The world of cinema keeps springing up surprises. Just 15 years ago, Sunil Agnihotri directed a film titled Danga Fasaad which was followed by non descript and flop films like Laat Saab and Daava. Nothing seemed to be working for him. Neeraj Guleri was making her fantasy TV serial Chandrakanta around the same time. The serial had very poor TRPs. Finally, she asked Sunil Agnihotri to direct it. Things changed and the serial became a major hit. Sunil Agnihotri is a much sought after star TV director now. He was considered bigger than Ekta Kapoor in his hey days.

A series of successful TV programmes followed that- Yug, Baital Pachisi, Gulsanovar, and Jai Ganesh. He has come-up with Chandrmukhi now. It is written and directed by him and produced by Applause Entertainment, the production house that produced the much-acclaimed Black.

Excerpts from an interview with Agnihotri:

You were planning to make Chandrmukhi immediately after Chandrakanta. What held you back?

I had lost interest in making TV serials after a few bad experiences with TV channels. I made Aa Gale Lag Ja for Zee. I had to cut it short because the channel wouldn’t cooperate. I was returning to films. In the mean time Applause Entertainment bosses approached me and proposed to develop a grand fantasy serial. That led to the making of Chandrmukhi.

Why a fantasy serial?

People are fed up with saas bahu TV soap operas. This is the right time for a fantasy serial that caters to the tastes of the entire family.

Chandrakanta was based on a famous novel. What is the inspiration of Chandrmukhi?

Chandrakanta was not entirely based on the novel by Devki Nandan Khatri. The basic premise and characters were taken from the novel. Had we stuck to the novel’s story line and plot, we could not have gone beyond 50 episodes.

We are doing the same in Chandrmukhi. Its basic inspiration comes from Gul-e-Baqavali, which is an Arabian Night story.

What is the story about?

There is a king and a queen. They have a son who is cursed. He turns into a monster during moonless nights and eats up people. He falls in love with a beautiful girl and is reformed. This is the basic theme. We have developed Indian characters and settings around it.

Is Chandrmukhi a costume drama like Chandrakanta?
Not exactly. They are different genres. There is no trace of what you saw in Chandrakanta in Chandrmukhi, if you can ignore the similarity in their names.

What is the USP of your serial?

It is a new story told in a fashion hitherto unseen on Indian TV. We have special effects generated by using high-end computer graphics, the kind seen in Hollywood films. It is a grand costume drama. We also have Pikoo Sharma who plays Chandrmukhi as a plus

Should we call it a grand musical fantasy?
It is a grand musical fantasy which has romance as well as action. It is as grand as it can be.
We have two music directors —Anand Milind, and Aslam Surti — and lyrics are by Ganesh Sherwani. Ashwini Mishra is the cameraman and dialogues are by Sanjeev Soni.