Filmmaker Gajendra Ahire’s Sadabahar is currently streaming on WAVES OTT. The film stars Jaya Bachchan in the lead. The filmmaker got talking about the movie and more in an interview with us.
Sadabahar is special on many counts, primarily as it features the great Jaya Bachchan who is rarely seen these days. How did you convince her and what was it like working with her?
Actually, I have done a Marathi film called Pimpal. Dilip Prabhavalkar is in it. That film talks very seriously about the loneliness of an old age people. It's a very serious cinema and people like it very much and appreciate it. Before that, I had made a film called Anumati with Vikram Gokhale about the problems of old age. I remade it into Hindi (as) Signature with Anupam Kher.. So, all these films are interlinked.
By the theme of old age?
After a certain age, a person starts looking out for himself. And what kind of companions he has. I was working on it from different perspectives. So,in Sadabahar, I got this idea that there is a companion, who is not a living human. As in Pimpal, he gets attached to his wife's saree. He gets attached to children's toys. A person keeps looking for his heart's peace. So, with such thoughts, I had written this story. And it was like I had thought in the same series.
How did Jaya ji come into the picture?
I wrote a one-liner for it. My friend, the wing commander, Ramesh Pulapka, works in Mr. Bachchan's office. So, I wrote and sent it to him. I was thinking that in this, Jaya Bachchan can play a very good role. And I want to make a film like this. So, I got a message from him immediately. I told Jaya that he liked it very much. So, meet him once. So, I met him. Jaya had also come. I narrated the whole story to her. She got convinced in the first meeting. And when she was on board, Endemol Shine produced it. And the film was made.
What was it like working with Jaya ji?
I had a very good experience with Jaya. This is a small-budgeted film. I have done all my films in the same style, in the same way. I have completed 69 films so far. I made Sadabahar in the same style. And I wanted to make it in Hindi only.
Why is that?
Because Hindi songs, Vivid Bharati, that was the premise. So, it was necessary to make it in Hindi only.
Why was it released so low-profile? Jaya ji does one film in three years
First of all, when I finish my work as a director, I don't have much control over what happens to a film. The energy that I have is used for making a film. That is my passion. So, after that, I don't want to get involved in the very big struggle, a very complex mechanism, how to market a film. But I have to bear the loss of not getting involved. But, okay, I am hopeful the film will reach as it has reached to you. Slowly, slowly….. good things don't get lost. I don't have a very big ambitions about my cinema. I have already got the recognition in my language Marathi. I am happy with that.
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