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00:00Hi, how are you doing?
00:07Anxious, excited, nervous, a mixed bag of emotions, so close to release.
00:13I mean, you would think after 13 films, you would know how to handle this.
00:17But no matter how old it gets, you still feel like it's your first.
00:21No, but then I think you are also the go-to person for angsty love stories, I think.
00:30You have a signature, don't you?
00:33I have to tell you something really unusual, Manjusha.
00:38My wife worked with me in my first film called Zeher.
00:42And that too also did have a very toxic relationship between a husband and wife and another lady and stuff like that.
00:47When the film got over, I mean, the film did well and everything and all the stuff, she told me,
00:53Do you have a style? I said, what does that mean?
00:56She said, you know, like how Pradeep Sarkar has and this director has and all.
01:00You should also have a style.
01:02So I said, okay, that's good. How do you get that?
01:06And she was like, I don't know.
01:08So we had no idea.
01:09I was 23 years of age at that time when that film released and did well.
01:12And now after 20 years, if you're trying to tell me there is a signature, I will, I'll go back home today and tell her that, wow, baby, listen, I've got a style now.
01:21I've got a signature that people are recognizing.
01:23That's something that I have not consciously worked on, but I just think it just happens.
01:30Now, the fact that you're mentioning it, I must be doing something right.
01:33Thank you, Mohit, for speaking to Gulf News.
01:36Your movie is out soon.
01:38And I have to say, you are the go-to person in Bollywood for angsty love stories.
01:42Is that what you call your signature?
01:44So, you know, there's something really unusual, I must tell you that, you know, 20 years back when I made my first film, Zaire, it was, it was actually a toxic relationship film also in a thrill of format with, you know, my wife was acting in that.
01:58And after the film came out and did well, she actually asked me, do you have a style?
02:04And I was like, what is that?
02:06She said, you know, like how Pradeep Sarkar has, you can make out with every frame that you see.
02:10Nada has a style of his.
02:12And I said, okay, that's cool.
02:13How do I get that?
02:14She said, I don't know.
02:16And I was 23 years of age when I was making that film.
02:18And the fact that you bring this up now, I'm going to go tell her that Manjusha said that there is a signature that I have in my work.
02:25And people are recognizing me now, baby.
02:28You can be global leaders doing, indulging in politics.
02:32But I think the real love is also about, it can be quite, you can be a rebel, you can play power games.
02:38Do you think it's very manipulative in today's time?
02:41You mean marriage?
02:42Marriage and relationships.
02:44No, I, you know, honestly, I don't know how it is for others.
02:47But for me, it was a big, I'm very thankful.
02:49I grew up like, I grew up with a single parent and my father, you know, brought me, I lost my mom when I was really young.
02:57So he was like 39 and he kind of brought me up in a way that he realized that this eight-year-old boy should be brought up like a roommate rather than just like a parent so that that equation stays.
03:09So, uh, the concept of a family and, you know, settling on and I'm, and so when I, I, when I, uh, I'm with Udita and I have kids and all, and this is the first time I'm doing all this.
03:20When I'm, you know, I have a time limit.
03:22I have a time bound thing to come home.
03:24Uh, I have someone I'm, you know, doing things with.
03:27Now it's the other way around.
03:27She wants to go out and I'm like, you just got to land with the kids.
03:30You go out and, you know, she DJs now.
03:32And so I have a very reverse thing to the whole thing.
03:34And, uh, and I, I, I don't, I don't think marriage is overrated.
03:38I think it's, it's, it's ideal for me.
03:41Uh, I'm living the best part of my life now.
03:44Uh, I believe in love.
03:46Uh, and I, and I think, uh, I think it is something that has kept you, mankind survived so many generations, unlike other species.
03:56And it will, uh, it is the substance that we need to, to evolve actually.
04:01Your movies, uh, you know, is not as, what do I say, you know, so uneventful as your beautiful love story.
04:08It's angsty.
04:09There's a lot of like conflict.
04:11Why is there a Mohit Suri film where it's not like before sunrise, where it's very calm.
04:15I mean, later it gets darker.
04:17I believe love stories end when marriage begins, I think.
04:20So I, I kind of like show the part of my story till, till I got married.
