Hansal Mehta: With Kareena, it’s the same chemistry that I have with Rajkummar

A still from the upcoming Hansal Mehta series starring Kareena Kapoor Khan

Is it a keen eye, or instinct? Or both? In his 23-year film career, Hansal Mehta has displayed a knack not only for compelling stories, but also for scouting talent. Be it Rajkummar Rao or Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) find Pratik Gandhi, the director has brought gifted actors to the fore. His yet-untitled next unites him with Kareena Kapoor Khan, a superstar at the top of her game. Not habituated to collaborations with big stars, Mehta says he was taken by Khan's command over her craft.

"It was an absolute joy to work with her. She is such a good actor," he begins. The noir thriller, which sees Kapoor playing a cop, marks the confluence of two different cinematic sensibilities - while the actor's filmography is dominated by mainstream masala offerings, the director leans towards raw and hard-hitting movies. So, what happens when the two worlds come together? "One thing I can say is you will see a new Kareena in the film. We had a very good time shooting the film. With her, it's the same kind of chemistry that I have with Rajkummar, Pratik, Mohammed Zeeshan [Ayyub] and Karishma [Tanna]," he smiles.

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Rajkummar Rao and Hansal Mehta

Tanna and Ayyub star in Mehta's Scoop, which dropped on Netflix last month and has been widely praised since. Success is sweet, but freedom tastes better, agrees the director, who has bagged a multi-series deal with the streaming platform after the series' success. "It gives me an added blanket of security. I know [now] that the stories I want to tell have a space, where they will be embraced wholeheartedly. I applied a lot of learnings from Scam 1992 on Scoop. [One of them is] that if you tell authentic Indian stories in an honest and engaging manner while trusting the audience's intelligence, they can be told," he says.

Casting television actor Tanna as the lead could have been a challenge, but the director says that the success of Scam 1992 put him in a position of power to defend his choice. "That's the power of success. Because Scam succeeded, I could have these casting negotiations. It took an Applause [Entertainment] to believe in Pratik, for Netflix to believe in the casting choice of Karishma."