Pushkar and Gayatri are a powerful filmmaking team down South. The duo are making their Bollywood directorial debut with the Hrithik Roshan-Saif-Ali Khan-starrer Vikram Vedha. They are also the creators of the upcoming web series, Suzhal – The Vortex. The Free Press Journal caught up with Gayatri for an exclusive chat. Excerpts:
What is the beauty of long format writing?
The long format writing is exciting and interesting to pen down. In films, you have to maintain with your protagonist, so the beauty of long-form writing is that you can explore the world and more characters, and it’s also way more challenging.
When two directors are on board, how do you guys handle the differences of opinion?
We have known each other since college. First, onwards we are working together as we are married so there is nowhere we have any sort of conflicts. In fact, there is no drama within us. I think we have grown up together, so the choices we make may be independent, but it has to be the same choice we make.
Usually, women like to go their own way. Since he is your husband, you must be dominating him?
(Laughs) No, we are not like a traditional couple. We are more like friends. We don’t have this male-female ego. We get along well. It’s more fun working together.
How is the progress on Vikram Vedha?
Right now, we have wrapped up the shooting. Yes, we shot a portion in Abu Dhabi. We will go into post-production soon. They are great actors. We are incredibly lucky to get them. They are extremely focused.
Is this your first venture working with Bollywood actors? Why did you choose Hrithik?
Yes, this is the first time we are working with Hindi actors. Hrithik is a very talented actor. Obviously, I needn’t say this, and everyone is aware of his talent. He loved the original Tamil film. He was the first actor to call us after its release. I think we were at a wedding at that time. He gets the depth of the soul of the film. It has been very incredible.
Hrithik is working for the first time with South Indian directors. Is he a director’s actor?
Hrithik completely looks at what is best for the film. There is no ego. Whatever input or clarifications he needed were only about the film. It wasn’t like, ‘I am a star, and it has to be this way’. Stardom doesn’t overtake the film. He is extremely down to earth. If we didn’t agree, he didn’t have a problem at all.
Instead of pan India, Suzhal – The Vortex has changed it to global India? Your take?
Hopefully, we don’t have these North-South comparisons. Somewhere it will get within us. Every filmmaker tries to make their content work with sincere efforts while making a film. Sometimes the audience’s vision works well as it collides with our vision. But at times, it doesn’t. It’s a cycle. One thing is really amazing is that it doesn't restrict us to a certain language... that has opened up, and borders have been erased.
