It was not planned as a franchise. But writer-director Jaspal Singh Sandhu’s Vadh (2022), critically acclaimed as well as loved by those who watched it, has now emerged as a unique one with its sequel, Vadh 2, which has opened to rave reviews and a decent audience response. What is interesting here is that while the principal characters share the same names, the stories and the settings are quite different, and the twists in the tales are intriguing and very cerebral.
We talk to Sandhu, who has experienced success in Punjabi cinema as producer, writer and actor before he cruised into Hindi cinema.
Excerpts from the interview:
You had a successful career in Punjabi cinema. Why did you not direct a film there?
My roots are in Punjab, but I was born and brought up in Gwalior. But my Punjabi is perfect and I went there as a small step towards filmmaking. Though as a producer and writer, making films there was a very collaborative process that our teams would crack together. God was kind as most of those films were super-hits. So, you could call the cinema I did in Punjab as a stepping-stone when I decided to write and direct a Hindi film, as I had no film background otherwise.
Your first Hindi film was a layered thriller.
Yes, the idea that fired both Rajeev (Barnwal) and me was that an old man commits a murder! We, as writers and co-directors, fashioned a basic story with both adding inputs, and thought we can make a credible film as this genre was not commonly seen.
In fact, our working title was not Vadh but Gwalior, as my film was based there. This was simply because I could get support from everyone from my home city while making the movie. The thought was just to make a film!
You have no background as director. How did you manage such gripping stories?
I have been a creature of cinema, a good observer all along, so the path was very clear. Technically, I think that I am quite sound. Storytelling-wise, I thought I might have a style! I had a good sense of story since school time. Our Hindi teacher in Gwalior, Tripathi-sir, always told me that, and would actually make me write school plays with him, giving me one-line ideas like a courtroom drama wherein Naarad Muni plays a lawyer!
And you managed to get two powerhouse actors in the leads.
I had watched Sanjay Mishra in Kadwi Hawa. He’s like a mall of talent, a powerhouse who could excel as a laachaar (helpless) character. As Manju, Rajeev and I thought Neena Gupta would be great. Luckily both liked the subject and we were on.
I think that anything that is set to happen happens at the right time. Honestly, we never analyzed the commercial angles and anyway did not expect the moon. Then Luv Ranjan, a friend from my Punjabi cinema days, decided to present our film. Luv, his partner Ankur Garg and Rohini Bhandari, his Head of Marketing and Business Development, all loved our first cut.
How did the sequel, Vadh 2, which is even more gripping, happen?
After Vadh, we were discussing something else, but Luv suggested making a Part 2!
And where did the yen for crime come from? Did you make Punjabi films like that?
Not at all! All of them were slice-of-life comedies with a message! Crime se zyaada, for me it is the thrill element: normal persons facing a certain unfortunate happening in real life that change their lives. From this, one must make an entertaining film where the audience feels happy at the end for the main characters. I am an admirer of Sriram Raghavan, early Ram Gopal Varma, some Anurag Kashyap films, David Fincher, Coppola, Stanley Kubrick and, above all. Billy Wilder. I am a fanboy of Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddaar and Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution.
Still, the twists in both were outstanding.
I myself like to read such stories—and write them as well! I needed a second climax, a layer not expected, and strong characters. Like Neena Gupta’s character in Vadh 2. Her trait is that she has accepted her fate of a 28-year jail sentence and refuses to state if she is guilty or not by simply asking the opposite person, “What do you think? Have I done the crimes?” In any case, I look at Vadh 2 as primarily a love story!
When you wrote the sequel, the same lead artistes shared the same names—Shambhunath and Manju. There was also an errant NRI son of Shmabhunath, whose daughter was named Erica, and an innocent victim in the story who was named Naina. Finally, we had an unfinished loan for his NRI son’s education that Shambhunath was paying off. And yet the two stories and settings were completely different!
My cousin’s daughter is named Erica and I would always tease her about it! I thought of using that name one night at 3 a.m.! In the first Vadh, Sanjay’s name was originally Chandrakant Mishra, but I changed it to Shambhunath, which is his real father’s name! When I asked his permission to do that, he said there couldn’t be a bigger honour for him!
Neena’s character was Laajo, but I changed it to Manju as that was the name of the lady who owned the house in which we were shooting, in her honor. I thought that the repetitions in Vadh 2 would be like homages to the earlier film and would also bring a smile in the audience!
Will you now make a Vadh 3 that will reprise all these?
It will be a great responsibility as the script has to do justice to both my films! Let us see…I am now writing a courtroom drama and a raw action film.