04:25And then the rolling title is about getting married, I think.
04:28No, but you have to tell me what is it?
04:30How do you think in today's, um, a time where Tinder, Bumble, where it's almost like McDonald's for fast dating.
04:37And I think, is there even a currency for love?
04:40People don't want to get married.
04:41Or if they do, they really want to do it.
04:43If they're really sure, is it even.
04:45So in that context, how do you as a filmmaker make stories that kind of, you know, talk about a love that is lasting.
04:54Just one person for one body and all of that.
04:57No, Manusha, I actually genuinely believe that I think we undermine this generation.
05:02I think we, you know, we look down upon them.
05:04And, you know, invariably people who are making films and love stories about Gen Z, as they say, are people who are much way older and think this is how Gen Z think.
05:13And they think they're people who don't have brains and have no emotions.
05:16And yeah, we've had a lot of, and especially in a country like India, we've had people writing poetry at the age of 21 and stuff like that, which are very deep stuff.
05:26So I think it's just that the nature of communication has changed and contact has changed.
05:31Like probably my grandparents had a love story, but they contacted each other through letters.
05:37My father and mother had a love story.
05:41He was from Delhi, she's from Bombay, but they spoke through the landline and trunk calls.
05:45Right.
05:45I and my wife, we've been together for 21 years now, and we had contact and fights and everything on cell phones and text messages.
05:54Now the new generation is connecting through social media and swiping left and right.
05:59But no matter how much you swipe left and right, when the heart breaks, it hurts somewhere in the same place in the chest.
06:07I just think we changed the nature of contact and connecting has changed.
06:11But I think people still feel the same way.
06:13Mohit, you know what I love about your movies is often age-appropriate casting.
06:17That's one of my pet peeves.
06:19You can't be 30 years old and act like an 18-year-old.
06:21Calm down.
06:22No matter how age has, you know, you're well-preserved and gravity defies you in every way.
06:28Do you really believe that as well?
06:29This movie is also an example of casting young people in love.
06:33Like You works because, I don't know, the players also seem very believable, youthful, etc.
06:38Does that, the web series, I don't know if you've seen the You.
06:41Yeah, yeah.
06:43Yeah, I love it too.
06:46Tell me, was an age an important thing?
06:48Like, did you tell me about it?
06:49Totally, that's what.
06:50Because I think, you know, if you're making a film about people struggling for their careers,
06:54struggling for their dreams and falling in love at the same time and love is hitting you
06:59at the same time and your dreams are coming true.
07:01So, it normally happens around the age of 18 to 25 or whatever.
07:06If you're doing that at 40, there's something genuinely wrong in the career that you've chosen.
07:10And honestly, you can't fall in love again.
07:12But there's a certain maturity that comes at that age.
07:14You don't do these angsty, stupid things and like waiting under houses and running after.
07:20You're too old for that.
07:22You're just more than Jay did.
07:23There's something wrong that you're doing.
07:24Change your career or change the person that you're in love with, I think, at that point.
07:27I think, you know, if you're still behaving that way.
07:29So, I think, yeah, that's been something that I haven't been able to break.
07:34I haven't been able to take someone older, try to cheat their age to be, because it just
07:39looks wrong to me.
07:41It just, you know, I've done it maybe once or twice here and then it's not really landed
07:45very well with me.
07:46So, I prefer to, it becomes tougher for the business guys.
07:52But for me as a creative person, you know, I don't have to tell Ahan to behave like a 25
07:57year old.
07:57He is that age.
07:58I'm sure when you hired him or when you cast him, you were sure that you would also be
08:03asked this question about, was it meritocracy at play or something else where you thought
08:08you can scout?
08:10What were your thoughts?
08:11But, you know, the thing is, it's just this question raises, raised and if I, you know,
08:16because I genuinely liked his audition and I did.
08:19And, but besides that, it was not just the audition.
08:21It was that evening I spent with him when I was supposed to tell him that he's not doing
08:25the film and Adi Soja said, yeah, I said, go out for dinner and just end it, I think.
08:30And, you know, that evening when I went out with him and I said, you know, stop calling
08:34me sir and just call me Moit and, you know, let things be easy.
08:37I suddenly became bro for him.
