Director's Cut: Indra Kumar shares, 'In Thank God, we have given full respect and dignity to Lord Chitragupt'

Indra Kumar’s latest directorial venture Thank God is all set to release on October 25. The film stars Sidharth Malhotra, Rakul Preet Singh and Ajay Devgn. The Free Press Journal caught up with the filmmaker for an exclusive tête-à-tête.

When asked about keeping family values intact in the modern day context in his filmmaking, Indra shares, “I come from a family where we value the value system. My sister Aruna Iraniji taught us values but I feel they are lacking today. As parents, we should imbibe all these qualities in our children but most of them only try to make their children smart and intelligent. I feel there should be someone who can teach the parents and children also that ultimately life is all about having values. Through Thank God, I wanted to put out a statement.”

He adds, “There is a moral lesson in the film for both parents and children. No one should forget that there’s a God above all, who is constantly watching us over. Life is a vicious circle. We have tried to tell this in a very humorous way in Thank God. There’s a message in the film which would be your take away that gratitude to God is a must.”

Sharing further on the Lord Chitragupt, who is the main hero of the film played by Ajay, he reveals, “He is the one who keeps an eye on everyone’s good or bad deeds. However, a certain set of people protested against it but so we changed his name to CG in the film. We have given full respect and dignity to him and not misused or ill treated him in the film.”

Spilling the beans on the casting of Ajay as Lord Chitragupt, he explains, “I wanted someone who can play this role with swag and who else better than him in today’s times? I didn’t want to make God look boring. God is never boring but we people and our imagination made him boring. Imagine, he created all of us, how much swag he must have had!”

Indra, who has given several blockbusters in the 1990s still believes that family entertainers are never old fashioned. “Family is an integral part of our lives. Times have changed so much, it is disappointing and disheartening to see though. We as humans have become too ignorant towards God,” he signs off.