No temptation to base my next in small town: Sharat Katariya

Mumbai: Sharat Katariya has delivered two hits in “Dum Laga Ke Haisha” and “Sui Dhaaga”, which were set in small towns but the filmmaker says there is no temptation to set his third in the same milieu.

Sharat’s films have been lauded for using the small town setting in the most organic manner.

The director says he is currently working on multiple ideas, but he is not sure which one will materialise.

“Stories come with their own rules and regulations and, settings. You can’t impose or dictate those things. When something excites you, you go for it. It can be based anywhere. I have stories but there is no temptation to set them there,” Sharat said in an interview.

“The only temptation is to write stories you feel strongly about. Currently I’m writing and I’m still in that process. Nothing has been figured out yet. I’m working on multiple ideas but don’t know which one will materialise,” he added.

The director was part of the panel discussion ‘Unapologetically Indian: The new breed of Swadeshi storyteller of the industry’ at the 20th edition of FICCI Frames on Wednesday night.

While small town-set films are working at the box office, they are facing criticism for now having become a template and losing novelty.

Sharat says the industry has already fallen into “that trap”.

“Now it’s a template. The small town and their people have become caricatures of real people, which isn’t nice. In ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’, the town wasn’t important. It was about an uneducated man who was going through his problems of dealing with an overweight woman.

“That’s how the story came to me. That’s why I set it in a town where things matter and are considered issues,” he added.