Everybody’s Famous! (2000), an Oscar-nominated Belgian film set in a small town in the late ’90s, is a whimsical story about dreams, music and a kidnapping, and is the inspiration behind Atul Manjrekar’s upcoming directorial debut feature Fanney Khan . In a telephonic interview with The Hindu , the first-time director recalls the original film’s appeal. A story built around the relationship between a father and a daughter which tests the lengths to which a parent would go to ensure that his child’s dreams take flight had a certain universal quality to it. But situating it within an Indian context meant building a new narrative around it. “We rewrote it with our characters,” shares Manjrekar, while assuring us that the film’s sensibilities are decidedly Indian, while retaining the soul and essence of the original.
Hopes and dreams
Describing Fanney Khan as “a father-daughter story in a musical” Manjrekar adds that it’s “a common man’s film,” one about real people, and believes that “it was important to connect with them through music.” All of the film’s main characters are musicians and its central themes of success, failure and aspiration are intimately tied to music. Long-nurtured dreams, past frustrations and hopes of eventual recognition all hinge on music and are what drive the story forward. Issues of body image and the pressures of the media and society on women to conform to beauty standards also form a part of the narrative.
On the cast and crew, the director proudly declares, “I got my wish list with this film.” He praises the work done by composer Amit Trivedi, lyricist Irshad Kamil and cinematographer Tirru, and describes directing the star-heavy cast of Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Divya Dutta and Rajkummar Rao as enriching, particularly because of the actors’ professionalism, the extent of their involvement with the project and the experience that they brought to the table.
Building blocks
The conversation drifts towards the subject of career choices as the director recalls his early interest in theatre. Manjrekar, who has worked in advertising for years, remembers being fascinated with the profession fairly early on, primarily, due to the ‘creative’ label that came with it. He joined writer-director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’s team as an editor around the time the latter began work on Aks (2001). He relates how it was Mehra – who also began his career in advertising – who suggested that he should start directing ad films. Years later, Manjrekar recalls fondly, it would once again be Mehra who would nudge him towards making feature films.
Manjrekar says he prefers to work simultaneously on both ads and features now and his approach to the two mediums differs depends on the scripts. He believes that one of the biggest advantages of advertising is that, “it helps you understand your audience – to recognise who you are speaking to.”
Long and short
Once there is clarity on the audience – factors like setting, language and costume fall into place. With features, on the other hand, it is the length of the work that poses a major challenge, according to Manjrekar. “Anyone can have an off day,” he asserts. It is up to the filmmaker then to ensure that all actors and technicians are consistent through the production which often lasts for months. Ad films, he explains, owing to the significantly shorter periods of work they entail, seldom present such problems.
Manjrekar who counts Chupke Chupke (1975), Chhoti Si Baat (1976) and Roja (1992) among his favourite films says about his debut feature, “There is a lot of heart in this film; I hope the audience can see that.”
