'Aksar is an updated Hitchcock'

Director Ananth Mahadevan describes Aksar as a "pure emotional thriller."

Ananth Mahadevan doesn’t know how to react to the sudden decision of his producer to schedule his film Aksar along with Suneel Darshan’s long-delayed Mere Jeevan Saathi. Both films hit the screens on Friday.

"Under normal circumstances MereJeevan Saathi would have been such formidable competition. We can never undermine the Akshay Kumar-Suneel Darshan combination. Add to that, the Karisma Kapoor-Amisha Patel glamour quotient... This could have been a big threat to Aksar.

"Unfortunately, Mere Jeevan Saathi has been inordinately delayed. It is really sad when a film comes too late. In that sense, I have been lucky. All my three films have been completed on time. Aksar took just 35 days stretched over a period of four months, that’s it.”

Mahadevan describes Aksar as a "pure emotional thriller." He notes Emraan Hashmi’s reputation as the serial kisser but also confesses the film has a kissing scene between Hashmi and Udita Goswami.

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Anant Mahadevan describes Aksar  as a "pure emotional thriller." He notes Emraan Hashmi’s reputation as the serial kisser but also confesses the film has a kissing scene between Hashmi and Udita Goswami.

"In fact, I was very worried about it being perceived as sleazy. To my relief the Censor Board found it aesthetic. Very frankly, I don’t think all those sexy jokes and kisses in Hashmi’s last release

Jawani Diwani

were necessary. The audience won’t stand for irrelevant cheesiness. But I guess

Kyaa Kool Hai Hum

has triggered off a risqué mood in our comedies."

Mahadevan calls

Aksar

an updated Alfred Hitchcock. "It is more a how-dunit than a whodunit. It is a tribute to the French noir genre. But it is not a dark brooding thriller. It is got a lot of music in it."

He says unlike his other two films,

Dil Vil Pyar Vyar

and

Yeh Dil Mange More

where music and songs were integral to the romantic format, in

Aksar

the problem was how to fit the music in the suspense format.

"One thing we were sure of. Himesh Reshammiya had to compose songs very different from what he had done so far. I think the music fits in very well. In the past, we had great suspense musicals like Bees

Saal Baad, Kohra

and

Gumnam

. I can’t say

Aksar

fits into that groove. But, yes, it blends music and suspense. Most important,

Aksar

is an original piece of work.

After directing

Staying Alive

, a film based on the late writer Sujit Sen’s life, Mahadevan has now made a film from Sujit Sen’s last script. "Sujit was a close friend. And when he gave me the script of

Aksar

he said something he had never said before. He called

Aksar

a potential hit. I hope his words come true."