THE PHILOSOPHER!
Producer-turned-director Manish Mundra gives an insight into his upcoming movie, Siya, and his filmmaking process
Producer Manish Mundra, who founded a popular film production studio that gained recognition over the years for backing socially-driven films, has now made a shift to direction with Siya. When asked how, as a producer, he keeps the flavour of socially-driven subjects in his narratives, he shares, “Consistency comes with the approach you have and the philosophy you follow. The philosophy of starting my production house is to back content that has a longterm value. That philosophy has been consistent and that itself has delivered qualitydriven films.”
Furthermore, he reveals, “It was challenging to first get those kinds of scripts and storytellers to tell those stories.
But if you have clarity,
then such challenges are minor. The experience of directing Siya was wonderful. Being a storyteller, I always knew that I would be going to direct, but when, I had no clue. When Siya was being developed, I felt this was the film I should be directing as my debut. I thought that I should tell my own stories too while I am producing too.”
Siya has many prominent silences that speak to the unspoken harsh realities of society. On this, he says, “To build that kind of a narrative since I wanted to tell that story through visuals. I thought, how would I tell a story if we could put the voice mode off. As a filmmaker, I believe if I can tell a story only through visuals, that’s cinema for me.”
“While writing the screenplay, we did the research on the biggest cases that recently happened, which helped actually design the script. We had to go through international cinema to see how they were dealing with such subjects. I feel this subject is so close to me that my urge also played a major role in creating Siya. I felt this story needed to be told,” he adds. On a parting note, he explains the process of casting Pooja Pandey for the titular role. “She is very natural and a God-gifted actor. Once she understands something, she comes prepared on the sets. Also, when you have a powerful actor like Vineet Kumar Singh opposite Pooja, it makes a lot easier for everyone. They both had great chemistry,” he concludes.