Noted director Kushan Nandy is back after his critically acclaimed film ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’. After the dark film, this time he returns with a romantic comedy ‘Jogira Sara Ra Ra’ starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Neha Sharma, Mimoh Chakraborty and Sanjay Mishra. The trailer is out and the film is releasing on May 12 in the theatres.
Throwing more light on the film, Kushan Nandy says, “The idea of doing ‘Jogira Sara Ra Ra’ started when I wanted to do something with Nawaz which he hasn't done before. Because I know he's got this stunning humorous side of him that very few know about. He has also done a lot of comedy on stage. So there was this excitement to do something which is lighter than what he has done. He is usually associated with a lot of dark roles and has done them excellently. And that's how Jogira was conceptualized. The title is a very colloquial phrase and it also has this feeling of celebration. It's a film about celebration and fun in which Jogi (Nawazuddin) plays the central character.”
Talking about the USP of the film, Kushan Nandy says, “The whole idea was to do a very light-hearted clean family film. We don't have many of them lately. We have seen a lot of funny things, but they have all been on social issues. So there is no message over here. If the audience has even half the fun of what we had on the sets while shooting it, I think that's going to be fulfilling as a director.”
The shooting took place in Lucknow, then a few parts of it in Rahimabad, Barabanki, and Banaras, and then the unit shot 2 songs in Mumbai. The unit shot the film during the covid times and talking about the challenges Kushan adds, “It was difficult to travel to different places at a time when the world was battling COVID and also lockdowns. There was so much depression and panic around us. But one thing was so positive that when we landed up on the sets, all of us were enjoying what we were doing there. We were laughing at the dialogues. We were trying to create scenes which would make people laugh. Jogira has been a difficult film given the circumstances we shot in. The amount of excitement and enjoyment we had on sets took away the pain and difficulty.”
But are you tense looking at the way the box-office has worked for Hindi films in recent times?
He says, “I agree that the industry is going through a patchy time, but I also feel that part of it is due to the kind of films that we have been making in the last few years. There had to be a saturation point. The simple demand that the audiences have is entertainment. And I think if you stop entertaining them, they will stop coming to the theatres. So, the struggle is to entertain them. Everybody thinks that they are entertaining the audience, but nobody has the formula for that. So, we can keep trying and Jogira has an attempt to try to entertain the audience. At the same time, I would say Covid did take a huge toll. The fact that people stayed at home for a very long time, so maybe the habit got affected, but cinema has always survived despite Satellite television, VHS players and OTT.”
He also adds, “Every five years or 10 years I hear that cinema is dead now. But the fact is that we as a nation do not have too many things that entertain us. So, if a family wants to spend a good time together, they go to the cinema. They are not going to sit at home and will watch something on OTT because that is not their idea of fun. They want to celebrate their togetherness. Every director who makes a film wants the film to succeed and hopes and expects the film to do well. So obviously there is hope attached to it. There is a lot of excitement to try to figure out what the audience's reaction is going to be. Once the film is made, it's out of your hands. It's for the people to judge whether you've really done something good or bad.”
