Director’s Cut: Sunil C Sinha says, 'I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Om Puri in Khela Hobe'

Filmmaker Sunil C Sinha is excited that his film Khela Hobe is finally hitting the screens today. The movie stars the late Om Puri (it’s his last film), Rati Agnihotri, Manoj Joshi, Mugdha Veira Godse and Rushad Rana in pivotal roles. The Free Press Journal caught up with the director for an exclusive chat.

Opening up about how his filmy career began, Sunil recalls, “I started my career with Prakash Jha with the 1985 film Damul. Once Prakashji started living in Delhi for his TV serial, I had to come to Mumbai for my career and this is how I started my independent film career. After many TV shows, projects, one or two films were announced before but could not be made. Khela Hobe is my first full length feature film.”

The film’s title Khela Hobe also happens to be a slogan of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Reacting to this Sunil explains, “Incidentally the subject of my film fits with this slogan. The story of the film is such that the politics, social environment and the changing colours of the characters do justice to the title. When I shared this story with the actors of the film, everyone gave a very positive response.”

Sunil C Sinha with Om Puri |

 Legendary actor Om Puri legend is no more with us. When asked how his experience was of collaborating with him, Sunil says, “I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Omji. When I met him for this film, he was told that I have worked with Prakash Jha and he immediately said yes after the narration. I was worried about the dates of the film, then I went to him and said, ‘Sir, I want dates for two days’, he immediately confirmed the new dates with me.”

Sunil C Sinha with Rati Agnihotri and Om Puri |

Sunil is all praise for actress Rati Agnihotri too. “She is a very good actress. She works with discipline, and has a very cooperative attitude. There were no tantrums and trouble on the sets. She enjoyed a dialogue from the movie, ‘Bahut ho gaya election, jab dekho election, phir se agar mayor election mein gaye toh main ye ghar chhodkar chali jaayungi!’ She used to repeat this dialogue and kept laughing,” he says.

 On a parting note, we quizzed him on how excited he is about the movie. “We have painstakingly made an entertaining film on a social, political backdrop. I have been very fortunate that I got such wonderful actors for my film, everyone cooperated a lot, and then this film is being released today. We are hoping it will be liked by the audience of big cities as well as small cities and towns,” he concludes.