Director Manish Gupta’s Rahasya completed 11 years on January 30. Starring Kay Kay Menon and Tisca Chopra, the film is still remembered for being an intense crime drama. On its 11th anniversary, Gupta looked back at the film and the hurdles it faced.
Rahasya completed 1 years on January 30
11 years and it still seems like yesterday. Kay Kay Menon was the obvious choice to play the CBI investigator in Rahasya since I’d directed him in my directorial debut The Stoneman Murders, and I’d scripted the screenplay and dialogues of Sarkar in which he played a pivotal role.
And the actresses?
The casting of Tisca Chopra’s character was more of a challenge. I’d initially approached Tisca to portray the character that was finally played by Mita Vashishth. Tisca had read the script and had loved it. But she insisted on playing the character that she finally did play instead of the character I’d approached her for.
The film’s release faced many hurdles
The Talwar family had moved high court and had permanently halted the release of the film. For eleven long months, I fought tooth and nail at the Bombay High Court, which finally passed a judgement in my favour and allowed me to release the film.
Rahasya was well received on release
I received unprecedented appreciation after the film’s release. I signed many films with major studios and production houses, which included a sequel to Rahasya. But this sequel did not materialize because the distributor of Rahasya, Mr. Ajit Andhare (of Viacom18 Motion Pictures) who had previously grossly mismanaged the distribution of Rahasya now totally mismanaged the production of the sequel to such an extent that I terminated the agreement with him. Despite all the hurdles, Rahasya still stands as one of the best murder mysteries ever made in India, which is evidence that good content prevails over all.
What about your conflict with Vishal Bhardwaj?
Yes, Vishal Bharadwaj played dirty since he had produced Talvar, a movie with the same subject as Rahasya. He connived with the Talwar family in approaching high court to halt the release of Rahasya. In fact, I dug out news reports of the production of the film Talvar and presented it to the honourable high court judges to expose the hypocrisy of the Talwar family, who on one hand were halting the release of Rahasya, a film allegedly depicting their story on the grounds that “the film would affect public perception of their case” while on the other hand they had given official rights to another film Talvar, which portrayed them as innocent! This exposure was a key consideration in the hon. court allowing the release of Rahasya.
But the damage was a done
Since the Talwar family planned to move supreme court against the release of Rahasya, we had to release Rahasya immediately after the high court order. We released the film within three days of the high court order. This hasty and desperate release did not give us any time for publicity due to which the film could not realize even a fraction of its true potential at the box office. However, it ran for 100 days (15 weeks) in theatres purely due to word-of-mouth publicity and today has become a cult film on OTT.
Also Read: Special Ops 2 gets new release date; Kay Kay Menon returns in a high-stakes cyber warfare thriller
More Pages: Rahasya Box Office Collection , Rahasya Movie Review
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