Aise Hi premiers at Sydney Film Festival 2021 bringing new Indian cinema down under

By

Simran Gulati

It’s back!! After a year off due to the pandemic, Sydney Film Festival 2021 is back and it’s back with a bang.  Sydney has been witnessing the world’s best films over 19 days and they have been nothing short of spectacular.  This year India has been front and centre at the festival, with 5 films of Indian origin, the films have been about equality, women, cinephile, and environment.   After making my way through all the films, there was one film that left me with a range of emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, resentment and love.  I could relate to this film and after speaking with some of the audience of the sold out show, the feeling was mutual.  The film is named Aise hi, also known as “Just Like That” directed by Kislay and produced by Shwetaabh Singh.

I knew I had to find out more about the film, and what better way to do so, then talking with the Shwetaabh Singh. I caught up with Shwetaabh, who is an actor turned producer who has accomplished something that many only dream of; a Filmfare award for best film Eeb Allay Ooo! 

It is so great that Just Like That is part of Sydney Film Festival.  We have a rich history of Indian Cinema on Australian grounds and now your film is showing at the festival, how does it feel?

We were really really waiting for this, we hoped we could have been there, but as the situation is with the pandemic at the moment, we obviously cannot be there in Sydney.  It would been lovely to see the reaction of people going to see the film and to have the experience being at Sydney Film festival, we wish we could have gone there, but we are hearing wonderful news coming out of Australia which still makes it sweet.

We wished you could have joined us in person this year at the festival, but I must say that everyone left smiling after the film, and it was so heart warming.  There is a big Indian community in Sydney, and they all came and supported watching this film.  Have you been here before?  Or did you know that there is a big Indian community here?

One of my real close friends lives in Sydney, we have friends who have studied in Australia, so I was always aware of the big Indian community in Sydney and in Australia.  Obviously when we see all the cricket matches we see how Indians are representing and supporting the Indian team, so we know we are well represented in Australia. 

What made you and your team want to enter & show your film here in Australia?

Well, we heard about the reputable festival for the longest time.  Aise hi (Just Like That) is a pan-Indian film.  This film will strike a chord with every Indian, as we have a diverse culture. We are people of different communities and culture, and this film is going to stay with every person from every community.  We wanted this film to reach Indian diaspora all around the world, but Australia is one place where there is a huge Indian population, so we have always been excited to have the film premiering in Australia.

The film is incredible and really makes you think about how our Indian society is towards widowers.  What was the message that you guys wanted to give to the audience? And do you think your message was heard loud and clear?

I think more than the message, it was more about the experience.  We wanted to show Mrs Sharma’s character with as much honestly and as much care as we could since this is a sensitive topic.  It was important to show this as part of 2nd tier city in our country.  Almost all of us not just Indians can relate to this film, when this film was shown at the festival in Busan, there were a lot of people mostly females (of all ages) who stayed back and came up to us and said, we can relate to this film because this happens in our culture too and we are also scared of this.  Being Indians we all have experienced something like it, and I am sure most of our crew could say the same, in-fact this could be me 30-40 years down the line or could be my mother or anyone’s mother.  The story is that real.

There were so many talented actors in the film, but of-course the main lead; veteran actress Mohini Sharma was at her very best, How was it like working with her? 

It was a fabulous experience, because if you work with someone who has been working in the industry for so many years, you will learn so much. She is from the National School of Drama and is actually one of the 1st batches of National School of Drama.  When someone like that comes to the sets, you can only love and watch the way they work, the way the behave, the way they approach the scenes.  That is what excites me about film making and it’s always about learning. 

Wow that must have been great to experience. Shwetaabh can you also share some experiences behind the scenes of emotions running high?

Well, I was always running around the sets trying to get things done.  However, there was a scene where Vicky (Shivam Sharma) slaps his sister and we were all watching and that was so intense and graph of how he progresses through the film is amazing.  He reflects the effects of what is happening in our society today and I think he did a tremendous job doing that.  For him to slap his sister and then crying on the table, that was a breakthrough moment.  There were so many moments like these that I could speak of all day. 

Emotions were running high because Director Kislay, myself and other crew members have been friends for years and coming together and fulfilling our vision was very emotional for us.  We just wanted to make the film without worrying about where the film will go, will it being on OTT platform, how it will do, etc.  It has been so rewarding for us because we are passionate about film making, studied at the film institute together, studied together in college, so we care about each other and it’s a celebration for all of us.  I believe you can see that passion in every scene.

I got really emotional in the film, especially when Sonya (Sadhna Singh) is crying in the kitchen and being an actor myself, I really felt what she was feeling.  It was amazing.  I also know there were some real quirky moments in the film, particularly the relationship between Trimala Adhikari and Mrs Sharma. As an audience watching the movie, I felt that Trimala filled a void of friendship without judging Mrs Sharma’s, what was behind that unique bond?

They are 2 amazing actors and when you have 2 amazing actors working together and sitting and rehearsing, they created a bond.  In-fact there is a bond among all actors.  Behind the scenes we all stayed together.  All the crew stayed in one house and actors in a separate house, so there was a lot of bonding and I think that reflected on the screen.  We were like a family, and that is why this film was able to be made.  There was an instance where we came back from the shoot at 3am in the morning, and one person wanted Maggi, so there were 5 people who decided to make Maggi as they all made it differently.  At 4am we are having a Maggi party when we have a shoot at 9am in the morning, and everyone is comparing their Maggi to each other’s. These types of things, emotions and spirit is what brings us closer together it gave us a family feeling and that was important to us. It happened so organically. 

Cinema can’t be created in set structure or system.  Every experience needs to be different and film making is a collaboration as the Director is steering the ship, but the rest of us are there too and they are helping move the ship forward so there can’t be a differentiation there.  This is what makes films like Aise He, Eeb Allay Ooo, Aamir special. 

Eeb Allay Ooo is so hard for me to say, but I can’t wait to watch it on netflix.  By the way, back to Aise hi, I noticed you had cameo appearance in the film, and I hear you also love to act.  What made you want to produce?
 

Why I wanted to become a film maker is because of my film institute background.  The bug has always been in me, and the training I got from the film institute taught me that acting is just one part of the film, direction is one part, editing is one part but the main fun is in the process, and how could I miss out on that. 

Second thing is that Prateek is senior from college and from the film institute and he is the Director of Eeb Allay Ooo and is a close friend and we always talked about why not us who make the film?  We are creative, we have the talent so why should we depend on someone else to make a film. I love being creative and there is no limitation on what you can do. 

What is next for Just Like that?  Are you planning on taking it to other festivals?  Or should 

Festivals are always good and we love them being seen there.  Festivals are keeping cinema alive.  I would love to get the film out for general public.  I really want audience across the world to see the film, and OTT platforms can help us achieve this.  We are in talks with people to do that so we hope that happens really soon.

How long did it take to make the film?

Film’s script took 2 years to write and we shot it in 40 days non-stop with minimum breaks. It was fun, intense and rewarding.

I know we are over time, but one last question I promise.  What’s next for Shweetabh Singh?  Is their another film in the pipeline that you are working on?

We just finished a short film before Diwali and it’s an action comedy.  I think this is one the biggest short films coming out of India just in terms of scale and how we executed it.  I also acted in the film too, so I am excited for the audience to see this.   It will be available in January 2022. 

There are a few scripts in the pipeline and 2022 is going to be a busy year for us.

Thank you so much Shwetaabh for your time today, I look forward to more great work from you.  Congratulations once again for Just like That premiering at the Sydney Film Festival. 

For more updates follow Simran Gulati on Instagram: @simrangulatiofficial