He had me at Neeraj. It was literally like Neeraj is doing something, I want to produce it. I was blown away by his debut feature Masaan. I had the opportunity of seeing it right after it burst open at Cannes and met with critical acclaim and success, and I absolutely loved it. Subsequently, we met and collaborated. I was over the moon that he was part of Ajeeb Dastaans. I think he added a lot of gravitas to the ensemble of directors in the anthology. I just love his work and am a huge admirer of his talent.I also think I tend to get generalized and slotted. No matter what I do, nobody can yank me out of that space. For some reason, I’ll always be representative of a certain brand of cinema, and no matter what I may have tried to achieve in the world of storytelling, I don’t think that I’ve been able to shrug that off. The fact that we are a mainstream studio that has an officially selected film at Cannes, is no mean achievement but I’m never going to get the credit for that. They will still go on about Nadaaniyan. My love for Neeraj, respect for him and reverence for him is in abundance. But I’ve taken those chances previously also with stories and storytelling. Sadly I don’t get that credit, and now I don’t seek it anymore, because I’m just proud that I could be a part of Homebound. Had Neeraj not sent me the script of Homebound, and had he come to me with something else, I would have still been on board. I always believe in the filmmaker first, and like Neeraj very kindly put it, we have a mutual respect, love and admiration for each other as human beings. To me that is very important. I think I’ve always done my worst work with people who I don’t like. If I don’t like you, I don’t think I can make a good film no matter how good the story or the screenplay. Somehow the personal touch, or rather, the personal connection that I have with the filmmaker shows up even on the final product. When I saw Homebound, I had a meltdown at the end, I was weeping, and he was looking at me thinking, that I’m going through some kind of cathartic reaction because the world of the film is far removed from the cinema I have directed, or many of the films I may have produced. But the emotions are universal, as is the connection of characters and their trials and tribulations. How can that not touch anyone? A Masaan can move me, as much as a huge mainstream commercial outing. Films and stories are universal. I relate to Neeraj, the filmmaker, the human being so much that I hope and pray that he never goes to any other producer.
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