Kiara Advani puts in amazing amount of hard work, says Abir Sengupta on Indoo Ki Jawani

Director Abir Sengupta debuted with the Bengali film Jomer Raja Dilo Bor (2015). The film had a female protagonist (Paayel Sarkar) as do his Hindi short film Soulsathi, which released recently, and his Hindi feature film debut Indoo Ki Jawani. 

Sengupta tells us that he likes telling stories from a female point of view. “I feel their perspective is very different and has a lot of layers, which I feel can be shown interestingly. As a filmmaker, I feel female characters are much more interesting than male characters; not that male characters are not interesting. This is just for me,” he said. 

He cites the example of Kareena Kapoor Khan’s character Geet from Jab We Met (2007). “People still can’t get over it even after all these years. Also, Hema Malini’s character in Sholay (1975). People still can’t get over Basanti. There have been so many interesting female characters in Hindi and cinema all across the globe. But I feel there is so much more to show. So why not explore that?” he said. 

Sengupta believes that times are changing. “Taboos have started diminishing nowadays. However, not all taboos have been broken yet. There is no complete equality. There is a certain section of society that still think that women should only cook and be housewives,” he said. 

A depiction of that taboo was seen in Indoo Ki Jawani song ‘Hasina Pagal Deewani’ where lead actress Kiara Advani dances as if nobody’s watching while her parents look on embarrassed. 

Asked about his experience working with Advani, Sengupta said, “Lovely! She is superb. The amount of hard work that she puts into any movie or character is amazing. My experience with her was another level. I feel very good when people are so devoted. She was very prompt right from the very beginning. When she heard the film, she didn’t take much time to commit to it also.”
 
Before approaching Advani, the filmmaker was told that it’s a daunting task to approach a known star. “I had heard that if you pitch a story to big actors then they take long to respond. But it didn’t happen to me, surprisingly. I read out the whole film to Kiara. And within a few days she said she was doing this film,” said Sengupta. 

He points out that in all three films of his, the casting of the main lead was a smooth process. “I am extremely lucky that whoever I have envisioned for a role, I always got that person. I am hoping it continues in the future too. I completely believe in magic. I feel if you really want something to happen, it will happen. It has happened with me for all my films. I got all the people I had in mind,” he said.