Can’t say how much of a period drama is fictional, says Ranjish Hi Sahi director Pushpdeep Bhardwaj

Actor Tahir Raj Bhasin told Cinestaan.com that 50% of the storyline of his web-series Ranjish Hi Sahi is borrowed from its creator Mahesh Bhatt and legendary actress Parveen Babi’s real-life love story. Pushpdeep Bhardwaj, the writer and director of the show, however, has said that it’s difficult to say how much of the story is drawn from real events when it comes to historical fiction.

“I think everyone has their own side of a story,” said Bhardwaj in a statement. “When I heard it, I felt it could be converted into a meaningful piece of cinema or web-series. Even historical or period drama films are the stories that we hear from someone and we were not present at that time to know the actual fact. We can’t say how much is fictional. Similarly, I had only one side of the coin to pursue the story and it is inspired from some of his [Bhatt’s] life events; not fully based on him.” 

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Speaking about the challenges he faced, he added, “I think from my point of view there are only two main emotions, love and fear. If the conflict point in the story is love, there are challenges in portraying those situations. Even I faced the same challenges in Ranjish Hi Sahi because it was difficult to portray such complicated characters without living that life. So challenges are always there. For example, if you are writing a script on an astronaut, it doesn’t mean you have to go to the moon. It’s all about how much you can challenge your creativity and imagination.” 

Directors, especially those working in the web space, have often criticized the idea of censorship on digital platforms. Bhardwaj, however, has a different point of view. “I respect censorship because we belong to a country of diverse cultures, so we need to be very careful about not hurting any sentiments and at the same time convey our story to audiences. As an artist, I feel there should be some sort of freedom with some age restrictions if needed. But there should be creative freedom,” he said.

Bhardwaj made his cinematic directorial debut with Jalebi (2018), which starred Rhea Chakraborty and Varun Mitra. Like the Voot Select show, the film was produced by Mahesh Bhatt.