Mira Nair mentored Rahul V. Chittella for his debut short film, Azaad, in the anthology Shor Se Shuruaat. Talking to us from New York, the world renowned filmmaker opened up various aspects of her life.
She revealed that Rahul had pursued her for work at her production house Mirabai Films in New York. After shooing him away many times, she finally gave him some work, and within a few weeks he had become an indispensable part of her production house.
Even though Rahul is in Mumbai and she is in New York, the two were constantly in touch right from the start of Azaad. Mira reveals how she edited the vision of Rahul and made it better. She would give suggestions at various stages of filmmaking - sometimes Rahul would take them into account, often he would stick to his directorial sensibilities.
Talking about the other mentors in Shor Se Shuruaat - Zoya Akhtar, Imtiaz Ali, Shyam Benegal, Homi Adajania, Nagesh Kukunoor, Sriram Raghavan - Mira said that she was looking forward to seeing them all. She knows all the mentors and therefore it has become an exciting ensemble of films.
Talking about the medium of short films, Mira opens up saying that she is addicted to short films, and makes almost 1-2 short films a year.
Shor Se Shuruaat also features other short films like Dhvani, Decibel, Yellow Tin Can Telephone, Mia I'm, Hell O Hello and Aamer - all made under the common theme of 'Shor' (Noise).
Produced by Preety Ali, Vinay Mishra and Pallavi Rohatgi under the banner of Humara Movie, Shor Se Shuruaat hits theatres worldwide this Friday.