'Mrs. Undercover' Director Anushree Mehta On Spy Universe, And Why Men And Women Both Are Misogynistic 

“In 'Mrs. Undercover' and in all my future films, you will always see a casting that will always be of the kind that will break type casts,” says writer-director Anushree Mehta when asked about her reason for choosing Radhika Apte in a never-seen-before role in her upcoming spy comedy film 'Mrs. Undercover'. Mehta also says that it is high time to realize that spy action, comedy films, and films of every genre, can and should be made with women protagonists.

The film also stars Sumeet Vyas and Rajesh Sharma and will be streaming from April 14 on Zee5. In the past, Mehta has produced a web show called 'Pati, Patni aur Panga' starring Naveen Kasturia and Adah Shah. She has also written and directed a digital film 'Unkahee', a crime thriller streaming on EROS NOW starring Anupriya Goenka, Hiten Tejwani, Sehban Azim & Ashoke Pandit. 

In this interview with Outlook, Anushree Mehta talks about working with Radhika, her inspiration behind 'Mrs. Undercover' and why men and women both are misogynistic 

Excerpts from the interview: 

Q: We never saw Radhika performing such roles so I wanted to start this conversation by asking what made you opt for Radhika for this role.

Anushree: Well, your first question has 2 answers. The first one is an overall perspective, an overall point of view. As human beings, we tend to immediately compartmentalize very, very quickly. In context, what I mean is, if we see a certain filmmaker’s film or an actor’s film or a few of an actor's films, we quickly compartmentalize and think that 'Isne yeh film banai hai then this person can make such films only', and if we see an actor that you know 'iss actor ne ekh tarah se 2-3 film kar lee hai, then we feel that this is what the actor does and woh aisi hi filme karte hai'

In 'Mrs. Undercover' and in all my future films, you will always see a casting that will always be of the kind that will break type casts. The second part of my answer is that Radhika was always at the back of my mind when I was even writing Mrs. Undercover. I have seen her work like everyone else has, and I see a tremendous amount of untapped potential in her that has not been explored, I don't know why. I always want to work with amazing actors and they couldn't have been a better choice of an actor for Mrs. Undercover other than Radhika Apte.

How she came on board is also a magical journey in itself. So what happened was I had finished writing the film and my business partner and the producer of Mrs. Undercover, Mr. Abir Sengupta was just finishing the shoot of 'Indu Ki Jawani' and I narrated the film to him because I had narrated the idea to him in 2017 and since then he was telling me to write it. But I was busy producing other things and I never found the time to write it, but finally, I wrote it and I narrated it to him and he jumped at it and he said this is a banger of a script and who do you want to go to? And obviously, I said Radhika Apte. And he immediately took me to Radhika to meet with her. And I started narrating the film to her and within 5 minutes of my narration, Radhika stopped me and said, 'Hey, listen, I'm doing this film' and that's how she said yes to my film, you know, because she also somehow saw the immense potential in the film and me, and she was on board. And this I'm talking two days before the first lockdown and then, you know, the lockdown happened and I ended up shooting the film between the 1st and the 2nd lockdown. 

Q. Was there any reference point for Mrs. Undercover especially because it's a women-led film and that too in the time when male spy stories are dominating the entire OTT space?

Anushree: We again come back to the conversation of compartmentalization. It is high time that we realized that spy action, comedy films, and I think films of every genre, can and should be made with women protagonists. My reference point for this film was the urge to tell a story that would celebrate my mother and all those unsung heroes called Housewives, and I wanted to amalgamate my love for the genre of spy action comedies with that. And of course, my insane love for cinema. I never had a movie or a series as a reference because this is an original idea and my film was thought about in 2017 as I told you.

Q: What were the preps that went behind Radhika’s role in the story?

