Neerja is the sleeper hit of the year and producer Atul Kasbekar reveals how the film was initiated and why he thought of Sonam Kapoor for the title role.
From being a photographer of the famous Kingfisher calendar to producing Neerja, how did it all happen?
Apart from being a photographer, we started a celeb management company called Bling. So producing Neerja was the logical progression after dealing with so many people in the film space and working out deals for stars. We were inherently close to the business. How Neerja happened is thanks to a series of events. I feel God wanted us to make this film. One of my partners, Shanti brought Saiwyn Quadras who had a seven-pager script (his Mary Kom (2014) had not been released yet so it wasn’t like we were taking a hit writer from a hit film). I was one of the few people that knew Neerja Bhanot mostly because she was a model before my time and I was studying in the US when the hijack occured. I told Saiwyn that we would buy his script if we got the rights from the family.
Was it easy to get Neerja’s family to agree to the script?
I connected with the Bhanot family and chatted with them. They asked us, “Have you made any film before?” and we had to say no. But for some strange reason, and I don’t know why, they gave us the rights. They told us 30 people had asked them for permission to make a film on Neerja earlier but they never said ‘yes’. They said ‘yes’ to me because they felt I was an honest chap.
Sonam Kapoor was an interesting choice considering she has never had a heroine-oriented success earlier.
Sonam was our first and only choice; she looked just like Neerja! We told her we were keeping her in mind for the project and luckily she said ‘yes.’
Why did you chose ad filmmaker Ram Madhvani, who was new to Bollywood, to direct this film?
We’ve been friends for 20 years. His career as an ad filmmaker started shortly after mine; I did an ad for him too. He has made amazing ad films and I have always believed that there is a deep emotional quotient which he will be able to capture.
What are your future plans after Neerja?
We have four-five projects. The scripts are being developed. Their genres generes are musical, action, comedy; it’s not like we will only make biopics.
