ON A RIGHT KNOT

Ribbon, starring Kalki and Sumeet Vyas , revolves around the problems that ARISE IN A RELATIONSHIP. THE MOVIE IS BEING APPRECIATED BY THE AUDIENCE

Team Ribbon – director Rakhee Shandilya with lead pair Kalki Koechlin and Sumeet Vyas – in conversation with Team Box Office India

BOI: The trailer of Ribbon has been appreciated on social media.

Kalki Koechlin (KK): It feels damn good to have such a positive response. Why would it not? What's been great is that people have really analysed the trailer and gone into details about how it has been shot. This doesn't usually happen with a trailer. So it was very flattering for us.

Rakhee Shandilya (RS): I'm just going with the flow. When I made this film, I had no idea what people would feel about it or how they would react to it. Frankly, I had no idea that people would love the trailer this much. The response we have received so far has come as a surprise, especially to me.

BOI: The title of the film is very unique. Rakhee, is there a story behind it?

RS: Ribbon is very metaphorical and that's why we have the tag line, 'Life Between Loose Ends'. What we are trying to say with this movie is that life is very much like a ribbon. Once we are married, we feel that we are tied with the strong knot of a relationship and it will last forever. However, every couple goes through different phases and every now and then you feel like your partner is not right for you. You are not happy with your partner and may even want to walk out on them.

The title Ribbon is apt for a situation like this, where you question whether you are in the right relationship. It is the tying of the knot and then the loosening of those relationships. I was not able to figure out a proper title for the film. Everything I came up with seemed clichéd. That's how we ended up with Ribbon.

BOI: Ribbon is based on the complications that arise in relationships. Sumeet and Kalki, what are the complications that our generation faces in relationships?

Sumeet Vyas (SV): We live in nuclear families, especially in cities. The other day, Kalki mentioned that we end up expecting so much from our respective partners. Since we don't have anyone else living with us, the man and the woman in the relationship have to play the roles of all the family members, for each other. You expect your partner to be your parent, your lover, your friend, your colleague, and so on. I think that takes a toll on the relationship. Also, I think we are going through a social evolution of sorts. Twenty years ago, even in cities, there was a set lifestyle. A man would go to work and earn a livelihood and women would stay at home, taking care of the house. I have grown up watching this and most people I know have had the same experience. KK: Yes, me too. SV: Obviously, times have changed and both partners realise that they can run the house, they have an equal place in the house and in everything. As long as everything is going smoothly, it's great. But when you hit hurdles, your brain automatically tells you to go back to your past and the stuff you have grown up watching, and you want to be the man. I think that's one thing our generation is struggling with.

KK: I think time management is a big thing. We have so much going on in our lives and the pressures of living in a city that is as expensive as Mumbai, that it's difficult to give time to your partner romantically as well as to your child and your work. It is difficult to be invested in all of them. So how do we balance that? How does the significant other help in balancing these things? It is like a game where we are juggling but we haven't ever learnt to juggle. I think it is going to take a couple of generations for us to understand this.

SV: It is also because the belief is, once you are married, things are set. There is no way out because we don't think like that. Maybe that is why people don't feel the need to work on their relationships. I have seen a lot of old, married couples who don't get along with each other. They barely speak to each other, they sleep in different rooms, etc. This is not even a relationship. This is just two people living with each other for convenience. Today, people don't want to live like this. People either want to work on it or let go and move on. That is the struggle.

BOI: Kalki, you said in an interview earlier that one of the things that attracted you to this character was that she's a mom.

KK: I don't have kids but I would like to, some day. So I don't know what it feels like to go through the months of pregnancy, suffer all the hormonal changes that happen, the post-pregnancy stuff etc. Sorry to go into graphic details but I haven't experienced what happens to a woman's private parts when they are stretched like that and the baby comes out. The pain you go through as well as the postpregnancy depression that you feel were all new to me. Then, there is also the feeling of the exhaustion, the lack of sleep because you are up every two hours with the baby, you might have issues with breast-feeding if you are a working mother – how does one manage all that? I didn't know any of it. A lot of research went into this and a lot of time was spent with young mothers who have just had babies.

BOI: Rakhee, was Kalki always your first choice for this film?

