Not Just Bollywood with Nitesh Tiwari on Bawaal: ‘My strongest lesson and take away from the film is empathy’

National award-winning filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari’s much-awaited love-story, Bawaal is becoming a global phenomenon, creating excitement amongst the audience ever since its announcement and the international trailer launch event held at the iconic Queen Elizabeth II in Dubai. Enchanting the audience with an intriguing trailer complemented by enigmatic songs, the film goes beyond the confines of conventional love stories.

With stunning visuals and an underlying historical connect, the film has a much deeper personal attachment for him. During an interview with Firstpost on Bawaal, he shared that his father, who was the Education Head and a history teacher from the state of Madhya Pradesh, hoped to visit Europe owing to its significance in world history. A wish that remained unfulfilled, to witness the locations of these pivotal moments in history, that he had studied and taught extensively.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

 How did the idea of Bawaal come to you?

The film started with Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s idea. She took my dad to all these World War II places because he was very interested in it and my dad was a history professor too. He wished to visit Europe because of its rich Ashwiny was developing it for herself and later on she got busy with other stuff and the story remained with her. She did a small draft also beforehand keeping her sensibilities in mind. I just secretly wished that my father was there to watch the film.

So, when I got a free window, I asked her whether she would be kind enough to part with the story because I found it to be fascinating.  And then I took the story from her and me and my writers developed it. That’s how the story came about.

It’s a romantic film based on war. So, how do you deal with the war within you?

I formed my own philosophy based on my own experiences for so many years. I have started believing very strongly that whatever happens, happens for the best. There have been situations where you will find yourself asking why has this happened to me. But the alternative that life gives you at a later stage turns out to be a much better alternative.

How did the casting of the lead pair happen?

When I look at the casting my reference point are the characters who are there on paper in the script. The relationship between Ajay and Nisha shown in Bawaal was brought about very delicately. I wanted the male protagonist to look very dominating. Those were the physical traits. I wanted Nisha to be a little vulnerable. I wanted that volcano to erupt when she stood up for herself. Both of them, Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan came across to me as actors who wanted to do some good work and that was their priority.

When Bawaal came along, I only had Varun and Janvi in mind because it’s not easy for anyone to say yes to something that is a little different because my films are not regular kinds of films.

As a filmmaker what is your methodology and the dons and don’ts that you follow?

The dos and don’ts leap out to you, the moment you have material in hand because each scene is very important. You need to be aware of your screenplay both at a micro and macro level. The material will help me dictate and help me prepare the whole film and any particular scene in general.

We did workshops and readings. There are value additions which come out from actors too and these are calls we take before we go on floor. So, on the day we are shooting, we know exactly what to do. There are no surprises that can happen during a shoot. We did quite exhaustive prep for each and every scene and when we went on floor we were able to execute better.

Lessons learnt while making the film…

There will always be a part of me in my work. There are certain ideologies that I believe in and that’s the guiding light for. One of the strongest human feelings for me is ‘empathy’. There is no way we can ever compromise on it. That is my strongest take away from the film.