Even with his sterling career and collection of awards, Manoj Bajpayee was still overjoyed after clinching a Special Mention at India’s 70th National Film Awards for his role in family drama Gulmohar . The film also won Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Screenplay (Dialogues).
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Released on Disney+ Hotstar last year, Gulmohar revolves around the multi-generational Batra family who are set to move out of their 34-year-old family home, called Gulmohar. This major change ignites a re-discovery of kinship and familial bonds, while personal secrets and insecurities lurk under the surface.
Sharmila Tagore played the role of matriarch Kusum, while Bajpayee took on the role of her son.
Bajpayee lauded the “collaborative atmosphere” that Chittella’s Gulmohar set provided.
“On set, we don’t believe in hierarchy so we used to all eat and go out for dinners together,” Bajpayee told Deadline. “Some of my ex-colleagues who were not a part of this film visited us and they were shocked when they learned that we had dinner together after a film shoot. I said that to me, this is a form of preparation. We’re all unwinding together because we have to eat food, so might as well do it together.”
The Gulmohar cast also included Amol Palekar, Simran, Suraj Sharma, Kaveri Seth and Utsavi Jha.
The screenplay for Gulmohar was finished in mid-2019, with Tagore and Bajpayee confirming their participation by the end of the year.
After presenting the project to Bikram Duggal, Vice President and Head of Studios at Disney Star, in 2021, Gulmohar was greenlit. However, due to the pandemic, production only began in March 2022, before the film was released on Disney+ Hotstar in March last year.
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The film is produced by Star Studios in association with Chalkboard Entertainment and Autonomous Works.
“The idea for the film came from exploring the meaning of family and home,” Chittella said. “I was in a phase of life where my wife was pregnant and we wanted to buy our own house. My parents were also getting older and this inspired me to think of a story where I could explore the meaning of family and home, because truly when you look back, those are the only two things that have ever really mattered.”
Chittella added that he loves writing ensemble pieces as they offer an opportunity to examine intergenerational relationships. “I could explore three generations of characters and the meaning of family and home through the point-of-view of three generations,” he said.
Chittella co-wrote the film with Arpita Mukherjee. “Although Arpita and I are co-writers, we have our own process because she primarily writes and thinks in English, while I write in Hindi,” Chittella said. “I’m also very fond of dialogue. I love giving dialogues to actors, especially brilliant actors, because I know that they’ll take those lines, make magic and create something beautiful.”
Reflecting on his working relationship with Chittella, Bajpayee said, “With Rahul, there was an easy chemistry between both of us because we’ve known each other for a long time.”
Sharing more about his pre-shoot routine, Bajpayee said that he usually wakes up early to do yoga and practice meditation, before revisiting the shooting script for the day.
For Chittella, he usually likes to be one of the first people on set, along with his director-of-photography. “I like being there when no one is around or when the space is being set up, for me to read the sights and scenes,” Chittella said. “Even though everything will change once the actors come in and the lights come on, it just helps me to prepare.”
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