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A different director
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While `Stumped' did not fare too well at the B.O, it won praise for daring to be different. Journalist-turned-director Gaurab Pandey talks about all that went into the making of the film.
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CAUGHT & BOWLED: Colonel Raghav (Aly Khan) explains the situation to his wife Reena (Raveena Tandon).
HE IS known as a new age writer and director and is famous for his tragic-comic genre of scripts. Journalist-turned-director Gaurab Pandey (writer and director of Stumped) does not want to be typecast in any particular mould.
"I am not a person who likes resting on past laurels. I believe in moving on with my work in particular, and life in general. Before even Stumped was ready for release, I started work on my next script," says Pandey.
Having begun writing at the age of 16, Gaurab wrote for some of the leading newspapers in the country, - including The Times of India and The Statesman.
CHARACTER STUDY: The film is not about the actors or actresses
At the age of 22, he directed a short film, while still studying in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Mumbai beckoned and he came back from Paris in 1997 where he had gone for higher studies on scholarship. He penned the script of Basu Bhattacharya's much talked about film Aastha, starring Rekha and Om Puri. The unconventional story created quite a controversy. Says Gaurab, "I did not write the film to create any controversy. I only write scripts that are close to my heart."
He has made five one-hour films for Star Plus, the most famous being Chaudhavi ka Chand, a comedy that makes one cry. Speaking about Stumped, Gaurab says that he finished shooting the film in 31 days. The story is set during the 1999 Cricket World Cup and the Kargil war. It is that period of time when India is in the grip of cricket fever and how cricket takes priority over war. The director says, "The film exposes the futility of war. It relates how we conveniently remember all cricket score records but choose to ignore the scores of soldiers who die fighting for our country in order to save the lives of civilians."
The film is not about the actors or actresses but about all the characters. In this era of hero-driven films, this was a bold style for any director/writer to take up. But says Gaurab, "Who says one has to follow the beaten track ... " Here's kudos to the creativity, which will continue to stump all his viewers!
SANGEETAA KARIA
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