Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra : What I learnt in the recent past is to not be caught up in our little challenges in life

The filmmaker talks about working through the pandemic and wrapping up his next film, the Farhan Akhtar starrer, Toofan

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra had a busy 2020. He worked on two scripts and finished the edit of his next. “There was a lot of confusion earlier and later the idea was to adapt and be in the moment. Fortunately, we had wrapped up the shoot of the Farhan Akhtar starrer Toofan before the lockdown, so we worked on the edit the film and completed it. Being a writer and a director, my writing didn’t stop. In fact, it accelerated as I had more time on hand,” he says.

Mehra admits that he kept a positive mindset last year others faced huge challenges.

Ask him about reports that he is working on a film starring Shahid Kapoor in the role of Karna and he replies, “I am not ready to talk about it right now. I believe that a film should talk for itself.” On Toofan’s release, he shares, “No one is wiser as of now. Film business is not just one state opening theatres but about the world. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hope people come back to the theatres when it is safer for them. At best, you can wish for a release date but can’t predict it. Anyone saying anything with certainty (about a release date) I don’t know the basis for that.”

Mehra admits that he kept a positive mindset last year others faced humongous challenges. He elaborates, “Not just me, the world over, we have come out stronger. I hope the experience makes us rise from petty issues which has been plaguing us for donkey’s year. We can become global citizens and make this world a better place. Yes, there will be differences but we can always agree to disagree. What last year taught me is not to repeat our mistakes, given us time to pause, rethink towards a better tomorrow. Hope we are not caught up in our little challenges in life. There is a bigger picture out there about humanity, social welfare and being one with nature. All that came in front of us as we were not listening to it. Many people were not lucky as many projects got stopped midway and some projects didn’t take off. What we learnt was to be efficient and that we can achieve as much and maybe more by using technology effectively. Now, we know that we don’t have to travel long distances for all meetings (laughs).”

Praising the resolve of health workers, he says, the work that they put in can’t be for money or career. He says, “There is something more. It was demonstrated when the common man rose up to the occasion. Not the wealthy, corporate, or powerful but the mere resolve of common man and the health and social workers who worked hard to fight Covid-19. Moving forward, I hope we care for the havenots unlike the migrant situation we saw.”