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Last Updated 29.03.2024 | 5:48 PM IST
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“There is nothing in common between Issaq and Ishaqzaade” – Manish Tiwary

en Bollywood News “There is nothing in common between Issaq and Ishaqzaade” – Manish Tiwary

He made an instant impression six years back when his unassuming film Dil Dosti Etc managed to strike a chord with the audience. After a wait of half a decade, he started work on Issaq, a film which takes a complete departure from his debut affair. While from Delhi he has moved to Banaras, even the milieu, stage, context and setting has gone through a sea change. As his Prateik-Amyra starrer gets set for release, Manish talks about his violent love story which is inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.

“There is nothing in common between Issaq and Ishaqzaade” – Manish Tiwary

Issaq appears to be one violent romantic tale, isn't it?
Well, the film has its romance track which is coming from Romeo and Juliet. If you notice our promos closely, we have showcased our film primarily through the visuals and not as much through dialogues. It shows innocence of romance with backdrop of violence. I have got a wonderful response so far.

So was it the Romeo and Juliet reference that came first or did the story emerge and then you retrofitted that into Shakespearean world?
Basically the film is an extrapolation of Romeo and Juliet. In my world it is Mishras and Kashyaps. We have added on the violence while keeping the setting as land mafia. To me, Banaras has a feudal old world order to it. I have given it a much more specific context. It gave me immense satisfaction to bring to fore the kind of social order that is prevalent there.

While Prateik is playing Romeo and Amyra is playing Juliet, how does Prashant Narayanan as a Naxal leader fit in?
Prashant is a third angle to the story and is completely my invention. I started with my mindset to give some correctives to this old story. In Romeo and Juliet, there were no real antagonists to come in their path. I wanted to add on drama to this tale.

Well, such drama was also seen in Ishaqzaade which too was loosely inspired by the Shakespearean tale.
There is nothing in common between Issaq and Ishaqzaade. As a matter of fact a film that is could perhaps carry more relevance in this aspect is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Ram Leela. In fact I am sure that his film too would be as different from mine as chalk and cheese.

How does Banaras fit into your story telling?
The biggest thing that I have in my directorial efforts is 'instinct'. Because I know Banaras so well, I know the kind of world that is in there. There are Ministers and then there are also Princes. The city also has a strong Hindu element to it. This is the reason why the colour palette of my film is also orange to reflect that shade.

The film has taken some time to reach the finishing line though. Wasn't that frustrating?
After Dil Dosti Etc I had nearly arrived. The learning that I got though was that if you are successful doing one Rs. 4 crore film then you would easily get another Rs. 4 crore film. If you try to jump this budget then you have that much struggle lined up for you. Also, you need that stroke of luck. I wanted to have a budget to support the subject that I had. I was lucky to eventually put it all together.

I understand that you were also contemplating making a gangster film in the meanwhile.
Yes, since I had such a good response to my debut film, it was but natural for me to get ambitious and pitch a much bigger film. I decided to set this gangster film in Mumbai and called it Mohabbat Mia. When that didn't happen due to certain reasons, I thought of making a quintessential Bollywood film instead. This is what led to Issaq.

You roped in Prateik as a leading man though. How has he handled the responsibility of such a complex role?
He has a gift that I have been lucky to exploit. He exudes certain energy and charm on camera. I have not seen that in all his films but at least from my camera I have seen that. Between him and Amyra, I have two young people who have not been exposed to the context of Banaras and the range of emotions. If I am clear of what I want and the actors are eager to give that as well as a screen presence to carry it well too then it is a good marriage.

How did you find Amyra?
We auditioned close to 200 girls and she was in the last batch. I was travelling all over the country to find the right girl and eventually I found her next door in South Mumbai. She is a Parsi girl and very head strong in real life. Moreover, she also exudes innocence. I wanted this mix because this is my character. There is an amount of truthfulness that the camera has been able to capture out of her. Since she didn't speak Hindi as per prime language, we had workshops for her where she worked on her diction and voice. All of that was really secondary though since the main focus was on acting in front of the camera.

More Pages: Issaq Box Office Collection , Issaq Movie Review


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