Uunchai: Director's Journey to National Award Glory Revealed

• How did the journey of Uunchai commence? What was the starting point? And what was your goal?

Answer: When I started with Uunchai, I was often told, that it isn't my kind of film to make. It didn't have lavish sets, big songs, and dance numbers, or celebratory outfits. But Uunchai came from my heart. As a director, I didn't pick the story. Uunchai's story picked me! And today, I thank that story for choosing me. Uunchai gives me my first Best Director National Award. It's a beautiful journey that me and my film have had...that comes to a perfect landing today!

Uunchai’s pre-production started during the pandemic. A time, where tomorrow was unsure, I had a strong feeling from within, to conquer that fear of the unknown! So the experience of making Uunchai has been one of the most liberating ones! I last felt this way, when I was making Vivah. I didn’t want to psyche myself with Uunchai’s commercial performance and box office numbers, I rather just wanted to tell a story, in a time of despair that could give hope and uplift anyone and everyone who saw the film. The kind of love and warmth that Uunchai was welcomed with on-screen, really reinstilled my belief that a good story is a good story, is a good story and no way that a good story won’t reach people.

• For a film that is the most experimental film of your career, getting the National Award for Best Director, how does it feel?

Answer: I am humbled to be honored amongst the best that the country has seen in cinema during 2022. It takes me back 30 years when Hum Aapke Hain Koun won the National Award for Best Film. The rush and happiness that I felt as a young director then was crazy! But today, as I get the National Award for Best Director - Uunchai, there is a sense of gratitude and calmness... The joy and happiness are much more internal today! As a director, my job for the last 35 years has been to keep telling stories. And I'm not done yet, there's much more to come!

• How was the experience of making a film like Uunchai, different from the experience of making your other films?

Answer: Everyone says that Uunchai is a different film, an experimental film for me compared to my previous films. But to me, Uunchai may look very different from all my other films, but its core is the same as my previous family films. Having said that - each film is different and brings with it a tough nut to crack. I've always shot most of my films on sets... But Uunchai was different because it gave me the experience of a great outdoor, the toughest production that we have untaken in our 60 films at Rajshri. Uunchai was the first Hindi film that was shot at the Everest Base Camp. The sheer responsibility of taking such a big cast on a risky outdoor was what made Uunchai a film, where every day we just gave it our all!

• How did your actors react? They all believe totally in your vision...

Answer: Uunchai and I were blessed to have this dream star cast! Working with these veterans, these stalwarts was no less than a film school all over again. Every day on set, there was learning and creation. My entire cast was my backbone during the making of Uunchai. They believed in me, my story, and my vision so much so that they all happily trekked and shot at 15000 feet above sea level in rough climate conditions. I will be eternally grateful to the cast of Uunchai for making this dream project a reality. The day the National Awards were declared, Neenaji and I both had the honor of winning for Uunchai. The warmth and love that the whole cast sent our way on that win moved my heart.

• What does the National Award mean to you?

Answer: Our National Film Awards unite our industry because they are a celebration of films made in every language! Winning the Best Director at this stage, makes me feel humbled and honored to the core. I feel I have truly climbed my Everest today. This immense recognition belongs to my entire team of senior actors and technicians, who fought the pandemic and shot at unheard locations with me.

• Whom would you like to dedicate the award to?

Answer: Uunchai was a special film..made in the 75th year of our production house. I would like to dedicate this award to Rajshri Productions and to all my elders in the family, under whom we continue to learn, to tell stories that can be inspiring, and happy, and which help us trust each other and the power of goodness. I would like to also give credit for this win to my Gurus…Shri Mahesh Bhatt, Shri N. Chandra, Shri Hiren Nag who taught me the passion of being a filmmaker..!

Read also:

• Tajinder Bagga's Shocking Revelation on Sidhu Moosewala's Death
  
• Big B sold his house to pay off his debt, Rajinikanth revealed
• Emraan Hashmi Suffers Severe Neck Injury on 'Goodachari 2' Set
• Vivian Dsena on Bigg Boss: 'I Haven't Watched a Single Episode'