Mumbai: Director Bejoy Nambiar talked about his anticipated release Tu Yaa Main. In an interview with News9, the director spoke of the skill and dedication displayed by the lead actors Adarsh Gourav and Shanaya Kapoor. Bejoy also revealed why he chose to release the survival thriller on Valentine’s Day.
When asked about his association with Aanand L Rai, whose films usually revolve around unrequited love, the director stated, “I think the intent was always there to work together. We have been talking about different subjects over the years. As a producer, Aanand sir has been really experimenting and pushing different genres and different kinds of stories. He has been part of an interesting bunch of films. So, when he asked me to come and hear this one, I had no idea what I was in form. I usually direct only the subjects that I write. So, I went with the mindset that I may not do this. But when I heard the subject in its entirety, the narration was so good. The fact that it was a new genre subverting a love story into a survival creature feature, it really excited me because it was something I had not done before. The challenge of it really excited me. That’s how the synergy happened.”
Further, he talked about the setting of the film that deals with content creators. Bejoy stated, “The writers Himanshu and Abhishek basically set these worlds of two completely different people from two completely different parts of the society. They were very clear about telling a contemporary love story which talks about the importance of social media and how that has been ingrained into our lives. That way, social media is a great leveler.”
Explaining why he chose Adarsh and Shanaya for the film, Bejoy stated, “When I heard the script, I asked them who are the people they have in mind, thinking as a production house they must be rattling off big star names. But when they said that they were thinking of Adarsh Gourav for this, that was so exciting for me as a choice.” He added, “Shanaya was on the top of our list. When her test came to us, I remember putting their pictures together and seeing how they’ll look side by side. We were immediately excited about how different they look and how different they’re in their personalities and how that’ll translate into the film. So, I think the excitement was right up there right from the beginning that we wanted to go with this kind of unconventional, curious kind of casting. And that kind of worked in our favour.”
He lauded the actors for bringing in small nuances. “In fact, when I sit in the edit and I watch, there are so many little things that both did which was not on paper, not in my head, which really helped me bettering the staging of a scene and getting them to own their parts than what I had imagined. I’m so glad and grateful that they both poured their hearts out on their characters and made it so believable and authentic for me,” said the director.
The director then revealed his decision to release the survival thriller on February 14. “So, it’s a genre that we don’t do much of and it’s an audience we don’t do enough films for. So, it kind of has a deadly, lethal combination of love and fear. And why not? And that’s what we’re pushing hard on. When we made the announcement, we said that we’re coming on Valentine’s Day, and I’m glad that we’re coming on Valentine’s Day. It is for that audience which will be ready to sample love and fear in equal doses,” said the director.
He then stated that the film is designed to ensure an audiovisual spectacle for theatre goers.