Directors Satyanshu & Devanshu Singh on ZEE5's 'Chintu ka Birthday': All of us were like a family on sets!

ZEE5 is all set for the release of it's upcoming web film, 'Chintu ka Birthday' which premieres on 5th June 2020. The film is directed and written by National Award-winning filmmakers Satyanshu & Devanshu Singh.  Produced by First Draft Ent, Tulsea and Cinemese Twins. The film has a promising star cast of  Vedant Raj Chibber, Vinay Pathak, Tillotama Shome, Bisha Chaturvedi and Seema Pahwa amongst others. 

We at India Forums got in touch with the Director Duo Satyanshu & Devanshu Singh where they spoke to us about their experience, casting, writing the script, challenges faced and much more. 

Even though the film depicts the lives of a family in a war torn country, it still manages to maintain it's innocence. Was it challenging to keep that essence of innocence while shooting the film?

I don't think that it was difficult to maintain the innocence because we were surrounded by such brilliant cast like Vinay Pathak, Seema Pahwa ji and Tillotama. There are also these other actors from US and other places and we prepared so much with them that this experience of shooting with the Actors was incredible and if you have such amazingly cute kids on your set, half of the time you're laughing and having a good time with them. So I would say, working with the Actors was a very good experience, I think writing a thing like this on paper was a more difficult act. 

Writing a film like this is very tough, once you've written it well then it becomes easy. Execution will never be as tough as writing. 

What was the thought behind writing the script and how did you come up with the concept?

We come from Bihar and we love world cinema and that is how it began. We wondered if we could place a Bihari family in a sense, a middle class, normal people from Bihar in a situation that is of international relevance where we can have people from different races and speaking different languages. So I believe it is our childhood meets world cinema, that is what the film is. 

How was the entire experience shooting with the cast? Because on one side you're shooting with a Veteran Actor, Vinay Pathak and on the other side, there is Chintu, Vedant. So how was that like?

For us, casting is sacred. After writing and rewriting a script, casting becomes our priority. We made sure that we chose the right side actors for the film, obviously Vinay Pathak, Seema Pahwa and Tillotama, their talent and their experience can't be debated, they are just brilliant at what they do. What they bring on set apart from being such talented and experienced Actors is that they bring in a lot of love. They made sure that the kids have a good time.They would crack jokes, they would sing songs together, they would make sure that the kids are with them and that they feel at home. 

Fortunately, when we cast kids, we also look at the family and the background that the kids come from. We look at making a nice bond with the family of the child actor as well. So all of us were like a family, the parents of the kids would talk to our actors, everybody was having a good time. We made sure that when the kids came to Bombay to shoot, Vinay and Tillotama meet them and have an equation with them and it went on and the film became a party eventually but the kids were comfortable not only by the crew but also by the cast. Afterall, our way of directing Actors is very simple, they read the script and all we request from them is to bring the truth alive on the screen. 

What was the most challenging part about shooting this web film?

I think the most challenging part is that we are first time filmmakers so, half of the time we didn't know what was going on. I mean we knew but we are surrounded by incredible cast and crew and we have a great script on our hand, everything was fine but how good or bad we are as filmmakers that was the biggest challenge. I'm pretty sure nothing was bigger than that. 

Making the film the right way, the way it should have been made, that was the challenge. There was no other challenge as such, I believe. It was one of those films where you are inside the set and all the actors and cast and crew are reaching there and shooting in a certain order everyday. So, I mean we had a great time shooting. 

The film also portrays a very strong & beautiful bond between a father and a son, where he is ready to give up everything for the happiness of his son, what's your take on that?

This is what we've seen in life. A good family is where people think for each other, they care for each other, and we have seen this around us and this is the reality. It doesn't get more real than this. The parents are always there for the kids and it shows. It shows in real life, it shows in films and that's how it came along.