Director Saad Khan is in Chennai, wrapping up work on Humble Politician Nograj and eagerly waiting to see moviegoers’ response to the movie on Friday. “I am going through everything once more before the movie gets uploaded, and along with me is my assistant Chandini, who is all of 22 years old, working tirelessly on this movie along with editor Sachin of Kirik Party. We have a good feeling about this movie and are looking forward to screening it to the audience,” says Saad.
“I have been watching the film over and over again, over the last eight months. I have watched it more times than my parents have seen me this year. This movie has clean humour, Danish and I were particular about that while writing its script. We wanted to steer clear of a sex comedy or slapstick humour,” he says.While Saad is appreciative about Danish’s performance, he is confident that his character will win the audience over and have them in splits.
This will be the third film after Station and Love and She from Saad, and his first Kannada feature film. Humble Politician… is also special to him because it marks the 10th anniversary of his directorial career. “My first short film Another Kind of Black was screened at the Cannes 2008. It was a memorable moment and I was all of 22, and that is when I decided to choose this as a career,” he says.The movie will have a universal appeal, according to Saad. “This is a film, and its language is cinema. Audience have watched the trailers and teasers are appreciated us for the movie’s use of Kannada,” he says.
Another reason for the movie turning out well is the free hand given to the director by the producers, he says, and adds that as a director he too does not believe in yelling at team members to get things done. “That’s why so many people have so many good things to say about Humble…,” says Saad. “Producers have given me so much creative freedom during the making of this movie, and they have shown great respect for our talent and we returned that sentiment,” he says.
According to Saad, Humble Politician Nograj can be a model to follow for team work and creative liberty. The team includes Saad, actor and writer Danish Sait, filmmaker Pushkar Mallikarjunaiah, actor-director-producer Rakshit Shetty and director-producer Hemanth M Rao.
Saad says, “Usually, when so many people work together there are bound to be disagreements, but when we came together everyone was open to giving and taking ideas. This is a good example to follow for younger filmmakers, to allow art to lead a project, to have a better product. The producers respected my vision and asked me to take a call. Danish and I had written the movie together and Hemanth, who is also a writer, got involved to bring out the final draft. The director has the final call but teamwork and collaboration always give a better outcome.”
The cast includes Sumukhi Suresh and Vijay Chendoor, and the movie has music by Sricharan Pakala. Saad says that music programmer Sunny Henry’s background score will be discussed for a long while in Sandalwood. Humble Politician.. has Karm Chawla doing the camerawork.