Anushree: On the writing level itself, I had etched out Radhika's character with great amounts of details. The whole idea of the protagonist being a housewife is extremely relatable, but none of us knows spies and especially homemakers who are spies and that I wanted should be very, very relatable. And that is why I gave the character lines like ‘Mere Bete ki unit test hai 7 din mei.’ You know, that in itself makes the character very human. Very relatable. I was very mindful that the real and surreal worlds, both should have equal amounts of heart and soul that make the entire character very relatable. Because at the end of the day, even spies are human beings, right? And I have consciously tried to explore that side of the human side of the spies in this movie. All the prep for the film with Radhika and me happened over a few Zoom calls because it was during the first lockdown and Radhika and I was pretty much on the same page on the character of ‘Durga’ from the word ‘go’. 

Q: Aushree, would you like to talk about how women-led films are shaping the future of the entertainment business and being a women maker, are you delighted with this change?

Anushree: There is a major dearth of women behind the camera and brave female actors like Radhika Apte. The change is slowly but surely coming. However, I wish that the journey was not so massively difficult as a female filmmaker to first, get acceptance on the want of making a movie per se. Thankfully, I had a producer like Abir Sengupta, who is probably a bigger feminist than I am, who has not just spearheaded this film but also taken massive stands for me to be able to make this film. I hope that for every other female filmmaker also there is a producer like Abir who will empower them as filmmakers. For me, the journey was even more difficult because I'm not from a film family. You know, I'm not married to a famous guy or I'm not a girlfriend of a famous guy or I'm not a daughter of a famous guy or not a sister of a famous guy. I am just a single girl who belongs to a middle-class Gujarati family from Mumbai, with a dream and with talent who wants to make movies. 

Trust me, this may sound like this has been said and done over and over again, but for a female at the apex of the pyramid, the journey is a difficult different level of a mammoth task when it comes to hurdles and crossing those hurdles. However, I did find a few people who believed in me immensely like my producer Abir, my actors, Radhika, Sumeet, Rajesh Ji, and all other actors. My DOP, my action director, my AD team, and most of my crew members who made it possible for me to achieve my dream film. With this film, I hope I can break the glass ceiling and give hope to more female filmmakers like me and to women behind the camera, be it any department to come forward and make their dreams come true and to make more female actors. And to also you know with Radhika to inspire more female actors to actually accept to headline more female-driven films and to be their protagonists. 

Q.: Do you think being a woman, it becomes easier for you to drive a female-led film and the crew?

Anushree: As a woman at the apex of the pyramid, it is never easy in any walk of life. Trust me, misogyny is real, and it exists, and men and women both are misogynistic. Having said that, a woman understands a woman on a level of extreme amount of empathy and experience and that is why films made by women about women are more empathetic. However, some amazing male filmmakers bring out amazing female characters in their movies for example in films like Queen or Jab We Met or Piku, etc. We have many examples where they approach them from a very, very interesting perspective. I think this conversation should be more about feminism, which means equality and all kinds of movies should be made by men and women, about men and women, and should be led by men and women, as the story demands. Content should be given priority rather than constantly fighting about men or women. It should be about equal opportunity for all. Everybody should be able to tell stories about whatever their heart wants to. 

Q.: How OTT has given you wings as a filmmaker and is this the medium you are more interested to explore and experiment with? 

Anushree: I think cinema in itself has given me wings. Cinema inspires me and gives me the dreams that I have. The medium of the exhibition could be any but what is important is to make a film and to be able to reach out to the audience with that story. I am just grateful and very proud that I could make my dream come true. Zee5 saw the potential in my film and me. And here we are. My film is releasing on Zee5 on 14th April. 

Q.: What next after Mrs. Undercover?

Anushree: I am working on a very interesting spy universe where I shall be making a franchisee of spy action comedies with very interesting never seen before spy characters and all these shall be heartfelt masala entertainers. I cannot divulge much right now, but very soon there shall be an official announcement of the same. I'm very, very excited about the films that I'm going to make next. Right now my whole heart is with Mrs. Undercover and I'm very, very excited about its release. I need your blessings and best wishes.