Gandhi Talks director Kishor Pandurang Belekar: Hindi actors weren’t ready to take risks; regional actors had the courage | EXCLUSIVE

Gandhi Talks director Kishor Pandurang Belekar who is expecting his film release on January 30, talks about making a silent film , the obstacles he faced and more

Gandhi Talks director Kishor Pandurang Balekar

During times when films are becoming dialogue and action heavy onscreen, is coming a film titled Gandhi Talks, that for all you have only has the ‘talk’ie portions in its title. A silent film, driven solely by score of AR Rahman, and performances of actors like Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swamy, Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth Jadhav. As Gandhi Talks is slated for release on January 30, director of the film, Kishor Pandurang Belekar converses with OTTplay.

It was not a journey of few years with the story of Gandhi Talks for Kishor, but that of 25 years. It was way back in 2000 when the filmmaker began to start writing the film. “It is my 25th year I am travelling with this script. When you need to tell a story without dialogues, the visuals should be convincing and understandable to audience,” Kishor says.

Why Gandhi Talks is a silent film? Director Kishor answers…

But why silent film? “When I started writing the screenplay, I want to go back to the roots of Indian cinema, and how it started as silent films. That is how Gandhi Talks was also born,” he answers. Kishore further adds, “Violence, power and money have noise. But truth and honesty are silent. The film talks about the latter. The characters in this film are very real and powerless. That is why it is silent.”

Now that Kishor chose to make a silent film, the challenges were aplenty and it began with scripting itself. The filmmaker explains, “Because without dialogues and miming, you need to write the script. It is not a mime cinema, or sign language film, but a silent one. Which means, you should make sure that audience do not want to hear dialogues. The screenplay is written as such that we don’t need dialogues. That took more time in the scripting process.”

Also read: Gandhi Talks release date out: Vijay Sethupathi’s silent film to hit theatres on MK Gandhi's death anniversary

Why was AR Rahman’s music important to Gandhi Talks?

Kishor has a background in Marathi theatre and cinema, which naturally lent him support to script Gandhi Talks. How did it help? Kishore answers, “In theatre, we learn about silent plays and mime acting. I have a habit of enacting and write. Particularly, for this cinema, I enacted every scene and then wrote. I used to get writer’s block when nothing came to mind.” It was at this time when music became his helping hand. Kishor used to play music in the background while conceiving scenes. “With the help of music, I cracked the whole screenplay. That is why AR Rahman is onboard. Music is a very important aspect and support for the film. Otherwise, people will get bored,” he acknowledges.

The filmmaker heard some international tracks, AR Rahman’s works by playing it louder on his speakers. “I used Rahman sir’s background score, jazz and rock music, Indian classical are what I listened to while writing. Once after writing, I would read or enact that scene with rough music. I used to improvise and the music helped me to get over writer’s block. There is no single dialogue, but only songs and score that drive the film,” he adds.

Why Kishor opted for regional cinema actors?

Once the scripting was over, the next challenge that Kishor faced was casting. Calling his biggest challenge in making Gandhi Talks, the filmmaker says, “When I approached people to act, no one was ready take up the film. They didn’t want to take the risk of being in a silent film while some did not understand. For casting itself, it took about 10 years.”

Also read: Gandhi Talks teaser: Vijay Sethupathi's film hopes to silence class difference, corruption and violence

He further explains, “After finishing the script, I approached so many actors in Hindi industry. Nobody was ready and felt scared to act in silent film. They questioned how can a story be said without dialogue and feared who would watch a silent film. When I quoted films like Pushpak Vimana and Raja Harishchandra that came before talkie films, they said people like more dialogue-oriented films.” It was at this time when someone referred the name of Vijay Sethupathi. “I had watched some of his films earlier. But then later, I watched all of his films and approached him. I narrated the story over phone and he was onboard. After that, I wanted a handsome business man, and for that character, I met many senior actors through the time I travelled with the script. When I approached Arvind Swamy sir, I explained the whole story and he has some questions. He too came onboard. I must say that regional film actors are very courageous. Myself from a regional theatre, I find that they have courage to try new choices. They are open for different kinds of cinema. I have given narration to some Hindi actors who said they cannot understand the story,” he recalls.

During the shoot of Gandhi Talks, Kishor played the background score that Rahman had provided him to play on sets. “I used to have a library on mobile for each scene as well. We have also used different background score for each version, so as to make it as close to reality to that land of where you are watching,” says Kishor who says Rahman’s contribution is as equal and important as the actors’ performances.

Concluding the conversation, Kishore says, “In cinema, camera is very close to you and it catches the small detailing. In Gandhi Talks, I used to make sure that we don’t have over the top acting and louder emotions. My actors are very seasoned and explaining them how to do a scene without dialogues, was both easy and challenging to see the output.”

As the film is set to release on MK Gandhi’s death anniversary, Kishor signs off, “Money is necessary and we need only that much which is necessary for us to live. MK Gandhi’s ideology was also that greed can never find end. This film talks about that. Money is needed for basics but not everything.”

Gandhi Talks FAQs

Q. What is the next movie of Vijay Sethupathi Arvind Swamy?

A. Vijay Sethupathi and Arvind Swamy will star in Gandhi Talks which will release soon.

Q. What is Gandhi Talks release date?

A. Gandhi Talks will hit theatres on January 30.

Q. Is Gandhi Talks silent film?

A. Yes, Gandhi Talks is a silent film driven my music.

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