Director Ajay Kumar Saklani, who has come up with his second film Googly Gumm Hai, says Himachal Pradesh offers enough opportunities for youngsters

Sheetal

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The work of independent film director, cinematographer and producer, Ajay Kumar Saklani, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, came into limelight with his movie, Saanjh, which happened to be the first ever film to be made in a Himachali dialect. Before its release on April 14, 2017, the film received the Best Feature Film Award at the Borrego Springs Film Festival held in California, USA, and was screened at many other festivals.

Four years later, coming out with his second film, Googly Gumm Hai, the director says, “When I made Saanjh, the idea came through the song, Puchhe Amma Meri, which I had written and later developed into an entire script for the feature film. With it, I wanted to talk about how our culture is heading towards Saanjh (dusk).”

Shot in the Lake Glacier, Dharamshala, with minimum usage of VFX, it has all the elements of a commercial film -a story, a romantic location, twist and turns of a thriller, and songs in the voice of none other than Mohit Chauhan. He adds, “I have received good reviews from the audience but didn’t get the time to promote the film. The platform Shemaroo Me suddenly picked it up for a release and we could only announce the trailer release a day before.”

Clear take

Being a Himachali, does he think that the state has opportunities for those who wish to pursue a career in film-making or acting? “While there is a lot more one can explore in film-making in Mumbai, for actors, there’s availability of small roles in movies that are being shot in Himachal. In any case, as described through my earlier film, youngsters are happy finding opportunities in bigger cities. But a lot of music videos are shot in Himachal and in between the two Covidwaves; it has also become a green zone for shooting during the pandemic.So if you are technically sound, you can get enough work while sitting in Himachal.”

Ajay too was working in Mumbai until the lockdown happened, which brought him back to his home state. While he currently operates from an office in Dharamshala, his familial home is in Mandi district.

Enjoying the music release of his romantic thriller, Googly Gumm Hai, the song Ojhal has been sung by Mohit Chauhan and he hopes it would become as successful as Puchhe Amma Meri from Saanjh, which has crossed 3.6 million views on YouTube.