Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
‘Crisis or no crisis, good work always leaves a mark’
Lucknow’s Piiyush Singh feels crisis or no crisis, good work never fails to leave a mark. The film producer and award organiser Piiyush, who was in his home town recently, said, “We have been living in unprecedented times. And, one has to continue to strive to survive. Thankfully for the entertainment industry, there was a way to stay afloat and release our projects via OTT platforms that turned out to be a new lease of life for all of us. So, projects that were all complete and needed a little or no post-production work got to see the light of the day.”
He believes that content is and will be a king always. “Me and my team are glad to be associated with films that offer riveting content with talented cast.”
Piiyush feels that earlier it was a co-incidence that all his films have a strong storyline and performers like legendary actor Pankaj Kapur, Nandita Das, Manoj Bajpayee, Abhay Deol, Dhanush and Manav Kaul. But later, it was more of finding right actors for their subjects. “With time these actors who are great in their space of work , trust as a production house that targets content driven projects. Like, my recently released film, ‘Bhonsle’ was a subject that was introduced to us by Manoj (Bajpayee) himself. After a meeting with his directorfriend Devashish Makhija, we along with Manoj were on the board as producers.”
The filmmaker is on cloud that their last offing had none other than Amitabh Bachchan. “Yes, ‘AB aani CD’, was a beautiful script and had great star cast with Marathi legend Vikram Gokahle and Amit sir.
After our first Hollywood project, ‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir,’ that also won Audience Award for Best Comedy at Barcelona SantJordi International Film Festival last year, we knew that now things will be on a roll for us. It was presented under our banner Golden Ratio Films, that was founded by me and Abhayanand Singh,” he said.
Talking about his upcoming projects, Piiyush said, “Our next release will be ‘Jail 50’ with Pankaj Kapur, Abhay Deol, Piyush Mishra followed by film ‘Seher’ again with Pankaj sir and that was extensively shot in Lucknow last year. After three months of post-production, the film will be all set to release.”
Feeling proud that his home town has turned into a filmmakers hub, he said, “It’s great that quite a number of films, series and shows were being shot here. For me, the reason is mainly its people who are extremely helpful and go an extra mile to help anyone and everyone. I too try to always give back to my city by helping youngsters who wish to make it big in the industry.”
Kavita Awaasthi
Aditi Rao Hydari is grateful to be busy during the lockdown. She says, things are so crazy that it is good to have something to focus on. “There are days when I feel anxious due to what is happening in the world. But I remind myself that I am lucky and have a lot to look forward to and nothing to complain about. There is uncertainty but it has also been nice to spend time at home, get back to dancing, singing and yoga,” adds the actor, who is in Hyderabad with her family.
Hydari says that the ‘new normal’ for her is a society with more “kindness and sensitivity”. She says, “As humans, we have become very mean, living in a chaotic world, and people need to be kinder and empathetic. I hope we can go back to the freedom we had before Covid-19. In these times, I have realised how important it is to be free and to make your choices.”
The actor, whose latest Malayalam film released on an OTT platform, states that the web has enabled content makers and audiences. Weighing in on the theatre vs OTT debate, she shares, “Theatres will always remain magical and the experience of a first-day-first-show is unmatched. What these platforms have done in this lockdown is incredible as we are lucky to be able to release our films on the web.”
Hydari rose to fame with director Sudhir Mishra’s Yeh Saali Zindagi (2011) and since then, she has been part of many films. But of late, she has been more active in South Indian cinema. She says, “Working in the south has been hugely rewarding. One has to earn respect and credibility and I am trying to do that with my choices. With Hindi films, sometimes, I did roles which I thought were the correct ones to do but not because I was dying to do them. And that’s why it is important for me to be fearless in my choices and the intention to be right.”