'We Got Exactly The Right Casting This Film Wanted'

Writer and director Anusha Rizvi returns to cinema after 15 years -- and she does it with warmth, wit and many a laughs.

Anusha Rizvi has just returned home to Delhi after a whirlwind trip to Mumbai timed with the release of her delightful film The Great Shamsuddin Family.

The one-and-a-half hour OTT movie centres around a contemporary, educated Muslim family in Delhi and the chaos that unfolds when a family -- one by one -- descends on the house of an academic daughter racing through a deadline for a job abroad.

The delightful inter-generational banter is fresh and leaves you in splits several times over. The film powered by a wonderful ensemble cast has received positive all round reviews.

Anusha whose last film was the highly acclaimed Peepli [Live]! (2010) watched the film with the cast over the weekend and is still absorbing the compliments that are coming her way.

"It is still sinking in and is extremely special," says the independent filmmaker, an alumnus of St Stephen's College, New Delhi, as she discusses her warm and witty film with Archana Masih/Rediff.

How long did it take you to write the script and make this film?

It took me about 8 years. Writing in itself was very contained. Overall, it took me six months to finish writing the script, but took a very long time to find funding for this film.

I suppose that's how it is for all independent filmmakers. You don't know if what you're writing will ever be made. You just have got to live with it.

When did the The Great Shamsuddin Family finally get greenlit?

In February of this year.

You have assembled a fabulous cast. How long did that take? How difficult was it?

The credit for the casting goes to Casting Director Dilip Shankar. He's a veteran who has done amazing work in the past.

He got the tone and humour of the script so well and got the right actors for the roles.

Kritika Kamra (plays Bani, the young, divorced academic) is tremendously talented and was phenomenal. I made a great choice because she works hard and is an intelligent actress who asks many questions and comes prepared with the scene. She is such a professional.

I knew that Juhi Babbar Soni would be the perfect Humaira. So many people have messaged me -- even in a one liner -- about that last scene of Juhi in the film. So many people have come up to me to talk about it.

Then when Shreya Dhanwanthary did the audition, I was taken by surprise. She did it flawlessly.

I saw her in Scam and Family Man which were such different roles, yet she was just perfect as Iram.

So casting-wise, I've been extremely lucky. We got exactly the right casting that this film wanted.

Farida Jalal just stole the show! It was marvellous to see her.

It really is. She's an actress who can make a place shine just by her presence. She's a rock star.

Was it easy to get her on board? One doesn't see her much in films.

She's very active. You'll soon see her in Vishal Bhardwajji's upcoming film.

I gave the script out to everyone to read it. When Faridaji read it, I think she was not very convinced and a little reluctant. Sometimes when you're reading off the page, you're not sure about the tonality of the script.

So we did a long Zoom meeting where we called all the actors and I narrated the script. In between my narration, I noticed that Faridaji was laughing so hard that she was throwing her head back in laughter!

And I was like, oh, okay, so, it's working.

The incidents that occur through the day in that Delhi house, did you pick them up from real events -- from family or friends or neighbours?

I actually started the film with Amitabh's character which is played by Purab Kohli because there was a character who actually was like him in real life.

A very close friend of mine is an academic. An old friend of hers landed up at her house and then didn't leave for the next three weeks.

So, we were discussing this on the phone and she was telling me that he wasn't leaving and that's how Amitabh's character came to me.

I picked it up and started writing a character around it. Then Bani's history, personal life gradually started adding up and it became a very different story from where it began.

For a writer, when you are fleshing out characters, the inspiration comes from somewhere, but eventually, when that full-blown character is written, there is a bit of inspiration and you pad up the rest from motivation.

And you got Purab Kohli who is based in London to play that role?

He is such a lovely actor. I am not sure if he's ever done anything close. It was totally not his comfort zone, but he made it his own -- even when the shot was not on him -- he's Amitabh only.

I did not know him at all, but he was so generous to come down to India for the role which was not a central role. Yet he did it with amazing generosity.

He helped us a lot on the sets. The whole environment was such that people were stepping up to a little more than what they were expected to do.

Don't miss Part 2: 'The actors the surprised me most were...'