With the n-word on preferential treatment lost on Bollywood folks, it’s easy to see how Tahira Kashyap got her successful actor-husband to produce her short, but the film could have been made much before the n-word became an unspellable shortcut to fame. Kashyap narrated the story of Toffee to Khurrana many years ago, tracing its root to her childhood, and it was only a matter of time before the multi-tasking Kashyap would helm it.
The 33-year-old Khurrana says he didn’t put his name behind Toffee because it was his wife’s project. “She has been writing scripts, books, and directing plays without my support and direction was the next step for her.” He is not the only one backing her vision.
Talent before trade
Toffee is co-produced by casting director Mukesh Chhabra, Ajay Rai, head of Jar Pictures, and Eros International. “I loved how it was written and how she narrated it to me. The message in the film was relevant like how most of my own work has been, and the jolt in the end had an impact,” he says, citing the example of his last big hit, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017), which made the social taboo of erectile dysfunction a hot teatime discussion topic in Indian households. Kashyap chimes in about her producer-husband’s integrity, calling Khurrana the coolest producer she could ask for. “He is the most non-interfering producer, he did not even come on the film set,” she says.
Toffee is the story of two adolescent girls Tanya (Sammeara Jaiswal) and Ritu (Sayna Anand), growing up in a small township in Jalandhar. The 18-minute short documents their afternoons spent together, playing hopscotch and discussing their dreams. The girls worry about the colour of their skin, a clean living environment, and the concept of child brides, but without any clear insights and only their innocence to shield their fears. A social message at the end of the film highlights pregnancy and child marriages as one of the main causes of the death of adolescent girls.
Growing pains
“The film is about my experiences as a child when I used to visit my maternal grandparents in Jalandhar. I used to wander about in the locality and that’s how I met a girl called Ritu whose daily chores included wrapping toffees. I helped her at times so that we could play and hang around with each other,” says Kashyap. On one such visit Kashyap discovered that Ritu got married. “That’s how I lost my friend to the concept of child bride when we were too young to even understand what it meant.”
The short film took several years to take shape. “What set me off is when recently a 19-year old girl came over to work in my house. She had been through an abortion and had a five-year old kid.” The incident shook Kashyap and made her return to her own childhood; to reflect and recall her friend Ritu whom she has not seen since. “It set me off and got me thinking of my own past. I wanted to address this issue of child brides,” says Kashyap.
Last year Kashyap decided it was time to write the script she had been delaying for years. “It’s only now that I understand what she (Ritu) must have gone through, and so Toffee is an ode to that friendship.” The challenge that Kashyap had at hand was how to tell the story without making it sound preachy. “I wanted viewers to take away the happiness of the story and I hope that comes across in the narrative.”
Kashyap’s kid gloves are visible in the film’s treatment. Tanya and Ritu’s sunny days are shot with a patina of gloss that overshadows the ugly subtext hidden in their giggles and comes as a less impactful blow in the predictable climax. The film ends with a cutesy song ‘ Bachpan ’, written and composed by Abhinav Bansal, and sung by Khurrana.
Making the right choice
Kashyap, 34 has long harboured dream of directing films owing to being actively involved in theatre during her college years in Chandigarh. At college Kashyap and Khurrana had collectively formed a theatre group called Manch Tantra. With a master’s degree in Mass Communication, Kashyap has worn various professional hats: a college lecturer, programming head at a radio station, an author but writing has remained her biggest passion. “I think I was confused for a while about what I wanted to do, but now I’m confident about the next stage,” she says. “Three years ago I adapted some short stories from my book Souled Out into short plays that were staged in Delhi and Chandigarh.”
Filmmakers with a knack for writing is an advantage that Khurrana feels Kashyap has, mentioning those who have benefited from it. “I think she is a great writer-director. I have worked with two successful writer-directors: Sharat Katariya and R.S. Prasanna,” he says. “I think it’s important for a director to understand the script thoroughly and it is an advantage when they write it themselves. The narrative becomes clear and the narration from the director is important. It should be clear in his or her head. She has it because she writes, narrates and directs all with great clarity.”
Kashyap married Khurrana in 2011, whose debut film Vicky Donor (2012) was one of the year’s biggest hits. The success of the film put a strain on their marriage; the couple had to divide their time between Mumbai and Chandigarh, and Kashyap’s professional career floundered. Raising two kids, Varushka and Virajveer, she shuffled between Chandigarh and Mumbai. In 2015 she moved to Mumbai and began streamlining efforts into writing for the stage and screen. When digital platforms boomed, it opened a new window for Kashyap to test the waters.
“I felt this is the perfect time for Toffee to be made because the digital platform has become so big now,” says Khurrana, hoping the short is well-received and gives new direction to Kashyap’s career as a filmmaker. “We are thinking of making a music video together,” he says, optimistic that the clutter-breaking scripts she is developing will provide the rock-steady foundation for possible feature length collaborations. “Our sensibilities are the same, we discuss a lot and share a common ground.”
Kashyap praises her husband’s acting chops but isn’t sure about the long-term benefits of working together, referring to their internal conscience to resolve creative disputes. “He is a director’s delight. I say that not just as a viewer or his wife but also because I see the extra things he does on screen. I read the scripts of his films before I watch them. Am not sure how our husband and wife sensibilities will work on set,” she says jokingly. The intrepid producer characteristically laughs at his wife’s suggestion, “Our arguments are only personal, never creative.” Their Bollywood partnership has just taken off without a fight.
