Delhi inhabits two divergent worlds
How many of us have the courage to follow our passion instead of opting for the safe route of taking up a regular job? Debutant director Nair says, “Having reached my early 30’s, I realised it was time to chase my passion about filmmaking. If I weren’t doing it then, it would probably never happen.”
A former social media entrepreneur and an engineer, Prashant says, “I have always been passionate about filmmaking, so it wasn’t a sudden leap from my IT job. In the beginning, I took a few months off to shoot my first short film. Then for an year or so, I balanced my job with writing and developing Delhi In A Day before finally taking the plunge in 2010 and going full-time into filmmaking.”
Indian-born screenwriter and filmmaker Prashant Nair has lived in Switzerland, Sudan, Syria, Zambia, Austria, USA, France, Czech Republic and Germany. His first short film, Max & Helena was an official selection at over 35 festivals and bagged several awards and nominations.
Delhi In A Day is a comedic depiction of upper class Delhi society, examining class differences in the context of nouveau riche contemporary Delhi family home. The film is a critical look at how the privileged class coexists with their domestic staff.
Sharing the screen with veteran performers like Kulbhushan Karbhanda, Lilette Dubey and Victor Banerjee is British actor Lee Williams and Anjali Patil, a fresh face from National School of Drama.
“I am fortunate to have been able to work with such established actors. They read the script and fortunately, liked their roles. I think they felt inspired to take on the challenges that normally accompany a low budget production and working with a first time director,” says Nair.
So, why did he choose Delhi? “Delhi is the city where there is a visible divide between the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy. It has many facets and sides to it, which I thought of exploring in my film. I had also observed the disturbing manner in which people interact with their domestic staff in the city and wanted to portray all that in my film.”
“The protagonist naively expects India to be a land of mysticism and exoticism that will help him in overcoming the stagnancy that has crept in his life. Instead, he is thrust into the selfish, modern, over-the-top Bhatia household. He ends up having a very different journey that involves him doing something very selfless,” shares the director.
“I got to spend a day in Delhi recently and unfortunately, it was full of congested streets! Delhi is an intense, diverse, thought-provoking city full of contradictions and nuances. I hope that comes across in my film,” says the director.
Nair is currently working for his second feature, Umrika. “It is a comedy set in the early 80’s dealing with the fictional notions that we Indians have about America,” he says. Nair is also busy writing a script for a film based on vampires.
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