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I like the pace of Pune: Sandeep Modi
Sandeep Modi shares how his evenings at Film and Television Institute of India were spent exploring food joints or a ritual walk to their ‘temple’ National Film Archive of India
Director Sandeep Modi believes stories and films can be told in two languages. One is the story teller’s language and the other is the character’s language. He chose the second style to make his debut Marathi film. Fortunately for him, he understands and can speak the language too. “I always saw my character (Balu played by Sahil Jadhav) of the film as an immigrant in the city. That’s how I decided to a plunge in the Marathi film industry with Chumbak,” says Sandeep who has worked as an assistant director and associate in several Hindi films such as Neerja (2016), Joker (2010) and Sarkar Raj (2008).
The operations in both the industries are starkly different when it comes to locations, budgets and other finer aspects of film-making. Sandeep shares that it wasn’t an easy process but it became simple because they knew their bounds and worked on transforming their weaknesses into their strengths. “For example. I can never take Shah Rukh Khan to shoot in the locations we shot for in this film. Having said that, I found some great locations, which I am very proud of. They fit our narratives perfectly and are real. We knew our resources are limited but we made the most out of it.”
Talking about his days spent in Pune, Sandeep adds, “I like the pace of this city. It doesn’t really try to ape any other place. It helps us as film-makers to realise that there is more than one way or life that you can depict [on-screen].”
He shares how his evenings at Film and Television Institute of India were spent exploring food joints or a ritual walk to their ‘temple’ National Film Archive of India. He says, “Pune has a very young population and a buzz to it. It is more busting and a melting pot than most other cities.”
