Film with Kajol could have been my first venture: Anand Gandhi

Mumbai: Filmmaker Anand Gandhi is putting together his next film as a writer, featuring Kajol, and reveals that the project could have taken off earlier had “Ship of Theseus” not happened. The project is produced by Ajay Devgn and will be directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

“It has been a while (since we are working on it). It is in early stages of pre-production, they have locked Pradeep Sarkar to direct the film. I am very excited about it,” Anand says in an interview with PTI. The film is an adaptation of Gandhi’s popular Gujarati play “Beta Kaagdo”.

“The film is based on a play, which itself was loosely based on my mother’s life. My mother is very excited to see Kajol in the film. I have no idea (who will play my part),” he says. “In the last 12 years, I have been thinking of adapting the play into a film. If ‘Ship of Theseus’ had not happened, this would have been my first film. I have been working on this on and off.”

When Gandhi first thought of the project, he discussed it with noted writer Robin Bhatt. “Robin Bhatt has written some 55 awesome films. He was aware of the film and he is the one who recommended that the play should be made into a film with Kajol,” Gandhi says.

The film required a certain budget and so things did not work out in the past, he says. “I was working on it for the longest time. Around the time I was making ‘Ship of Theseus’, I was committed to two-three stories… this was one of the stories.

“It just happened that this was a more ambitious project and we needed more budget at our disposal. That time we had limited budget. So it was more conducive to make a film like ‘Ship of Theseus’ than this one,” he says.

Describing Kajol as a “wonderful person”, Gandhi says the actor has a bird’s eye view of the plot of his film. “I am an admirer of her work. I love talking and discussing ideas with her. I was happy to interact with both Ajay and Kajol. They have sensitive perspectives that surprised me about my story,” he says.