Aisha director disowns her film!

Director says the film wasn't the one she conceptualised, is back with Chaurahen based on four stories by Nirmal Varma

Rajshree Ojha, who directed Anil and Sonam Kapoor's vanity project Aisha, is now saying the film that hit the theatres wasn't hers.

Exactly what does she mean? Half afraid to talk, Rajshree, who is ready with her new film Chaurahen, remarks, "Should I be politically correct and say since my name was on the credits of Aisha, it was my film? Or should I tell you that the film that I had conceptualised was not the one the audience saw." Taking a deep breath, she continues, "I had no control over the final cut." Does that mean producer Anil Kapoor gave final shape to the film?

Nevertheless Ojha is bouncing back with Chaurahen, a film about human relationships based on four short stories by eminent Hindi litterateur Nirmal Varma. She shares an interesting anecdote, "I had no money, no contacts. Only my diploma film Badger based on a short story by Jug Suraiya. I think Nirmalji liked it.

He asked me to take any story I liked but when I told him I wanted four, not one, he was surprised. I had to explain to him that I wanted to mesh them together to show complex human relationships." The story she is really gung-ho about is the one about a 60-plus Bengali man played by Victor Bannerjee and his irresistible attraction for a foreigner played by Kiera Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's grand-daughter.

Rajshree has fond memories of her association with Kiera. "I shot with Kiera in New Market in Kolkata where there's a movie theatre named after her grandfather. I took her to see it. She shot in some of the most crowded localities in Kolkata without any luxuries. We had no money to pay her. We didn't even have a van. She used to sit out in the sun in the streets without a care in the world unlike some of our stars..." One wonders which of our stars she is referring to...

All said, Rajshree seems to have learnt her lesson. "When we decided to do an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, there were many layers to the character. However, I don't know where those layers vanished. So while doing Chaurahen, I was very clear that there would be no compromise this time around. I've made Chaurahen exactly the way I wanted to. While I had no money this time, I sure had the freedom to do what I wanted," she says emphatically.

Apparently Kiera wants to see Rajshree's adaptation of Emma. However Rajshree is in no mood to oblige... "Forget Kiera, even Jane Austenwouldn't recognise my Aisha to be her Emma," she quips.