Came up with Godavari's story after making Pune 52: Nikhil Mahajan

Nikhil Mahajan, who made his directorial debut with the unique noir drama Pune 52 (2013), is returning to feature films after seven years with his most personal and poignant film, Godavari. The drama, which stars the seasoned Jitendra Joshi, Vikram Gokhale and Neena Kulkarni, recently bagged the Best Actor and Special Jury awards at the 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI). 

In an interview with Cinestaan.com, Mahajan spoke about the film’s journey and the several unique challenges the makers faced because of the pandemic.

How does it feel to have won two awards at the prestigious IFFI?

We were super happy. We not only put in hard work but also our soul and everything. We had to believe only in our conviction because we were not quite sure about what would work, and what wouldn't. So finally after encountering every obstacle, when your work gets recognized, and that too at such a prestigious festival, you feel rewarded.

We were representing India against a slew of high-quality international films. Getting selected itself is a big deal, and then to go on and win two awards was a cherry on the cake. Frankly, we were not expecting to win any award, but now I'm very happy and proud of our whole team who had to put in effort in such adverse times. It was a really big surprise that an international jury could relate to a film that is so local and rooted in our culture. It once again proves that the more local you are, the more universal your film is. 

What can you tell us about the film?

It's the story of a dysfunctional family that lives on the banks of the Godavari in Nashik. Our protagonist is a landlord whose job is to collect money. He has somehow distanced himself from his family and is angry at everything — his family, city, the river. The film is about how one incident changes his life and how he makes amends.

You shot the film after the first lockdown in the middle of the pandemic, and from the trailer, it looks like there are several outdoor scenes. Did you face any issues while shooting them?

Yes, it was a tough task because we had to manage everything within a very small budget and on a crazy production schedule. We are lucky that we didn't face any big problems during the shoot. But our problem was that we had senior actors like Vikram Gokhale and Neena Kulkarni, so we were worried about their safety. Though shooting had begun again by then, there was still some fear about the coronavirus. 

Also, we were shooting in a very densely populated area so we had to take a lot of precautions. I would like to give full credit to my creative producer Swapnil Bhangale, who assured me that everything went smoothly during the shoot. Kudos to the whole crew because it was a very tough period for everyone.

We would travel from the hotel to the shooting location and then return to the hotel. No one was allowed to go anywhere else. No one was allowed to travel in any vehicle that was not prescribed by our team. Either we had to walk to the location or travel in a company-designated car. You couldn't go to a restaurant or bar after a pack up. You couldn't do any of the stuff that you were used to doing for many years. And, it can become irritating very quickly in an outdoor schedule, especially after you have spent seven to eight days in the bio bubble doing the same thing again and again. You want to unwind a little bit, meet your relatives who live in that city or just spend some free time outside. So it can be very demanding, but props to the crew for sticking to the rules and following the bio bubble so strictly. And I can proudly say that despite shooting in such densely populated areas, our crew had zero COVID cases. 

You are one of the film's writers. How did you come up with the story?

I came up with this story many years ago. Actually, it was something I had wanted to do after Pune 52 (2013). But at the time it was a very different film. It was almost a dark comedy. But I have grown since then and with that, I also have got more experience. The circumstances in which we made this film were very emotional, so it became an emotional story. And once we decided to shoot in Nashik, we went to Prajakt Deshmukh, who is from Nashik. And then he came on board with the local referencing and he wrote the dialogues for the film. 

From your debut film to your last show Betaal, you have always tried to explore different genres, so what inspired you to attempt a family drama? 

Yes, I began my career with a noir drama, Pune 52 (2013); then I made Baji (2015), a superhero vigilante movie; Bard of Blood (2019), a spy thriller; and Betaal (2020), which is a horror film; but now I wanted to do something more grounded and challenging as a filmmaker. I'm a filmmaker who doesn't like to stick to one genre. Although Pune 52 was a noir thriller it had elements of a relationship drama and so did Baji.

So it's not like I'm completely unfamiliar with this genre, but this time I wanted to do a family drama because it is something that I find challenging as a filmmaker. Especially after Betaal, which was heavy-duty action and horror, I wanted something more grounded and human. I'm slowly making a transition towards drama as a filmmaker because that's where I'm at in my life now. I'm feeling more excited by how humans behave and react to certain situations. So I'm gravitating more towards drama as a filmmaker,  but that doesn't mean I won't do any genre stuff anymore. My next film does have a lot of thriller elements, but this is a very clean family drama.

Why did you decide to cast Jitendra Joshi?

Generally, filmmakers choose actors after writing the script, but for this film, it happened the other way around. I decided to cast Jitu first and then wrote the script. Generally, I write the script and conduct auditions and then I cast my actors. But this time it was completely the opposite.

Joshi is also one of the producers of the film. It's generally said that when a lead actor is also a producer he can sometimes be too controlling, did you face any such problem?

Not at all. In fact, I'm quite used to it. In the case of Pune 52, Girish Kulkarni was an actor and producer. Shreyas Talpade was a lead and also a producer of Baji. Even with June, Nehha was a producer. So I have not experienced this. See what happens is, if the director knows what he is doing, why will they interfere? Nobody gets any joy from being too controlling; people start taking control when they realize that things are not going in the right direction.

Just imagine, you are in a car and the person at the wheel has no control over the vehicle and is driving in a very haphazard manner. So now you are not feeling safe. And It's a car that you bought with your hard-earned money. Then obviously you are going to take control, not because you want to drive the car, but because you want to make sure you don't meet with an accident and also want to preserve the vehicle. I don't believe that anybody wants to take control for the sake of it.

I was producing June, I wasn't controlling the directors at all. Yes, I would go there sometimes, but just to show them my support. It is their film. Similarly, actors just want to act. Honestly, if the director is skilful enough and knows how to get performances from the actors, they won't even look at the monitor.  Now talking about Jitu, we have been friends for seven years. In fact, you can say we are family, and once you are that close with someone, I don't think you will have to deal with such issues. 

If you had this story with you for so many years, why did you decide to make it now?

On 20 August 2020, we lost Nishikant Kamat, who was very close to Jitu and he is somebody I look up to as a mentor, It's not like he had mentored me, but I really look up to his work. He is a filmmaker I really admire and even though I'm not a friend of Nishikant Kamat, he is somebody I deeply respect as a filmmaker. So when he passed away, Jitu was really shattered. He called me that night and told me that he wanted to do something in his memory. He asked me whether he should organize a short film festival or start a scholarship in his name. So I told him that we could do that, but the only way in which a filmmaker's memory can be preserved is by making a  film for him. So I narrated the story I had been working on to him. It was just a one-liner, but Jitu really liked it and I started working on the script straight away. In August we decided to go ahead and in October we began shooting. 

In an interview, Girish Kulkarni said that he was eagerly awaiting the sequel to Pune 52. When are we going to see detective Amar Apte back on the big screen?

We have been talking about it for a very long time. We even have a very interesting story. Every few months we call each other and say, 'Let's do it", but then immediately get busy with our other projects. I have been extremely busy in the last two years with June and Godavari, and now we are beginning Raavsaheb. But it's something we will definitely do. We have a really good script and I think we can come up with a very interesting sequel. 

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