screen,” Hansal Mehta displays disarming candour as he opens up about his motivation to board son Jai’s latest directorial, Lootere, as showrunner. This is not the first time Jai has taken up director duties—he co-directed Sony LIV series Scam 1992 (2020) with Hansal, his director-producer father—but it’s the first time he is the captain of his ship, prompting senior Mehta’s emotional involvement. 

“The only reason for me to be the showrunner was that it was Jai’s solo directorial. I have seen him in action before, but it was good to see him taking charge this time and not having to fight with me,” he chuckles. Before collaborating with his father on the web series, Jai served as associate director on several of his films, including Shahid, Citylights and Aligarh. This time, Mehta wasn’t instructing him.

“I was handling him. We served as a sponge for each other. When Shaailesh [R Singh, show’s co-creator, co-writer and producer] had an issue and wanted to tell Jai something, he’d target me, because Jai would be at the shoot. He would call and scream. I would say, ‘Okay, okay. I will talk to Jai.’ Then I would convey the message to him, but in a different way. Similarly, if Jai was facing frustration, he couldn’t share it with his team; a director must keep the morale high. So, he too would come to me.”

Jai doesn’t feel the difference, though. The roles might have changed, but his father’s unwavering support stands. “He has been supportive, including for my short films.. and I have made some terrible ones; some even I don’t have copies of,” he laughs.

Their filmmaking styles are different, but there’s much that they share in common as people. Like their ability to veil emotions as mature professionals. “I refer to him as Hansal Sir. The last time I called him on the phone and addressed him as ‘dad’, he asked, ‘Do you need money? What happened? Why are you calling me dad?’,” Jai says.

It can be attributed to the fact that their relationship has been built on film sets. To Hansal, their shared love for the movies is what makes them father and son. “We have spent more time on set than we have at home together. He was born when I was barely 23. I was searching for myself and in that search, I managed to find my son when I needed him, which was when he became assistant director. We have ended up discovering each other on set. We have spent the most intense times together and discovered each other as people, passionate about films and telling stories. So, it [cinema] keeps us together.” 

Even before he joined his father on the set as assistant, Jai had developed an intimate connection with Mehta’s filmmaker self. He grew up watching a director failing with every movie and trying again. “A lot of people know of Hansal Mehta only after he made Shahid [2013]. He made six films before that. That’s something no one will talk about. Even he won’t,” Jai laughs, before adding, “I have two younger sisters. Their father is the director of Shahid, Citylights, Aligarh, Scam, Scoop. [But] the father I know is the director of Jayate, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar, Chhal, three unreleased films. Of Raakh too. I grew up with that director.”

Shahid, a critically acclaimed film based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010, it starred Rajkummar Rao, and brought Mehta the Best Director gong at the 2014 National Film Awards.  

Evidently, it has not been easy. Mehta is the first in his family to take up filmmaking. “We aren’t film royalty,” Jai declares. 

In a rare display of emotion, Mehta sounds poignant while painting a picture of Jai’s childhood and their journey as a family.  “He has seen me through days that weren’t exactly ideal, struggling to find myself and keep our lives together. We were searching for a structure as family when things were going haywire. Jai has lived through the troubles of a slightly complicated childhood,” Mehta says.

In a bid to snap out of this reflective moment, Jai quickly adds, “But there are no regrets. There’s only good from here on. You don’t look back. You think about all that you learnt and use that to do better.” 

And the biggest learning from a challenging childhood is to never give up. “There was a time when he felt, ‘What am I doing?’ And he did take a break [from filmmaking] but ultimately, he returned and did Shahid, which took two years to make, and another year and a half to release. It was tough but he never stopped.”

Amruta Khanvilkar considers it a stroke of luck that she chanced upon Hansal and Jai Mehta’s series Lootere while they were scouting for actors. The pirate thriller not only gave her the opportunity to work with South African actors, but also offered her a strong female character in the male-dominated show. In conversation with mid-day, the actor—who is primarily seen in Marathi projects—talks about the challenges of working in South Africa during the Coronavirus pandemic, and the long wait for the show’s release. Edited excerpts from the interview.

I was auditioning for a role at the casting director’s office in Andheri, when I learnt that Hansal Mehta is making a series that is being shot internationally with foreign actors. I begged for the audition script. When I read the script, I found it powerful. Later, I met Jai [Mehta, director], who is a young and enthusiastic chap. Lootere is a male-dominated show and he wanted Avika to be someone who wouldn’t spare anyone. She gets married to Vikrant [Vivek Gomber], and hopes that he will help her escape from Somalia. Avika was mentally and physically trapped; that was to reflect in my body language, clothes, even in my eyes.

On my first day [of shoot] in South Africa, I was in a vanity van and the door was left open [to combat] the heat. A unit hand came running to warn me to lock the door, or I could risk getting kidnapped. Sometimes, we’d be ready to head to the location, but something would disrupt the shoot. The language was difficult to comprehend, plus this was amid the pandemic. For almost two-and-a-half months, I’d leave my hotel, go for the shoot and come right back to the hotel. I’d go out only when the entire cast and crew did.

I remember going out with my DoP [Jall Coswasji] and trying paragliding. By the end of the shoot, we had all become a little homesick. The unit was shooting for over seven months, which is long. It felt longer because we were far, in between COVID waves, and it was trying our patience.

It gets to you because you are already in a [restricted atmosphere]. We all felt trapped during COVID. Plus, in South Africa, if I had to go somewhere, someone had to be sent with me. So, I took inspiration from that and my surroundings, especially from my first day when I was told I could be kidnapped.

The waiting period is the most testing time. I shot about three to four web series two years ago. I shot for a Vishal Furia crime thriller series after I returned from South Africa. [For this interview], I had to call up Jai to give me a recap about it because it has been a while since we shot for this. There is anxiety around a show’s final outcome. As actors, I feel we are paid for the patience we have, not only in terms of money, but also future offers.

We’ve seen this world in international shows; this is the first time it’s being tackled in an Indian series. It was a daring move to shoot such a subject and bring two cultures together. Half the time, they shot on a ship where it’d often get extremely cold, so much so that one couldn’t even touch the metal railings. The people shooting aboard had seen dolphins and whales; they sustained injuries. It wasn’t an easy shoot. I’m glad the boys pulled it off.

There is a South African officer in the series. He is about six feet in height with a heavy build, but he was gentle and soft-spoken. He is the sweetest person I’ve met. Jai also enjoyed talking to South African actors. Their school of acting is so different; it was a learning opportunity.

Almost 13 years after his supporting role in I Hate Luv Storys (2010), Aamir Ali returned to movies with Hansal Mehta’s Faraaz. In the drama that retells the 2016 terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan bakery in Dhaka, the actor plays the father of a young girl who is taken hostage. Since the role demanded him to delve into a new space, Ali was initially reluctant.

“I remember Hansal sir told me, ‘You’re posting pictures in a bathrobe [on Instagram], and here, I want you to explore yourself as an actor.’ Initially, I was hesitant as I have never done such a role. I then [rationalised] that Anupam Kher had played a father early on in his career, so I could do, too,” says the actor.

Ali, a frequent face on television, is now looking forward to Jai Mehta’s Lootere, which traces the story of an Indian ship hijacked in Somalian waters. He counts himself lucky to have worked with the father-son director duo in the same year. Does Jai have the same approach to storytelling as his filmmaker-father? “Jai’s [vision] is slightly larger than life. He has a bit of Hansal sir in him. But he has [mounted] Lootere on a large canvas.”