From ‘Peepli Live’ to urban exploration

IT could not get more dramatic — amid Rafales getting set for dogfights and S-400 missile systems yearning to prove themselves during Operation Sindoor, a ‘family drama’ was taking place somewhere far away from the LoC.

A night shoot of filmmaker Anusha Rizvi’s (of ‘Peepli Live’ fame) latest movie, ‘The Great Shamsuddin Family’, which will drop on JioHotstar on December 12, was unfolding during the cross-border conflict, resulting in so much uncertainty on the set that the production team was not even sure if they would be able to finish.

“Honestly, one had to take decisions about shots or lighting that were more to do with the situation facing the film crew rather than creative impulses,” Rizvi smiles, remembering the blackouts.

The film, that is rooted within an urban Muslim family in New Delhi, something that emerges from the filmmaker’s own lived experience and the large community that resides in Delhi, revolves around a close-knit, slightly eccentric, and chaotic family. The universe decides to put them all together at the character Bani’s apartment on that one day when she has to meet a deadline.

Starring Farida Jalal, Sheeba Chaddha, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Juhi Babbar Soni, Purab Kohli, Dolly Ahluwalia and Natasha Rastogi, among others, the idea of the film emerged from a friend who had an unexpected guest landing up at her apartment during demonetisation and refusing to leave for three weeks.

“That got me thinking about women professionals who work out of homes, and how different their experience is than that of their male counterparts. This core idea then developed into the film,” she elaborates.

Though it has been 14 years since ‘Peepli Live’ released, Rizvi has been working on multiple projects during these years, which somehow have remained at various levels of development.

“Just prior to this film, I was doing a long format documentary on the slain singer Sidhu Moosewala. The documentary has been put on hold for several reasons though I hope that it will reach the audience soon,” she states.

While people may associate her with the sharp wit of ‘Peepli Live’, the new film is very different in its essence and tells the story of urban-dwellers living in a cosmopolitan city like Delhi, unlike her last film which is based in rural India. The storytelling style is peculiar too. “As it should be from film to film — in the first film, my gaze was much more external, looking into a world I was not part of. In ‘Shamsuddin…’, the gaze is internal,” she asserts.

Written way back in 2017 at a point when writing came easy and quickly to her, she recalls that subsequent drafts became tougher as they do when the process of editing begins. “So I can say it was a mix of sudden creative bursts and long periods of struggling with character motivations. I actually just borrow the humour that we see in our everyday life. And we Indians can find humour in the most morose situations too.”

Talk to her about the mix of the film’s cast — accomplished actors with several new faces — and she stresses that what was most important for the film was that they looked part of a family.

“That vibe of sisterhood that Kritika, Juhi and Shreya bring is effortless. Farida, Dolly and Sheeba are fantastic. Purab Kohli has brought such an endearing quality in his performance that it is difficult not to smile every time he appears on screen. Newcomers Joyeeta Dutta, Nishank Verma and Anushka Banerjee were a treat to work with,” she recalls.

Now that she has finished submitting all the deliverables, Rizvi plans to get back to writing soon and her passion, ‘The Dastangoi Collective’, as their producer.

Ask her about the experience of working with her husband, Mahmood Farooqui, the Dastangoi maestro, who is the producer of the film, and she says that they have worked together always, but this was very special as he was producing her film for the first time.

“Honestly, the film would not have seen the light of day had he not relentlessly pursued it. Of course, we did have minor creative differences, but were largely on the same page about the film’s creative language. And yes, I am always the ‘dictator director’,” she smiles.

— The writer is a Chandigarh-based freelancer