'Pritish Nandy Had Balls Of Steel': Director Sujoy Ghosh On Jhankaar Beats

As part of its cinema showcase, there was a special screening of the movie Jhankaar Beats (2003) at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, followed by a panel conversation on The Evolution of Art, Culture & Entertainment in Mumbai. Jhankaar Beats, an Indian musical comedy film written and directed by Sujoy Ghosh had been produced by Pritish Nandy Communications and starred Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, Rahul Bose, debutant Shayan Munshi, Rinke Khanna and Riya Sen.

A story about love, friendship and music, it revolves around a music competition and creating an campaign for a condom company, with the overall music an ode to RD Burman. All the songs were composed by Vishal–Shekhar and the lyrics for this film were by penned by Vishal Dadlani. The soundtrack of the film features songs "Tu Aashiqui Hai", and "Suno Na" sung by playback singer KK and Shaan became huge hits.

The panel discussion which took place at Kala Ghoda, was moderated by Rangita Pritish Nandy, and had Sujoy Ghosh, Sanjay Suri and Shayan Munshi.

"Pritish Nandy had balls of steel. It took guts to say yes to a script like that, the amount of nonsense and audacity the film had. Also, any story rooted in emotion can be made at any time. The conflicts may change—technology, money, platforms—but the emotional core remains. If Jhankaar Beats were made today, it would need to be more inclusive and more diverse. But yes, it can absolutely be made. Friendship doesn’t expire," director Sujoy Ghosh said.

Sanjay Suri, followed it up by talking about the first time he had a meeting with Nandy regarding the movie.

"I remember meeting Pritish Nandy at his office here at Nariman Point. I thought he was going to talk about monies or something, but he just spoke about creativity and artistic expression through this film and many other films he was doing. Mr Nandy encouraged me as a younger actor then, since it was the early days of my career. The monies , ofcourse, were discussed with Rangita, who was involved with everything, including the ganjis and the spaghetti tops," shared Sanjay.