Hansal Mehta: I try not to find a niche and stick to that

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta says he ‘likes change’, which is why he never stuck to any one genre throughout his career.

Director Hansal Mehta is clearly on a career high, with both his 2020 projects — the web series Scam 1992, and film Chhalaang both garnering a good response. The former, especially got spoken about, and actually made it’s lead actor Prateek Gandhi an overnight sensation.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta directed Chhalaang and the web show Scam 1992

“These two had been keeping me busy this year, it’s quite a happy space to be in. I am very humbled and grateful. There’s gratitude that people praise your work, because we work very hard to make whatever we do, a lot of hard work and effort goes in. It takes a toll on you physically and mentally. To see that effort being somewhere reciprocated by the audiences, it feels like a vindication,” says the 52-year-old.

In a career spanning almost three decades, Mehta has never stuck to one genre. If he directed a biopic like Aligarh, he also made Chhalaang, a light hearted film, which released directly on an OTT platform due to the Covid 19 crisis. “It was the first time I attempted a light hearted film, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! (2000) was a dark comedy, and Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai? (2002) was a failed attempt. Chhalaang had a lot of humour with a social message and drama thrown in. It was a sweet little film, in a time like this unprecedented crisis, just what the doctor ordered,” he adds.

Elaborating on why he didn’t find a niche in a genre, and stick to it, like other filmmakers, he continues, “I try not to do that. I find new stories and challenges everywhere. I am quite a restless person. I like change, and want it to be constant. That is what I seek in my work.”

And that is what he accomplished with Scam. He finds it difficult to narrow down on any one compliment he received for it. “It’s like a blessing, so many peers, senior within the industry have called and discussed the show at length, so minutely all nuances and performances. In fact, all of them have taken Prateek’s number from me. That in itself is very encouraging,” beams Mehta.

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