Director Sandeep Mohan and producer Giju John are like two-man army. They haven't hired a PR machinery to pitch their labour of love, quirkily titled Love, Wrinkle Free. From sending e-mails to taking the call on production nitty-gritty, they have shared the onus between them. “The experience has been worthwhile and I learnt a lot from it, even though it was strenuous,” says Sandeep Mohan, speaking to us on the eve of the film's release. Love, Wrinkle Free opened to good reviews in Mumbai, Delhi and a few other cities and is expected to be released in Hyderabad soon.
Sandeep is one of the newest additions to the growing list of indie filmmakers who want to tell their story their way. Love, Wrinkle Free is Sandeep Mohan's comment on society, its obsession with anti-ageing solutions, told through a tale of relationships. “The story is my reaction to things that I saw around me. I saw youngsters, who didn't actually require makeup, taking to heavy makeup and ending up looking older than they are. And there were older women who were addicted to makeup hoping it would make them look younger,” says Sandeep. The cosmetic comment is just one part of the film, which is set in Goa and narrates the story of Savio (Ash Chandler), his wife Annie (Shernaz Patel) and their adopted daughter Ruth (Arika Silaichia) and their reaction to Annie's unplanned pregnancy.
Shernaz Patel was the first to come on board before Sandeep signed on Ash Chandler, Seema Rahmani and Arika Silaichia. “We didn't have a casting director. I happened to meet Ash Chandler and spoke to him for a few hours. The passion towards his work and the fact that he was unaware of how funny he was (despite his much-appreciated stand-up comedy acts) made him endearing. He had to be my Savio. He and Shernaz brought in all their experiences to the film. Shernaz was my sounding board. She is a terrific actress and under utilised in cinema,” says Sandeep.
While shooting for the film in Goa, Sandeep discovered his ability to multi-task, driven by necessity. As with most indie films, this project too was shot on a show-string budget (money was pooled in through crowd funding) and it was tough to hire too many assistants. At one point, Sandeep was checking up on hotels for the crew's stay in Goa. “All this experience will help me,” he says.
The film was wrapped up by the end of 2010 and then got selected for Mumbai International Film Festival, followed by Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose and South Asian International Film Festival in New York among others.
Sandeep smiles when he looks back. A few years ago, he was a drifter and a confused one at that. “I was 21 and I tried to do many things,” he says. He worked for a firm that produced a current affairs programme for Zee Television, before moving to advertising and finally to movies. He was one of the assistant directors for Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam . “I learnt discipline from Bhansali. I didn't have formal training in filmmaking. I learnt on the job, first with Bhansali and then by working on music videos and corporate films. I realised that when I make my own films, I would be comfortable narrating personal, human relationship stories than larger-than-life stories,” he says.
With Love, Wrinkle Free out in cinema halls, Sandeep wants to step up work on his next project. “I want to finish the script and begin work by December,” he says.
