Dubai director hits Bollywood’s big league

Moving to Mumbai from Dubai to pursue a movie career appears to have paid off for director Japinder Kaur. After 30 months of sweat and tears, it’s time for joy: her first Hindi feature film, Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend, is getting its release in UAE this Thursday.

“It’s a youthful film about a guy who falls in a one-sided love affair. Life turns out to be zaalim [cruel] for him because she causes him a lot of pain and trouble. This film defines what life, love, ambition and success in today’s world is,” said Kaur in an interview with tabloid!.

As the title suggests, her film is set in Delhi and led by rising talents Divyendu Sharma, of Pyaar Ka Panchnaama fame and Prachi Mishra, as well as theatre sensation Ira Dubey. The only well-known face in this ensemble is legendary actor Jackie Shroff, who plays a sly Punjabi businessman. Shroff jumped on board right after the first script narration. But the rest hasn’t been easy.

“It’s because the entire industry doesn’t know what to expect from a newcomer. Once you have proved yourself, you can expect some support. Whether it’s getting access to stars, technicians, camera crew or a marketing team, it was difficult to gather a team. The established ones are picky. Fortunately, for me the script didn’t demand a big star such as Salman Khan and I wanted actors with that boy- or girl-next-door appeal,” said Kaur.

The 26-year-old filmmaker, who studied in Indian High School and graduated from Manipal University in Dubai, assisted director Prakash Jha on Arakshan, a film about the Indian caste system.

“Right from the beginning, I knew I wanted to make a film on my own. But I didn’t know where to begin, so I decided to take the usual route of assisting a director in three or four films before venturing out on [my] own. But after assisting in Arakshan, I realised it all depends whether you are ready internally. As my mother rightly pointed out, even if you are aged 20 or 40, your first film production will have the same set of challenges. So I decided to bite that bullet sooner rather than later,” said Kaur.

It took Kaur more than a year to get the script (written by Manu Rishi, whose credits include Aisha and Oye Lucky Oye) and the cast in place. A guy with a propensity to be crazy and stupid in love (Sharma), a materialistic girlfriend (Mishra) and a zany friend (Dubey) who tries hard to pull out a heart-broken Sharma from a complicated mess involving loan-sharks are all a part of the action.

Dubey, who plays a Delhi-based Nimmi, describes her latest film as a “realistic romantic caper” with a good dose of quirkiness.

“This is a light-hearted, slice-of-life film and doesn’t pretend to be a profound, social commentary on anything. It’s realistic in its portrayal of its lead actors. They are not larger-than-life individuals and [the film] doesn’t attempt to paint women in a bad light either,” said Dubey. Her character is also going through her fair share of angst because her “seemingly modern parents” expect her to settle down in an arranged marriage after finishing college. “Many girls in India will identify with my situation where parents expect you to finally marry or find a good boy after college,” said Dubey.

Meanwhile, Sharma is convinced that this is a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

“As an audience, I have found that sometimes you can’t relate to the stories on the big screen. In many Bollywood films, there are Indians living in London or New York and you see those films keeping a distance. You don’t absorb those characters or their stories… Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend is relatable because the character will feel real,” said Sharma, who made his debut in the 2011 romantic comedy Pyaar Ka Punchnaama.

In Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend, he plays Dhruv, who loves to work hard and party harder. He’s also aspiring to crack the tough Indian civil service examinations. All’s well until he meets statuesque beauty Sakshi, who takes the term high-maintenance to a whole new level.

“Here I am not playing the perfect good boy or that terrible bad villain. Dhruv is real because he’s sensible, yet loves to party with friends. He knows his boundaries and these are the traits that everyone will understand because it’s not entirely black or white. He turns a bit stupid in love and the story takes a different turn after that,” said Sharma, who did not have to audition for this role. After a discussion with Kaur, he was signed.

“After you act in two or three films, you don’t need to audition for a role because they [filmmakers] can really imagine if I fit the bill or not,” said Sharma. Though many may disagree with his simplistic working theory, Sharma is confident that this film will portray Delhi in an interesting manner. The city’s reputation, with its soaring incidents of sexual violence against women, is being tarnished globally right now. But the actor maintains that a unique side of the Indian capital will be showcased.

“I understand that Delhi is going through a different phase but you can’t always put the spotlight on the rough spots. But Delhi has other flavours too. As a city, it has a pure soul. The unfortunate events [that happened] in Delhi can happen in other parts of the world too… our film celebrates a different vibe of Delhi,” said Sharma.

Four songs were also filmed in Dubai — almost as a tribute by director Kaur to the place that she grew up in. Landmarks such as the Miracle Garden, the swanky Cavalli Club and scenes at Bab Al Shams Hotel feature in the film.

“It was wonderful to film in Dubai. Having composers like Hard Kaur, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Dr Zeus to be a part of the music composition team is an achievement in itself… Dilliwali is like Fukrey but with better music,” said Kaur, alluding to the 2013 sleeper hit about a bunch of slackers. Like Dilliwali, Fukrey wasn’t star-driven but the comedy with unknown talents struck a chord among its viewers. So was it tough to lure the distributors to place faith and money in her debut project?

“International markets respond a lot to stars. The audience also tend to side with star-driven movies because people know about it more easily. The marketing of such a film becomes automatically widespread and distributors tend to support it. But I feel so grateful that we have finally reached this stage where the movie is up for release. Everything was new to me. Each day was like a challenge. And each time a problem was solved, another one cropped up. But in the end, everything is worth it because it’s finally going to be out in the cinemas,” said Kaur.

Sharma’s advice?

“Grab [some] popcorn and let’s just do the rest.”