Making films passionately

New-age filmmakers

In recent times, Meghana Gulzar and Tanuja Chandra have changed the scene to some extent. Madhureeta Anand, who has already made her mark as a successful documentary filmmaker is following their path with her feature film Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaaye getting accolades from all over the place. Her film released few months back. 

The film was jointly produced by her production company Ekaa Films and PVR Cinemas. Roping in a big name like PVR was not an easy task for a newcomer like Madhureeta. Though she has made many award winning documentaries for National Geographic and BBC, getting into Hindi films was very difficult. “People often thought of me as being too intelligent for Bollywood potboilers!” says the director who had to bank on the storyline of Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaaye, to convince people.

“Being a woman, I felt, gave me no advantage or disadvantage. While talking to different production houses, I realised that all they are interested in is a hit. It does not matter whether the film is being directed by a man or a woman. However, we do handle actors differently,” says Madhureeta who always wanted to become a film director and entered the industry without any backing.

After winning accolades and awards for her documentaries, Madhureeta had also proved her mettle in feature films with Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaaye. “The film was about individuals wanting to realise their dreams and how your life changes when you come close to your dreams. All of us have fantasies — this film is about those things we always want to achieve in life and how we can achieve them,” says Madhureeta when asked about her film.

Her first Hindi feature film had an interesting star cast — Raima Sen, Randeep Hooda and Arbaaz Khan. While all three actors are talented, they are an unusual combination. What made Madhureeta select them, that too for her first film. “I never wanted big stars. For me, fitting into the role was more important. I never expected to find such a perfect fit for all my characters. If you have seen the movie, you will realise how nicely the cast has fit into the characters.”
In a move that perhaps created a world record, Randeep Hooda was seen in 18 characters in the film. This is double the number of roles that legendary Sanjeev Kumar played in Naya Din Nayi Raat. Why did she want such a storyline and how did she manage it? “Randeep Hooda’s character is Raima’s alter ego in the film. As and when her moods change in the film, he also dons a new role. The way this has been portrayed in the movie is very interesting. Randeep is an extremely talented actor and has done full justice to the roles. 

Raima Sen plays a musician and since the movie revolves around her dream of becoming a famous musician, all the characters play some instrument or the other. Raima herself plays harmonium in the film, while Randeep creates magic on flute!

 “All the actors got trained in playing the instruments to get that authentic feel in the movie. So when you see Raima playing harmonium, you can be sure that she is hitting the right rids. In fact, Randeep has recently made a comment in an interview that the way I extracted work from him, no male director was able to!” says a proud Madhureeta.

In fact, so passionate was the director about this film that she herself went ahead and hand painted the sets. A lot of props on the sets were also handcrafted as opposed to the mass-produced stuff you normally see in most films.

“You can feel the difference when you watch the movie. Every colour, every prop in the set seamlessly merges with the characters. I have taken a lot of care to ensure that,” says the director who gained a lot in terms of foothold from Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaaye.

Madhureeta is currently working on her second full-length feature film — Krishna Surface.