After announcing adaptations of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s gems, director Mehta says her Bawarchi remake blends the original’s emotions with the current generation’s outlook
A still from the film
Last year, Mrs Undercover director Anushree Mehta had told mid-day that she, along with her business partners Abir Sengupta and Sameer Raj Sippy, would revisit Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s classics Bawarchi (1972) and Mili (1975) (That ’70s charm, July 12). When the trio began discussing the prospective writers and directors who could remake the gems, they realised the answer was in front of them all along. “Sameer and Abir said, ‘Why don’t you write and direct [Bawarchi] because the genre is right up your alley?’ As a filmmaker, I want to speak to family audiences. So, I lapped it up,” beams Mehta.
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The director has finished writing the screenplay of the Bawarchi remake. While she understands the responsibility of remaking a classic, she isn’t bogged down by it. “A filmmaker has to be brave because they will be judged. It is amplified for a Bawarchi remake because it’s a classic. As long as I do it with honesty, sensitivity and responsibility, I can pull it off.”
Starring Rajesh Khanna in the titular role, Bawarchi told the story of a dysfunctional family that undergoes a shift after they hire a cook. For Mehta, the key is to retain the original’s values while catering to the current generation’s mindset. “I don’t want to make it gimmicky. I want to stay true to its authenticity because Bawarchi talks about the emotions that a family goes through. The idea is to be relatable like the original, but [reflect] the current times because the world has changed so much. Ego hassles and disagreements within a family used to happen earlier too, but how one reacts to them has changed today.” Mehta plans to roll the project later this year.
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