EXCLUSIVE | 'Gulmohar' director Rahul V. Chittella: 'Sharmila Tagore told me her film Aradhana was the RRR of her time'

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the director of the upcoming film Gulmohar Rahul V. Chitella talks about working with Sharmila Tagore, Manoj Bajpayee, Amol Palekar, and his experience of directing the film with such an interesting ensemble.

On the idea of the film

The idea came two or three years ago when me and my wife were pregnant and I wanted to make a feature film as a director. My co-writer Arpita Mukherjee, who has collaborated with me on a lot of projects, said we should explore the theme of family, that’s where the initial idea came from.

On the title of the film

I love the world, it’s such a beautiful world. It reminds you of Gulzar’s songs that always make you smile. You think of the flower the moment you hear that word, it makes you feel nostalgic. A lot of people don’t know what the word means; if you drive through the streets of Delhi, there are many Gulmohar trees on either side. And our film is based in Delhi, so very early on, we decided to name the film and the house Gulmohar.

On casting Amol Palekar, Sharmila Tagore and Manoj Bajpayee

When we started writing, we thought of the characters first. Arpita and I have this habit of knowing our characters, what’s their backstories, how it starts and how it ends. When we wrote Kusum’s character, we wanted someone who has lived her life in revolting but someone who’s rooted in traditions. The only name that came to me was Sharmila ji, because she has done this in her own life, with so much power and grace for so many years. I began rewatching a lot her films to know how she acts, how she emotes. Once we finished the script, she was the first actor I met through a common friend. We met for 2 hours and spoke about the film, family, many other topics. I narrated her the script and she called me after 3-4 days and said, ‘I’m doing this film, let’s have fun.’ This was 2019, pre pandemic. The next person I went to was Manoj, he had seen my short film a few years ago. He joked he would like to work with me. Within three hours of narration, he asked me when we are starting. He was the second actor I cast. With Amol ji it was very very exciting because that part is very important. I wanted someone who’s in the same age group as Sharmila ji. I wrote to him that Sharmila ji is on, Manoj is on, and it took only a week for him to say yes, and he was on.

On Aradhana being the RRR of the 60s

Sharmila ji said something really nice. She said Aradhana was the RRR of her time.

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