MUMBAI: Filmmaker Meghna Gulzar is now riding high after receiving critical accolades for her latest film, Sam Bahadur, which stars Vicky Kaushal. With every picture she directs, Gulzar grows as a storyteller. Her film recently debuted on an OTT platform, and the popular news portal was able to speak with her.

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“The intention is to up your game to meet the caliber of your story you are telling. I feel that my craft should be worthy of the story that I am telling. This is the approach I take with every film of mine. But, I do believe that stories have become tougher over the last few years,” she says.

In response to the question of whether box office performance concerns her as a director, she says, “Box office pressure was always there. No filmmaker makes a film without it. Everything in the film business is related. Back in the day, when films were made in 2 crores, the box office evaluation was accordingly marked.”

Meghna, who eventually became a member of the elite group of commercial filmmakers with Raazi, is certain that the shift in content in our sector occurred between 2010 and 2011. “The shift started from films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Masaan etc. It is very gratifying for all the filmmakers in a way. If we look back to our Hindi cinema, as an industry we follow a certain template of filmmaking. It is a very cyclic process. Like we have middle of the road and parallel cinema that come and go in between commercial one. We are on a better part of that cycle is what I feel with formats and platforms. The current time allows us to tell a story to the wider audience,” Meghna explains.

Meghna, who previously directed movies like Filhaal and Just Married, went on to direct films with strong national themes like Chhapaak, Raazi, and Sam Bahadur. Regarding this change, she responds, “I don’t pick up stories because they have a National sentiment but if it seems like that, then it’s merely a coincidence. I choose my stories on instincts and a momentary decision. When I did Raazi, I never looked at as a nationalistic film, I felt it’s about selflessness. It was a story of a woman, who sacrificed everything for her father first and then for the country. Chhapaak was a story of an acid survivor. With Sam Bahadur, it was the way he lived his life.”

Finally, she reveals that all of her tales are objectively political. “My question is how can one film have two opposing political ideologies? I made a film on Sam Manekshaw and how he ideated his life around people in power at time. There is no ideological take in this film,” she responded.

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Credit:- Free Press Journal