Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey attended IIT Mumbai’s annual cultural festival ‘Mood Indigo’ along with his upcoming film ‘Aiyaary’s actor Manoj Bajpayee on Saturday in Mumbai. During panel discussion, Pandey stated that nationalism shouldn’t be shown by token of collective symbolism.
Sharing his view on Nationalism as his upcoming movie ‘Aiyaary’ deals with nationalism and patriotism, Neeraj said, “We live in time where everybody has a point of view and this current generation as I like to believe, they don’t need to be told. They are very comfortable with the idea of trying to understand on their own terms. My country what it would means to me is my personal thing and I don’t consider myself any less patriotic than anyone else in this world. It cannot and should not be shown by a token of collective symbolism. It doesn’t mean anything from my point of view”
Neeraj Pandey has earlier worked with Manoj Bajpayee in ‘Special 26’ and a short film called ‘Ouch’, so when asked about experience of working Bajpayee for their upcoming film ‘ Aiyaary’, Neeraj said, “ I always feel that he (Manoj Bajpayee) never goes in the first place so there is no coming back. He is always around even if I am not directing a movie then acts in some of the projects that we produce so with Manoj, it’s never out of touch or out connect at any point of time and it’s a pleasure, I really cherish this relationship”
It seems Neeraj Pandey in love with espionage thrillers as he has directed ‘Baby’ and produced ‘Naam Shabana’ and now he is coming up with another film from that genre called ‘Aiyaary’ so when asked Neeraj why loves to produce content which is related with this particular genre, Neeraj said, “I think this what I like doing. All sorts of movies on a serious note, I prefer to chase ideas, ideas which are worth sharing in the medium that I am comfortable with. I am always looking out for a good story primarily. Many times, you think that its potentially a good story and you end up working on it and then if you are honest enough at some point of time then you have to tell yourself that whether it’s going to survive or not and then have that courage to walk away from it in case it doesn’t work, not just find an excuse that because I worked on it for so long then make it, sometimes walking away from your script takes more courage and I feel this is the process one tries to follow so the stories that we end up making or ideas has gone through that filter so we are very proud of our film and I am looking forward for audience response to our film”
Neeraj’s film ‘Aiyaary’ means, the ultimate trickery. The word ‘Aiyaary’ fabulously sums up what a Soldier resorts to ultimately in the face of extreme crisis. His intelligence, sharpness and wit not only bedazzles his own troop but also earns him the respect of his enemies. So when asked Neeraj whether he had done any kind of Aiyaary in his life, he said, “I think surviving in the movie industry because the kinds of subjects we take puns on and audience turning up into theatre and encouraging is itself is a huge thing. We know that we walk on offbeat track and it’s actually a huge pun right from our first film till now”
When asked Neeraj whether he is open to make remake of a Hollywood movie, to that, Neeraj said, “No.. I don’t like the idea of remakes and directing it myself”
Talking about term feminism, Neeraj said, “I don’t have any doubt in my mind that women are superior species to begin with. Those who are living with doubt should let go of it as soon as possible. In my house, my seven year daughter bullies me, she can get whatever she wants out of me and I believe we do understand that they sort of anchor our lives so treating them with respect is the most basic thing that we can do”
Sharing his thoughts on nepotism in the film industry as he was an outsider when he established himself without having any backup from film family or god father, Neeraj said, “Actually, I have very clear cut opinion on this that the founder like Prithviraj Kapoor was an outsider so why we our wasting our time on this petty issue . No one has forced you to enter into film business. It is always your choice so we shouldn’t make these excuses. Of course there will be people who will be biased towards each other but I feel its part of our job to survive that and it is as simple as that. If a person favors his son or his immediate family member then it’s out of his responsibility so I don’t see that these terms should be used at all. It’s gotten boring and passé now”
‘Aiyaary’ has been shot across London, Delhi and Kashmir.
Aiyaary stars Sidharth, Manoj, Pooja Chopra, Rakulpreet, Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah.
Aiyaary is Pandey’s next after MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. Pandey has emerged out to be an expert voice with films that are inspired by true events and are made against the backdrop of Intelligence agencies, armed forces, etc. The filmmaker is known was his work in like A Wednesday, Special 26 and Baby.
‘Aiyaary’ is releasing on 26th January 2018 on Republic day of India.
