Ask The Sexpert, Ribbon among Indian projects to be screened at the Indie Meme Film Festival
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 3, 2018)

Two Indian films set in small-towns — Nishil Seth’s Bhasmasur, about a 10-year-old boy and his debt-ridden father, and Puloma Pal’s Turup, that tackles issues of class, caste, gender, religious identity and patriarchal attitudes — are US-bound. The films will have their American premieres at the third Indie Meme Film Festival in Austin from April 19 to 22.

The fest’s US-based founders Tripti Bhatnagar and Alka Bhanot say their mission is to promote socially relevant independent cinema from South Asia. This edition will have a line-up of films, documentaries and shorts from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Iran. “The fest is more of a movement as we have year-round screenings in Dallas and Austin of films that address issues like child abuse, sex trafficking, organ trade, disabled athletes and acid attacks, among others,” Tripti informs.

This year, some of the highlights include Tibetan filmmaker Tian Tsering’s Barley Fields On The Other Side Of The Mountain, which follows a teenage girl who must choose between family and a journey to freedom, and Vaishali Sinha’s Ask The Sexpert, a documentary on Dr Mahinder Watsa, Mirror’s popular 93-year-old columnist. While Tian and Vaishali will interact with fest attendees in person, Rakhee Sandilya, whose Kalki Koechlin and Sumeet Vyas-starrer Ribbon is also up for a screening, will be present through Skype. “Also present will be acclaimed Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Arshad Khan, whose autobiographical docu-feature, Abu, delves into the challenges of growing up as a gay man in Pakistan, where homosexuals are regarded as deviants and a dishonour to the family,” Tripti adds.

Other Indian films at the festival include the 2017 Malayalam crime-drama, Angamaly Diaries, a free-for-all screening of the Naseeruddin Shah-starrer Gujarati drama, Dhh, premiere of Punjabi drugs-drama Taala Te Kunji, coming-of-age Marathi drama Chumbak, which is the festival’s closing film, with filmmaker Sandeep Modi and his team in attendance, and Jackie Shroff, Neena Gupta-starrer, Khujli.


Dr Mahinder Watsa in Ask The Sexpert; Naseeruddin Shah in Dhh

Ahead of the release of their road trip film, Richa Chadha and Kalki Koechlin talk about how viewers and the industry stereotype women We’re all, we’re none
Sonila Lulla (MID-DAY; October 22, 2017)

A glimpse of the ebullient characters they play in their forthcoming film is made visible when Richa Chadha and Kalki Koechlin cheer with joy when we enter a room to conduct this interview. But, the enthusiasm has nothing to do with us, more with the generous packets of food that follow us. A harmless argument over a fish and a chicken dish ensues — Chadha, we’re told, doesn’t eat chicken — as the actors finally decide to dig into an associate’s ‘ghar ka dabba’ instead. Chadha graciously thanks its owner, as Koechlin brushes away crumbles on the table. “Cleanliness is an obsession,” she reasons sheepishly, stealing a glance at her co-actor.

That the duo shares an affable relationship is evident, essential even, given that they’re set to bring forth, as Koechlin says, Bollywood’s “first female road trip film”. At first glance, the vivid Jia Aur Jia, that sees the duo escape to Sydney, seems like a trip one would love to take with close pals, but Chadha warns that all is not happy. “If you see my character, you’ll notice there’s a pain that bothers her, and that was the challenge to pull off,” she says while tackling questions on how her role is far distanced from the garrulous ones she’s been famed for.

For Chadha, an ‘image’ isn’t one that an actor consciously crafts. It is a label that the audience puts on him/ her, as per their choices. She narrates the chronology of her releases to further her point. “I got an offer for Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-leela (2013) before Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012), and, the characters I play in the two films are at odds. But, because Gangs released first, I, as an actor, was attached to that character because the audience enjoyed it.”

The fervent desire to templatise elements, says Chadha, isn’t a tendency of the audience alone. “Our industry also stereotypes women. If she must be shown as a sati-savitri, they’ll show as a staunch opponent of indulging in sex before marriage. If they have to show her as a liberal woman, they’ll place a cigarette in one of her hands, and a glass of alcohol in another. Why? Do we have to be either one of the two extremes? Is there no middle ground? We can be neither of the two, or both.”

