I’ll never remake dad’s films: Meghna Gulzar

Filmmaker Meghna Gulzar is working on two projects simultaneously and both are based on real-life stories. The Talvar director seems to be in love with the genre.

“I don’t know what kept me away for so long. The experience of making Talvar (2015) was liberating. The actors don’t need to look sterile and surroundings don’t need to be rose-tinted; not that all movies need to be or are like that. But, I feel that some of the most poignant films come from real life,” says Meghna, who was “extremely inspired” by the story of Laxmi Aggarwal, an acid attack survivor, on whom she has based her next film.

Her other film, based on a book by Harinder Sikka, is about a Kashmiri girl married to a Pakistani army officer and the 1971 war. She wrote both the films with her team, and will direct them one after the other.

While remakes are the norm in Bollywood, and her father Gulzar is a celebrated filmmaker, Meghna is vehement about not remaking any of his films. “I’ll never remake his films,” she says. “There are two reasons. I feel some things should remain untouched — one shouldn’t mess with their sanctity. Moreover, we do need to let our following generation know about our past, and to do that, we should show them original films. We shouldn’t remake them.”

I feel some things should remain untouched — one shouldn’t mess with their sanctity MEGHNA GULZAR, FILMMAKER

PHOTO: WASEEM GASHROO/HT