UA Exclusive| Dipesh Jain: When you come to India, sadly there is not much talent to choose from

Dipesh Jain’s In The Shadows also called Gali Guleiyan starring Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey, Sahana Goswami, and Neeraj Kabi has been loved and appreciated a lot at International Film festivals.

The makers are now all set to release the movie in theatres in India tomorrow.

UrbanAsian got a chance to interview the man behind the success of Gali Guleiyan, Dipesh Jain, who spoke about how he came up with the script, about the amazing cast, and about the promotional activities.

 

Read it out here:

 

1. How did you come up with the script of Gali Guleiyan?

 

It was not a one moment kind of a thing, it took a while. I was in film school and I had these images of Old Delhi and I knew I had to tell a story about a man trap. When I started doing research about Child Labour for a documentary, the first thought came that I will combine these two things and do a layering and it will make a more realistic and compelling story. That is how the story happened. In the year 2014, I locked myself in the apartment and wrote for four months.

 

2. How did you come up with the title Gali Guleiyan?

 

So internationally it is called In The Shadows and we were struggling to find a Hindi title. Then one day I was in LA and I was going through the edit of a scene where this man says where is this place Gali Guleiyan. So the whole story is shot there and the story is set in that area. So this is how we came up with the title. It is also a unique title and our tagline “Yeh Gali Guleiyan Kaha Hai? “

 

3. How did you come up with the amazing cast?

 

So this story was written for these guys. And I got lucky that they loved the script and even the timings matched and they said yes. When you come to India, sadly there is not much talent to choose from. And all these guys are considered to be the biggies and the best in what they do, so why not. It was written for Manoj and the father’s role which is played by Neeraj. I am a big fan of his since the Ship Of Thesis. So for me it was like from a Jain Monk to a Violent Butcher.

4. How was it working with Manoj Bajpayee?

 

Fantastic! So our journey started when he read the script and he started preparing. On set he was all prepped up and ready to go and yet there were very happy surprises like he is an institution, it doesn’t get better than him when it comes to nuances. So what happened on set was, he and I were having a lot of fun on set in our own like dark and dramatic way and rest of the crew was getting very anci because here is a scene and he is performing and he is so brilliant and I am watching him in the monitor, I don’t call cut and he would not stop performing. So the scene would be over and still we are rolling for 3 min and my AD is saying what the hell is happening.

 

There was one scene, which was a comedy. All were out and we were shooting alone in a room and I was sitting in front of the monitor and Manoj is acting and we keep rolling. He is acting in front of blank monitors and I am not saying cut and then Manoj later on softly says that “Kitna acting karata hai yaar?” (laughs) So I could hear it. It became like a game and a challenge that who is going to give up. Will, he give up or will I say cut first. (laughs)

 

5. The movie has been loved and appreciated a lot by everyone much before its release in India. So how do you feel about it?

 

Obviously it feels good. But I will feel happy when the Indian audience, our audience, loves it. They have given a lot of love in MAMI. I hope people turn out here also. I am not asking them to do a lot but I am asking them that if they have an option so please do watch this film. You will not regret it and will definitely like it.

6. Not much promotional activities are happening of the film. Any particular reason behind it or is it that Word Of Mouth for the film is more than enough?

 

I think whatever promotional strategies we have built, it has helped us till now. We know that the buzz is there of the film, people know about the film. Going to a television show to promote our film, I don’t believe in that because this is a different genre film. There is no music in the film so there is no song launch. We are doing interviews. We are not promoting it on TV shows because it is just that it doesn’t make any sense for this film. It is a dark film.

 

But the kind of promotion and the word of mouth that the film has already picked up, I am confident that this film will sail through.

 

7. What’s next?

 

After Gali Guleiyan, I am heading straight to LA where the casting is going on for my next film. The script is out to a couple of A-list actors, so I have to meet them. Hopefully, they will say yes. There is also a television series that we will pitch to HBO. That is going through research right now.

 

 

Directed by debutant Dipesh Jain, produced by Shuchi Jain of Exstant Motion Pictures, Gali Guleiyan will release in India this Friday, 7th September 2018.