08:38And we went out just for dinner, but it just ended up to be an all-nighter.
08:43And then by the end of the night, I could see him become that character.
08:48I think when the camera stopped, I mean, when the performance anxiety stopped, he just turned
08:53into Kesh, I think.
08:54And he just, and I think that's when the character came alive.
08:57Mohit, what I love about your films, apart from, of course, the love part, it's how turbulent
09:01it is.
09:02You guys don't, I mean, I think in Mohit's world, there's nothing called a sweet, you
09:08know, like, you know, you can sit back.
09:09I know there's always a conflict coming and people are going to really be, they'll act
09:13in extremes.
09:14Do all your characters revel in the gray?
09:18No, I don't think they all do.
09:19Not my, my girls don't, especially.
09:21I think they're quite, they're quite okay.
09:22I think, I think Anit's character, Pani, not wanting to smoke, not wanting to drink,
09:28not getting home on time, quite the girl who's never broken a rule.
09:33Yes.
09:33And that's the problem.
09:35She's someone who's lived her life selflessly.
09:39And he's a guy who lives her life selfishly.
09:42It's a quintessential bad boy meets good girl.
09:46So I think there are sweet moments and all, but like, you know what I feel, honestly,
09:51Mantusha, I think what people don't realize is if there is love, there is going to be pain,
09:56there is going to be hurt.
09:58If someone going away or someone not being there doesn't hurt you, it wasn't love in
10:03the first place.
10:03So I just think I embrace it more openly.
10:06I'm not seeing the characters agree because I think they had lived their own graphs, but
10:09you will see some niceness in all of them, some cuteness, because it's that age.
10:16We live in an era where gaslighting, benching, God knows what all terms my kid uses.
10:22How do you weave all that into your narrative?
10:24Is there space for benching, ghosting, slash all of that?
10:27You know, the thing is, the thing is, benching, ghosting was always there.
10:30I mean, it is there in this film a bit, but I haven't used it, but remember we always
10:35had that one uncle and who said he was supposed to marry somebody, but last minute he married
10:39someone else.
10:40Yeah.
10:40The thing is, there was only one relationship between man and woman, which was husband and
10:43wife.
10:43Then they evolved to fiancé or roca or something.
10:46Then they evolved to girlfriend.
10:48Then they just barely reached dating by my generation.
10:50Love is empowering through your journey of, through your career catalogue of movies that
10:55you've done.
10:56Do you believe love is empowering or love is, it weakens you?
10:59I wouldn't be half the person of the man I am if I didn't have love in my life.
11:04I mean, I, Uttar lets me be the person that I am and make the movies that I do.
11:10I mean, you know, it's not easy being married and dating.
11:12She's dated me as a filmmaker and she's married to a filmmaker.
11:15It's not easy.
11:16You know, it's always seeing that he's the man that you are with is so in love with something
11:20else and day and night and so passionate about something.
11:24Only someone who truly loves you lets you be the person you are.
11:27And I think love is important in this.
11:30Movies or art in general have a tendency to romanticize toxic trait in, in heroes.
11:36Or if he is just possessive, it's, it's a cute trait.
11:39And some way we've, do we normalize that?
11:42There's always a debate.
11:43Is Mohit, as a person who has made movies that are essentially love stories, what's your
11:48take on all of that?
11:49Should it?
11:50You know, showing concern and showing care.
11:51I think we just become too woke to show it and call it toxicity and possessivity, I think.
11:55You know, like the moment in the thing when they're smoking and he doesn't want her to
12:00smoke.
12:01I'm not, he's throwing his own cigarettes, whatever, away and he's not letting her do
12:06the same.
12:08That's not possessiveness.
12:10That's not chauvinism.
12:11That's, that's just care and concern.
12:13Like when was it, I mean, suddenly it's just become wrong to, like you care like a man.
12:19It's become, I mean, has fun to, yeah, I mean, what, I mean, what's wrong in behaving
12:24that way and I think even women like it that way.
12:27We're not glorifying toxicity and possessiveness.
12:31We're just saying, be a, I mean, take care.
12:34A woman wants to be taken care of.
12:36A man wants to be pampered by a woman.
12:39These are just basic things.
12:41I mean, and I don't know why we look down upon it.
