Picked for Cannes, 'Udaan' waited five years for producer

Mumbai, July 8 (IANS) 'Udaan' doesn't boast of big stars and still got selected for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. But it wasn't all rosy for debutant director Vikramaditya Motwane, who says he had to wait for over five years to get a producer.

'My script was ready in 2003. It took five years to take the picture off the ground. It took so long to get producers, as no one was ready to take the film. It might be because in 2003, multiplexes were not in existence. Today it has become easier...now there are multiplexes,' Vikramaditya told IANS in an interview.

The story about a father-son relationship finally found producers in filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, Sanjay Singh and UTV. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival.

'Udaan' revolves around Rohan (played by Rajat Barmecha), belonging to a small industrial town of Jamshedpur, who is abandoned for eight years in a boarding school. Rohan then finds his life closeted with an authoritarian father and a younger half brother.

'The father wants the son to do something and the son wants something different and what happens at the end of the film is the culmination of that relationship,' Vikramaditya said.

'It's a very simple, straightforward film...more than that it's a very emotional film. It's about a boy's journey. I tried to be as honest as I could. I didn't try to be indulgent at all,' he added.

The movie also stars television actors Ronit Roy and Ram Kapoor.

While this is his first film, Vikramaditya has worked closely with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepa Mehta. He was assistant director to Bhansali in 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' (1999) and associate director in 'Devdas' (2002). In 2005, he worked with Deepa Mehta in 'Water' as a choreographer.

Any major differences between their filmmaking methods?

'Sanjay is a very hands-on director. He is involved in every facet of making the film till the end...be it actors, costumes, sets and sound. Deepa is a very hands-off director. I have seen how she let (crew) members do their own thing. She gives a bit of guidance and then she withdraws herself,' Vikramaditya revealed.

But the 34-year-old takes pride in saying that 'Udaan' is finally 'his vision'.

'It's my film and my vision. I have worked with Bhansali in two of his big films, but they were not my films. I was associated with him for gaining experience...to understand filmmaking. But my film is my film,' Vikramaditya said.

However, his interest in filmmaking evolved while assisting his mother in a talk show, 'Teen Talk', during his college days.

'My mom started working as a production manager in the late 1980s. She produced a talk show called 'Teen Talk' in 1993. That time she called me and a bunch of my friends to help her...Since then my love for films has evolved. My interest was always in directing a film,' Vikramaditya said.

(Dibyojyoti Baksi can be contacted at [email protected])