MUMBAI: Drishyam Films established by Manish Mundhra in 2014, is a very popular and trailblazing independent Indian film production studio. The production company has made a lot of thought-provoking content over the years.  And it received its first commercial breakthrough with the release of the accolade-winning movie Ankhon Dekhi. Umrika, Dhanak, and Masaan are a few of their other critically acclaimed movies.

Now the acclaimed producer Manish Mundhra is turning director for his first venture called ‘Siya’, 

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Siya is a movie based on what seem to be endless tales of rapes in Uttar Pradesh.

Prior to Siya's horrific assault by the brother of the local politician Arunoday, the gender dynamic is already biassed against her. Siya, who is compelled to take a backseat to her younger brother, longs to move to Delhi in search of employment and a better life. But what a horrific and troubling turn of events lead to a fight for her dignity and rights. 

Tellychakkar got in touch with the director to talk about the inception of the movie and why he chose Vineet and Pooja as the leads.

What is ‘Siya’ all about, what is the backstory?

Siya is a very emotional journey of a girl who has been wronged. And as a fighter and a survivor, how takes the journey forward to fight for justice, and that's her strength that despite being broken down she stands tall and fights for dignity. But she can’t do it alone and there is this character called Mahendra, who without any objective gain or personal gain lends that support and guidance to Siya to ensure that her journey for justice leads somewhere. This fight for justice and bravery and the hurdles that come in between is what Siya is all about.

As a writer and a director while creating and writing these characters, you have a certain vision in mind, Do you think Vineet and Pooja have been able to achieve it?

They have definitely surpassed the expectations of that vision. But while writing the story the character of Mahendra was a standalone character and was specially written for Vineet, so even before I finished writing the film, I reached out to Vineet saying that I am writing something and I would love for him to be a part of it. And when we talk about the female lead, we definitely wanted someone who looked like they were 17 and I wanted someone new, I wanted a really fresh face so that the audience could believe in the character rather than the recall factor of the actor. We did about some 30-40 auditions, and some 12 days before the final recee, we found Pooja and it was like divine intervention, her eyes had that conviction so that's when we had her onboard. 

In a time where makers cast known people either because of their social media presence or the number of people they bring to the theaters, you took a chance on a newcomer, does the thought of ‘will it backfire on me’ ever cross your mind?

I was very confident about my choice, but when you look at things, there is always an easy and simple shortcut and it is easy to cross, and you can kind of judge the outcome. But then there is a difficult way when you decide to follow your dreams the road is quite lonely, you feel like you have done something that you own. When you achieve something near your dreams you feel content. And I usually choose that road that challenges me. I could have approached an actress who maybe had 10 million followers but my vision was that I needed someone new because I wanted people to invest in that character, I wanted them to believe she was Siya. I wanted a real and authentic connection and I think we have made the right choice. 

Siya is movie about a small town girl who decides to fight for justice, fighting against all odds and starts a movement against the vicious system.

Siya hits the theatres on 16th september.

Stay tuned to Tellychakkar for more updates!

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