12:45There was nothing wrong in what, how my mother looked at my father or I look at my wife.
12:50There's nothing wrong in that.
12:50It's not easy being a filmmaker in today's work, Kira, where everybody who has an opinion
12:55will be offended by what's being shown.
12:57Like art will provoke.
12:58Should art provoke?
12:59At the end of the day, is that what you want?
13:02Art is just supposed to convert one emotion to another.
13:04It's not supposed to change any society.
13:07It's not supposed to revolution.
13:09Art, I mean, films can change hairstyles and fashion trends.
13:12They can't change societies.
13:14We don't, we don't.
13:15Yeah, I mean, maybe a little bit of pop culture here and there, but we, I don't think we should
13:21give so much importance to film and to art.
13:24Yeah.
13:24I mean, it's, it's, it's supposed to entertain.
13:26It's supposed to, you're supposed to have fun.
13:29You're supposed to feel that you're not supposed to create revolutions with art.
13:33Oh, I see.
13:34Okay.
13:34That's, that's a great note as well.
13:36But, but tell me something, what is the toughest part about sculpting these two young, very
13:40young actors?
13:41They're almost like clay, right?
13:42They, they kind of must be looking at you as mentors.
13:45Do you feel that sense of responsibility?
13:47I need, see, he's not new to the movies.
13:50It's on you.
13:51A director will.
13:52In fact, he's newer.
13:53He's newer than her.
13:54She's done some work.
13:55In fact.
13:55Yes, that's what I'm saying.
13:56So do you feel a sense of responsibility that, you know what?
13:59I could shape his career in a bit.
14:01Does that scare you in some ways or no?
14:03You have done enough work with newcomers and you're sorted.
14:07This is the fourth generation of newcomers I'm actually working with.
14:10And most of them have been highly talented.
14:11And honestly, I rate Ahan and Anit on the top end of this.
14:15Like I've worked with Imran Hashmi in his second film, third film.
14:18Gangana in her second film.
14:20Kunal Khemu in his first film.
14:22Yes, he was brilliant.
14:23They're all great actors.
14:24And Aditya, Shraddha.
14:27This is my fourth generation of new people.
14:29And I'm telling you, these guys will be in the top or higher level of the list.
14:32They came more prepared.
14:33They were because of a great person called Shanu Sharma who really, you know, really trained them really well.
14:39She's, you know, invested in Ahan for what, seven, eight years and probably made him do everything.
14:46But I must tell you something.
14:49And the word you used was so right, was like clay.
14:53You know, normally when you, when you direct it, you create, you make it like a wall with foundation, brick and stone and concrete.
15:00And this is it.
15:01And this is how you do it.
15:02And that's how you make movies because it's a director's conviction.
15:04And it's his madness, his passion, and he knows what he wants.
15:09But when you're working with newcomers, you need to get into their world.
15:13And it was more like, this wasn't like making a brick wall.
15:17This was more like making a clay sculpture.
15:20You had to mold, you had to move with them.
15:21You had to see their curves and arcs.
15:23You had to see love from their eyes.
15:26You had to see how they react to certain things.
15:30It's really liberating because I have a 10-year-old daughter and I can, and it, it was good to understand how they feel about certain things.
15:39But when you, when you go deep down into the core inside, it is as strong as it was with all the newcomers.
15:45They feel the same emotion in the end that all of them felt.
15:48But you just have to mold it from the exterior in a different way.
15:51What is next for you, Mohit?
15:52Like you have, I have no idea.
15:54You know, as you realize, I'm quite a, I don't know how to two time here, Manjusha.
15:58So I haven't, I have to get Sayyara out of the system to be like, break up with her, break up with her before and I, I, I, or she moves on.
16:07And I, I, I find something else.
16:10Mohit, I'm glad your wife, I'm sure is very happy that you don't two time, nor do you two time.
16:16I am sure both our fans, the audiences and your family is grateful for that trait.
16:22And thank you for entertaining us, Mohit.
16:24If you, like Ashiki and all of this, such a, I still go back to it because it's got such great repeat value.
16:30It's aged well.
16:31And we'll see you at the movies.
16:33Thank you for listening.
16:33See you at the movies, Manjusha.
16:34You take care.
16:35Bye-bye.