Countless movies have been made on love and heartbreak, on friendship and family, but where are the films on suicide prevention? This thought led director Aditya Kripalani to make Not Today. Now, Anurag Kashyap has thrown his weight behind the project. The filmmaker has launched its trailer, before it premières on YouTube tomorrow.

Decoding his fourth feature film, Kripalani says, “The idea was to make a film that makes people feel less lonely. When you have a break-up, you listen to heartbreak songs. When you split with friends, you watch Dil Chahta Hai [2001]. There should be films that help you through suicidal thoughts. We need to feel heard, understood. There are 4,00,000 people who feel this every year. There should be movies for hope.”

Not Today spans a day in the life of a young Muslim woman, who begins working as a suicide prevention counselor in secret. Kripalani says the film will be available for free on YouTube, with a QR code provided for viewers to donate and all proceeds will go to a Mumbai-based suicide prevention centre.

“We have all lost friends and family to suicide. I want people to invest in understanding suicidal thoughts. We want to donate everything from this to a suicide prevention centre.”

Overjoyed that the film has received support from many in the industry, including Sobhita Dhulipala, Vasan Bala and Shonali Bose, the director is grateful that it took only one call for Kashyap to come on board.

“He went through two years of depression. I went and met him. He was there for me when my films have not been able to find release.”

Filmmaker Aditya Kriplani’s Not Today (2021), which tackles the subject of suicide and mental health, has travelled to different film festivals and won awards, but the journey of its release is turning out to be an arduous one. He reveals that with OTT getting dependent on stars, independent filmmakers have to pay the price of this star-led culture.

“It (securing a release for the film) is challenging, because for the last few years (due to the pandemic), OTT platforms have all become very star driven. Right now, the streaming world is overcrowded with star-backed projects. And we don’t have enough stars in our films. So, it is very challenging, and I can only hope for things to get better in the next six to nine months,” Kriplani tells us.

The film, which stars Harsh Chhaya and Rucha Inamdar, has been to several festivals across the world, including UK Asian Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart and Ottawa Indian Film Festival. And recently, the film bagged the Best Film Award at the Asian Competition and Fipresci International Critics Award at the Bengaluru International Film Festival.

Opening up about the importance of travelling to different festivals with the film, the director says, “Going to different film fests has taught me that the budget of a film doesn’t matter. Our film is one seventh of the budget of all the other films that we have competed with, yet we ended up getting recognised in such a beautiful manner. It really teaches you that it is about the performances.”