RS: Yes, Kalki was my first choice. I had just seen her film Margarita With A Straw and she had done an amazing job in that movie. When I was writing the character of Sahana, I felt I needed someone who connects with the urban audience to play this role. Kalki looks modern and represents modern India, our urban India. Along with this, I needed somebody who could also look very vulnerable. She had to look very human at times and show what women go through when they are under so much pressure.

BOI: Where did the idea of making a movie based on relationships come from?

RS: I like to tell stories where we connect emotionally with the audience. I like to show things that influence us in our lives and impact us. I developed this idea after observing things around me. I also noticed that there are not many things we talk about in our movies. We don't really talk about working women in our film industry or in our Indian cinema. So I thought, why not take the story from where a woman conceives and where that journey takes her. Then, it just happened to turn into a film.

BOI: What is the one message this film will give young mothers?

RS: I don't think there is any message. It is a journey that could be yours, mine, anyone's. In the movie, we are talking about Karan and Sahana's journey in a city like Mumbai.

KK: (Cuts In) It ain't easy! Shit happens and you have to clean it up.

SV: Also, there are very few films that trace the journey of two people over the course of years, four in our case here. We see them changing a little every year. They change within themselves and their equation with each other also changes, just as it happens in life.

KK: I think it also talks about how the ups and downs in life are unending. You shouldn't ever expect that all your problems will be solved and everything will be perfect. There will be another rough patch and there will be another great patch and it will keep going on.

BOI: When you do films that are so relatable, do all of you draw inspiration from real life?

KK: In the beginning, Sahana is a lot like me, a very ambitious woman who likes to do things her way and who doesn't have filters. She says exactly what she wants to say. But over the course of four years, she changes a lot and becomes calmer but also stronger, yet vulnerable. I don't know how to explain it. But there is a clear change in her. I guess that took time, and that's mostly while watching people with kids and how that mellows you. You are just tired by all that and, at the same time, you find a new kind of determination, which is more permanent.

SV: I think, for Karan, it is the opposite. When the film starts, Karan is a lot like me, very diplomatic, doesn't like confrontation and on the surface, is very sorted. As the film progresses, you see him a little frazzled, getting a little unreasonable at times, a little too confrontational sometimes. It was fun to see what happens to me at a later stage.

BOI: Sumeet, speaking of your life, what has the transition been like, from the world of web series to feature films?

SV: I am not doing anything different. I am just doing what I had been doing. It was a deliberate decision in the last two years. I wanted to focus more on films. I had to let go of a lot of other work because I wanted to do films. The scary part with films is that they sometimes do not release, many of mine have not. Ribbon was the kind of film I wanted to be a part of. Also, I believe that when you start seeking something sincerely, it kind of follows. I was genuinely seeking this kind of project and an atmosphere where I got to work like this. It is about what work I am doing rather than how much money I am making, or how big the set is, or how big your vanity van is. It just came my way. Now I am just wishing for a holiday to come my way!

BOI: Kalki, your choice of films has been very unconventional, yet very fresh. Did you ever wonder whether it would be tough for some of those films to achieve commercial success?

KK: No, it doesn't bother me. RS: As a technician, I understand that the film should earn money, be a hit or whatever. But just because your film hasn't made money, doesn't mean you haven't made a good film. If you firmly believe in a film, make it with all your heart. It might not click with the audience but in the long run people will understand you. Look at all the films Guru Dutt sahib made.

SV: Most of our cult films did not make money. The previous Agneepath, as a matter of fact.

RS: It is very simple to make a film which can be a hit at the box office but then you would be written off after ten years. You would rather make just one film and have people remember you for that.

BOI: When you include aspects like how women are discriminated against during pregnancy, do you believe that talking about these things in a film will change people?

KK: Just like we can get inspired by real life, when you watch a film in cinemas, you feel, 'Oh, okay, somebody else understands.'

RS: People will at least talk about it, that somebody might have gone through this.

KK: Especially when it is so real! You are not stereotyping the ideas. Art reflects life, life reflects life.

"The title Ribbon is apt for a situation like this, where you question whether you are in the right relationship. It is the tying of the knot and then the loosening of those relationships,"says Rakhee Shandilya as she explains the metaphorical title of the movie