Sanjay Gandhi biopic: Hansal Mehta is ready to face the pressure

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who is planning a film on Sanjay Gandhi, says he is ready to face the pressure that might come with making a movie like this.

Bollywood’s affinity with biopics is well-established. In fact, in the last three to four years, several biopics have hit theatres, and even made money. Now, director Hansal Mehta is planning to make a film based on late politician Sanjay Gandhi. The movie, which is based on the late journalist-author Vinod Mehta’s book, The Sanjay Story, is still in the scripting stage.

Hansal Mehta started his career with TV show Khana Khazana in 1993.

"I feel that the Emergency (1975) was a dark phase of our recent history, and has never been documented correctly. Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003) dealt with it. Still, I feel that era needs to be documented without fear," says Hansal.

Elaborating on why he decided to make the biopic on

Sanjay Gandhi

, the director says, "Sanjay Gandhi was one of the biggest forces of that phase (the Emergency). I am attempting to retell the story of that era through the eyes of someone who was important, but still not as important. His mother (Indira Gandhi) was the Prime Minister [at that time], and she declared Emergency. And he was a fringe player, who was very important," says Hansal.

Read: Hansal Mehta to make a biopic on Sanjay Gandhi

So, does he fear any kind of objections or pressure? "Never... I have been told every time [I make a film] that there will be a lot of pressure. Around Shahid (2013), too, I was told that I will get calls, and will be threatened. It’s normal. What you should bother about is the story. People troll you and call you all kinds of names. It doesn’t affect me. It only means that my story has somewhere affected people. I will cross that bridge in case there’s anything (issue), but I am not afraid of that. It will help the film,” says the National Award-winning filmmaker, who plans to start working on the film "later next year".

As far as the cast of the film is concerned, Hansal says, "A number of names are being thrown around, but you can’t decide on an actor without having the script in your hand."