It's a sultry Saturday afternoon when we meet filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane in the office of 'Phantom'—the production company he co-owns with Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena. The usually buzzing office looks a little laid back—a few people are running up and down the stairs, fewer people are seen having meetings, and the pet dogs who usually come wagging their tails the moment they see visitors are also sleeping at the entrances of the first and second floor. Blame it on the onset of summer and, of course, the day being a weekend.
But Motwane isn't in the weekend mood. The promotional drive for his film has begun. The trailer of Trapped, which was launched a few days ago has got good reviews. The film, which tracks the story of a person trapped in his high-rise apartment in Mumbai, got a standing ovation at the Mumbai Film Festival. Trapped comes almost four years after his last film—Lootera with Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singh—released in 2013. The gap is not intentional, he says. “Yes, it is after a long time. I was working on Bhavesh Joshi,” he says about the film that got delayed because of casting issues. However, Trapped also came around and the process took time. “Essentially, the two kinds of lives that both the films had... a lot of time went in that process. Also, I was producing a lot of stuff. I went through a phase when things were not working out, that's why the time gap. It's not by design that I will make a film once in four years,” he remarks.
As Motwane talks about his days as a producer, we couldn't resist asking how tiring it has been for Phantom in the last couple of years—after the debacle of Shaandaar in 2015, and the tug-of-war with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in 2016 over Abhishek Chaubey-directed Udta Punjab. “It is still very satisfying. We won the case and the film came out,” he says.
Motwane admits being a producer is exhausting, as there are several things to attend to. “And, because you are banging your head against the wall (a remark against the CBFC).” He thinks the work for a producer has become more intense. “You do have to fight more, especially at Phantom, because of the films we choose. They are not the easiest. And we know it from the beginning that it's going to be difficult. It's going to be difficult even at the level of getting the funds,” Motwane says, adding that nobody at the production house is anyway interested in making an average film. “We are ready to take risks at the script level, and we are ready to fight for the film if it gets stuck.” That is how you can push the boundaries, he believes.
The exciting part about Trapped were the challenges it brought with it. “To shoot with one actor in one apartment is challenging. Plus, as a storyteller, I found the story very fascinating even at the script level. It was unique and interesting,” he says about the story idea which was mailed to him by Amit Joshi (the writer of the film). “It was a cold email that comes 10 times in a day in your inbox and you usually ignore. This one, I read and wrote back to Amit asking him for a screenplay. There was no response for a long time after which I got a screenplay,” he recalls, and admits that he got lucky in this case to have got such a story.
And, from the word go, he knew that actor Rajkummar Rao would fit the bill perfectly. Motwane has surprised audiences with his casting in his previous ventures as a director—be it Ronit Roy as the angry, frustrated and control-freak father in his debut Udaan, or a toned-down Ranveer Singh in Lootera. “In this [Trapped], I wanted to create a character who was vulnerable and who you really don't want this to happen to,” says Motwane, explaining that if you put an action hero in this role the audience will think that he will find a way out. “But with Rajkummar, you are creating an atmosphere for the audience where they will think that 'oh, he will die', and that is interesting.” That is what usually drives the films, “the reluctant hero”, he remarks.
A still from Trapped
And that is the reason he has also cast Harshvardhan Kapoor in his vigilante film, Bhavesh Joshi, the shoot of which is progressing. “Harsh had come to audition for the film almost five years ago,” says Motwane, who wasn't completely sure about the film then. “I had told him that we need some time on it.” There was an entire process of turning around the film and making it more contemporary. “Harsh came again to audition and this time we knew it's him we want,” says Motwane, who is quite confident of the actor's calibre. “There's is something very magical about him,” he says.
Motwane grabs any good opportunity that comes his way, and he is lenient in giving opportunity to anybody he thinks is worthy of it. In one of our earlier meetings during the Mumbai Film Festival, Motwane, who has never undergone any film course, had remarked how he considers Sanjay Leela Bhansali his film school. “That is where I have had my entire training,” he had said.
Last month, Bhansali, during the filming of Padmavati, was attacked by a mob. We ask Motwane if he thinks that from every quarter someone is trying to suppress the filmmakers. Last year, Karan Johar was in trouble because of casting Fawad Khan in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. “That's bullying, not suppression. We can have a debate, but not mob-lynching,” he says, as we continue talking about the recent power-show of the CBFC in granting certification to films that tried to be different. “Expression is being suppressed everywhere, whether it is in Delhi or in the film industry or anywhere else.”
But he has immense faith in the justice system. “We won in case of Udta Punjab, Haraamkhor and I am sure the same thing will happen to Lipstick Under My Burkha [Alankrita Shrivastava's film, which has been banned by the censor board]. The justice system will come to our aid. And that's what makes me question the decisions of the CBFC. Why is it doing it in the first place?” remarks Motwane. He asks the CBFC, “If you are so out of tune with what is going to happen in the court, why do you even try? On the basis of what do you deny a certificate?”
Motwane hopes the industry comes together as a united force, “which isn't entirely the case right now” and fights back against the decisions of the board.