The discussion invariably moves towards the onus on writers to define such characters. Chronicling her love for the nitty gritties kept in mind while chalking out Ranbir Kapoor’s role in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, she says “nuance” is the key to creating authentic characters. A believable character, Koechlin jumps in, is an essential for her too. “If you don’t believe the character, you can’t play it. And if you feel things are disconnected, you must address your concern with the director. You may feel that connect instantly, or after a while. For instance, I took long to give a nod to Ribbon [drama that pairs her with Sumeet Vyas]. But, when Margarita With A Straw came my way, I instantly loved it.”

Yet, they are unwilling to part with their craft easily. Should they find scope in the roles coming their way, the duo will not shy away from incorporating those details themselves. “I learnt this on my first film,” says Chadha, alluding to the 2008 comedy, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! “I was given a character who was brash. She danced at weddings. So, when I read the script to find a few dialogues in English, I asked the makers why a girl like her would be well-versed in the language. We eventually amended the character to be someone who spoke broken English, like lower middle-class women would. There was the line, ‘Don’t you find me hot’, which we tweaked to, ‘Kya main thuje hot nahi lagti?’ And eventually, I arrived at that peculiar pronunciation of ‘hot’ that was used in the film. It became iconic.”

An inference to Jia Aur Jia is also drawn when Koechlin adds to Chadha’s arguments. “I wear a cast in a few scenes. While it never occurred to us initially, we realised that a person with an injured arm will eat differently, or will need help pulling on a jacket. So, we improvised there.”

Chadha, however, is quick to point out that the folly isn’t on the part of writers alone. Bringing to light a working atmosphere that she says is less favourable for them, the actor highlights how writers may be roped in for a project that may be deferred by years, but are kept from working on other films in the meanwhile. “How is he supposed to pay his bill then? Mumbai is so expensive that when unemployed, people struggle to manage essentials, like water, light and food, forget affording amenities. Had I not come from an upper middle-class family, I wouldn’t survive in Mumbai.
So, should we ignore an entire group of people, in this case, the writers, who may have talent, but can’t afford the city because of our irrational working terms? Producers should pay them a retainer-ship until the film kicks off.”

A discussion with two female actors set to release a women-oriented film is certain to draw attention to the plight of women in the industry. Koechlin highlights that while gender equality is a topic that’s being discussed , it will take a while for society to come to terms with women in the workforce. “The workforce is dominated by people who have grown up in an environment that’s different from how it is today. They’ve seen their mothers stay at home as their fathers went to office to earn. So, while they understand the importance of equality, that’s not what they’ve seen while being raised. It will take an entire generation to undo that.”

Sumeet Vyas, the writer and actor who shot to fame with the web series, Permanent Roommates, on his first Bollywood lead role
Benita Fernando (MID-DAY; November 6, 2016)

Right hand, middle finger. Follow Sumeet Vyas closely on any of the web series he has acted in — Permanent Roommates, Official Chukyagiri or Tripling — and a stolid gold ring flashes there. It is not an exceptional piece of male jewellery; in fact, it’s as common as they come. A square block set with nine precious stones.

“None of my directors have ever objected to it, so it stayed on. My father gifted it to me in the eighth standard — to help me focus in life,” says Vyas. He then pushes the ring halfway through his finger and continues, “My finger changed shape through my growing years because I have hardly removed the ring since. But, I am loyal like that. Whether it’s this ring or friends or even just the flower-seller near the temple — once I find something that works for me, I keep it for life.”

Vyas is narrating this, seated in a vanity van parked inside a residential complex in Thakur Village, Kandivli East. We have caught him during a break from the shoot for Ribbon, which brings the 33-year-old actor — known widely as the poster-boy of indie web series — into his first Bollywood lead role. Directed by Rakhee Sandilya, the film takes a closer look at a young urban couple grappling with the modern definitions of husband and wife. Vyas describes his character — a civil engineer by profession — as “a regular guy raised in a middle-class family who has moved up the ladder and married someone he loved.”

“There is a part of him that is mildly chauvinistic and another that it fighting it. It’s like this — he is sharing equal responsibilities with his wife and that makes him feel that he is doing something special,” explains Vyas.

