Filmmaker Hansal Mehta has shared that through his films he tells stories that will be ‘lost over the course of time’. In a new interview, Hansal also said that he doesn’t make films for box office numbers. He also added that films are remembered for what they ‘ultimately achieve as a work of art and storytelling’. (Also Read | Faraaz movie review: Hansal Mehta’s gut-wrenching tale of love and loss with excellent performances)
Hansal has directed several movies including Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar (2000), Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai (2002) and Woodstock Villa (2008). He received critical acclaim with Shahid (2013), for which he also won the National Film Award. He then went on to direct City Lights (2014), Aligarh (2016), Simran (2017), Omerta (2018), and Scam 1992 (2020).
In an interview with Filmfare, Hansal spoke about the box office numbers. “I have never been in that race. I don’t make films for the weekend and I don’t want to be in that zone. I want to make a film that will be remembered, a film that will chronicle our times. I wanted to make a film that will be a record of our times through the characters that I’m inventing. Otherwise, characters like Shahid and Faraaz will be forgotten chapters of our history.”
“We wouldn’t look back because they would be lost in the jingoism of the bigger and noisier people. The loudest voice will always be that which will be recorded in our history. And I see myself telling stories that will be lost over the course of time. And I make films for that. But hopefully, they will be remembered for a longer time. No film is truly remembered because of box office collections. They are remembered for what they ultimately achieve as a work of art and storytelling,” he added.
Hansal’s latest film Faraaz is based on the July 2016 terror attack on a bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The film stars Zahaan Kapoor as Faraaz and Aditya Rawal as Nibras. The hostage drama also stars Juhi Babbar and Aamir Ali. The film had a limited release on February 3. Faraaz is backed by filmmaker Anubhav Sinha and Bhushan Kumar-led T-Series.
Hansal has several projects including the Netflix show Scoop in the pipeline. He also has a film with Kareena Kapoor, which is in post-production; the second season of SonyLIV’s Scam; an anthology with Pratik Gandhi and Rajpal Yadav, and the much-anticipated Gandhi series.