The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives in many ways and one of them is the way we watch movies. With new formats being explored, one thing that has become a trend is anthologies. Movies have become shorter, and some are just a collection of short films – an anthology.
Last year, the OTT space saw a series of anthology films like Ghost Stories, Unposed, Pava Kadaigal, Zindagi in Short. The trend continues this year with films like Ajibhi Dastaan and the recently released Re receiving praise from the critics as well as the audience.
Netflix is coming up with another anthology called The Untold Story. Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Abhishek Chaubey and Saket Choudhary, the feature tells the tales of love, loss and longing in Mumbai. It stars Abhishek Banerjee, Zoya Hussain, Kunal Kapoor, Rinku Rajguru and Deljad Hiwale.
Talking about her film, Ashwini said, “With every story I want to challenge myself as a storyteller and create diverse emotional connections between the audience and the characters that will stay in their mind for some time. Will stay I hope with this story I can captivate the imagination of movie buffs with the questions of untold and unanswered emotions that every human being goes through. I am so glad that our story reaches out to the world with the trust and influence of Netflix. “
Abhishek’s film is the story of young love in the 1980s city and the world of single screen theatre. “When you’re young and caged in Mumbai, it’s a lovely escape in search of love. And what’s better than finding it in movies, however fleeting? It’s especially close to my heart. And I’m really excited for everyone to see it,” he said.
Saket said, “Love stories have always been one of my favorite genres. It is a pleasure to be a part of the thriving story theme of The Untold Story. It was great working with a talented set of directors and collaborating with Netflix for this anthology. “
Casting plays an important role and for Abhishek, getting the right actor was of prime importance. “Rinku (Rajguru) was a natural choice for me. He is one of the best actors I have worked with. That girl is electric.
After watching him in Sairat, I realized that this film is going to be a great sequel,” he says, “On the other hand, finding the lead role was a long process. Today the problem is with most of the young budding actors. Taran Bajaj and Honey Trehan had worked with Delzad in Chittagong and realized that he must have grown old by now.
Talking about bringing Kunal and Zoya on board, Saket says, “Long ago Kunal’s name was suggested. He is a very attractive man and you can feel that he is looking great in general so we were a little hesitant. But we chatted with him and realized how much sensitivity he brings. I remember Zoya from Mukbaaz. His performance was superb. It was a lovely combination.
For Ashwini, the idea was to cast someone we haven’t seen doing the same kind of roles, “I’ve always seen Abhishek doing angry roles and I felt giving him a film like this was his soft side. Will have to seek and find out. A different identity.”
The funny thing is that their heroine is a mannequin, and Iyer said they were looking for the right one, “I wanted a mannequin whose eyes could speak. I still remember the last day of shooting when we clapped for him and called him ‘pack up’ (laughs).”
In addition, directors talk about the problems they face in deciding the length of their films.
Ashwini admits that she is used to shooting for long hours, “Initially, the runtime was 40 minutes, but then Aashi (Dua) asked me if we could reduce it to 35 minutes. The first reaction was that it would not be possible as there are a lot of emotions that need to be displayed, but then when I started looking at the film objectively, some of the scenes were long. So I haven’t really taken out anything, but shortened the length a bit.”
Saket says that he decided to cut some part as it was not important. “What we cut out descriptively was how both characters in my film explored the relationship of their respective partners and when we saw it, we felt it was the least important part of the film so we took it Painfully edited. Hope it’s the right length.”
On the other hand, it was not an easy editing process for Abhishek, “Naturally, it was not a scene after scene film. We were living parallel lives. And giving it a sense of progress without making it look like a montage was a huge challenge. My first cut was 49 minutes.
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