One of us
Which is why Vyas’ account of his ring should come as no surprise, really, if you consider the roles he has played or scripted. Whether as the well-meaning yet slow-witted Mikesh Choudhary in The Viral Fever’s (TVF) Permanent Roommates or as the heartbroken and frustrated Chandan in Tripling (which he also co- wrote with Akarsh Khurana) and now as the new-age husband and father in Ribbon, Vyas has inevitably come to depict characters that the average Mumbaikar can effortlessly identify with.

It could be that we have seen these boys, boyfriends and bosses around us. “These characters are relevant and relatable as most of us working in big cities have come from small towns,” he says, unhesitatingly bringing up the time when he was dining at a restaurant in a swish five-star in the early 2000s. He was nearing his 20s and was part of Nadira Babbar’s theatre-group, Ekjute, back then. “It was going well until I began struggling with the cutlery. Then, Nadiraji said, ‘Haath se khaalo’. I had difficulty believing it,” he says.

However, Vyas infuses these characters with a lightness of being; they will brawl with Mumbai’s infamous brokers, go through ugly break-ups and deal with the challenges of fatherhood, but never give in to angsty monologues.

Breaking away
However, Vyas is also keen on breaking the mould that he has so intentionally created. He admits he is tired of playing “nice-guy” parts and in search of a Scarface or an Agneepath (the 1990 one, that is); his new Bollywood lead role will see him in a more serious vein, unlike the lovable duffer Mikesh.

“I get bored of playing the same character and someone who is close to who I am. I am not at all like Mikesh in real life (I hope!), which is why it was fun playing him. I am not the docile man from Choker Bali. It is important that I keep breaking any image of myself that I create. That way, I think I’ll a longer shelf-life as an artiste and audiences will ask: Now what is he going to be? Because what gets people interested in an actor is the mystery,” he elaborates.

Vyas has previously acted in Bollywood films English Vinglish and, more recently, Parched. He says that Sandilya brings the flavour of a documentary to the film. He and co-star Kalki Koechlin have been workshopped and taken through emotional graphs for the film, but dialogues are improvised on shoot. If you liked Before Sunrise or Blue Valentine, Vyas says, Ribbon will be right up your alley.

As scriptwriter for Ronnie Screwvala’s indie film, and with another lead role opposite Swara Bhaskar lined up, Vyas has been inevitably hearing the many “Welcome to Bollywood” congratulatory notes recently. ‘You have arrived’ is a common strain as well. But, for anyone who thinks web series are a step below mainstream Bollywood, Vyas recalls the budget TVF spent on each episode of Permanent Roommates — nearly Rs 35 lakhs. Or just meet the fans, streaming those episodes on their mobile phones, right next to you on the local.

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 7, 2016)

For an actor-writer whose claim to fame was the growing web-series culture in India, it is understandable that the talented Sumeet Vyas has chosen to play one-half of an urban couple whose life is plagued by the complexities of the tech-world, both professionally and personally.

The Permanent Roommates-star who currently features in Tripling, another web-series by Arunabh Kumar's The Viral Fever (TVF), will next be seen opposite Kalki Koechlin in Rakhee Sandilya's Ribbon, which kicks off at the end of October in Mumbai. Shot entirely in the Bay, the film will release mid-2017. It follows the couple's journey through five crucial years of their life.

"It is a heartfelt portrayal of something which is extremely relevant today. Even though the film offers have been pouring in and my parents have been wondering why I am turning down so much money, I've held my ground. This film felt right. Either I'm extremely intelligent or definitely stupid," laughs Sumeet, fresh out of a workshop, adding that Ribbon is an extremely honest film with a fantastic twist. "There is so much emotional turmoil that an urban couple goes through. The man and wife want to chase their professional dreams, and at the same time, go the conventional way and have kids. It can be tricky," he says.

Over the last decade, he's crossed paths with the "fantastic" Kalki a few times in the world of theatre. The two actors have been rehearsing with their director and crew, contributing to the film's journey. "The prep for Ribbon has no fixed format, so we're all sharing our ideas and discussing the film. It's enriching!" he exults.

Sumeet, whose repertoire boasts of special appearances in films like Sridevi's English Vinglish, Kunal Khemu-starrer Guddu Ki Gun and Ajay Devgn's upcoming production, Parched, admits that despite being an actor for 16 years, it's only during the last three years that he's been recognised and appreciated for his work. "The response to the two seasons of Permanent Roommates was phenomenal and Tripling has been overwhelming to another level. It is endearing and scary too. I have now set the bar pretty high," Sumeet beams.