The setting is a cosy café. A dignified woman is seated alone at a table, a despondent young man in another. And then, Naseeruddin Shah walks in — his crinkly eyes, holding within them years of love and longing, twinkle in recognition. Thus begins the much-acclaimed, award-winning Interior Café Night by Adhiraj Bose.
The 13-minute film by Adhiraj has gone viral, and brought into focus how love never really dies. The film also delights because of its cast — Naseeruddin and Shernaz Patel play the elder couple, and Shweta Basu Prasad and Naveen Kasturia their younger versions.
Shweta and Adhiraj go back a long way — they are friends from school, and when she heard the story, the National Award-winning actress also decided to come on board as co-producer. This was her first screen appearance in nine years. She’d worked previously with Naseeruddin in Iqbal , and the veteran actor was also part of Adhiraj’s documentary Goonj , on marijuana farming in Himachal Pradesh.
The young team behind the film is delighted at the response. Adhiraj is happy for Shweta. “Not many have recognised her talent yet. Now, I’m getting calls from people asking who this girl is,” he laughs, over phone from Mumbai.
They took the festival route without much thought of commerce. “We did not hope for much, but we took part in 22, and won at six festivals. We realised the film is connecting well.”
Adhiraj says that with this script, he was not looking to intellectually impress but touch emotionally. “I think it has achieved its purpose. I’ve been getting calls and mails from the film industry. Aamir, Raju Hirani, Varun Dhawan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra have passed on their feedback too.”
Adhiraj, 25, is grateful he got a dream cast. “Naseeruddin sir is offered short films all the time, but he does not agree easily. He was in London when he read ours and asked us to wait till he got back. Once he agreed, I tweaked the script some more. I’m very happy he decided to come on board. It’s good for short films to get someone of his stature. Shernaz maam was on my mind when I wrote, and I’m lucky she agreed to star too,” he says.
The film was shot two years ago, and many wonder how someone who was just 23 directed something so nuanced. “Well, I do relationship dramas best, and all I wanted to say was that love is ageless. It took time, yes, but I believed in it!”
It helped that the off-screen dignity of the characters seeped into the film too — the film, therefore, was a nostalgic ride for many.
Adhiraj set out making a film about an old couple meeting after decades, where they spoke more through silences, and a young couple breaking up, with an almost palpable yearning. He fused the two, and the film flits between the past and present till the penny drops — it is the story of one couple. “I was okay with people figuring out they were the same. I was not making a suspense thriller,” says Adhiraj, who’s completed the screenplay for Bejoy Nambiar’s retelling of Agni Natchathiram in Hindi, and is also writing his first feature, again about relationships.
For Shweta, the character was enough to convince her to be a part of the film. “The length of the role does not matter any more; you don’t need to be part of a 2.5-hour film to prove your ability. This was a fantastic project to be part of. And, over the years, these choices made from the heart work out well, be it Iqbal or Makdee . I just realise that at a time when I did not know their stature, I’d already worked with Naseer uncle, Shabana Azmi and Girish Karnad.”
Shweta next moves on to wrapping up her documentary on the dying visibility of Indian classical music, that she has both produced and directed. She’s also signed up for a role in Dharma Productions’ Badrinath Ki Dulhania.
Naveen, known for his role in hit web series TVF Pitchers , and the film Sulemani Keeda , chose the film because “good people” were involved. “Also, I loved the script.”
Reviews say he aces parts in which he loses the girl, but Naveen laughs in response. “I’ve not mastered it at all. I still struggle. But, there are differences. In Sulemani Keeda , it was more an infatuation; in this film, I almost know I’ll never see her, though she hopes to stay in touch. There was more desperation here,” says the actor who studied to be an engineer, and worked in finance before identifying his true love — movies.
Working in projects such as these gives me more choices, says the actor who is next doing Season 2 of Pitchers , and another web series.
“The Internet caters to a whole new audience. And there are more choices.” It helps that web series don’t have to include commercial elements; they are purer…
Watch it here:
