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Sriram Raghavan: Bought off the books and Kindle version
Updated On: 12 January, 2024 06:07 AM IST | Mumbai | Hiren Kotwani
With Merry Christmas based on a French novel, director Raghavan on how he ensured that audiences didn’t know the plot beforehand; says thriller was made as a bilingual to reduce losses incurred in lockdown
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The Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi-starrer is set over one night
Sriram Raghavan stumbled upon a gripping story of one night when he read a French novel. Next, that meticulous mind of his—which has crafted some of Bollywood’s most entertaining thrillers— sprang into action. The filmmaker bought most available versions of the book because he was certain that he wanted to tell this story on the big screen. That’s how Merry Christmas began. He recalls, “One-night stories are a challenge. I loved Yash Chopra’s Ittefaq [1969]. This story had shades of that. I bought off the books, only six of them were available. I bought as many Kindle versions as I could. What drew me to the story is that it’s nothing like Andhadhun [2018], Johnny Gaddaar [2007] or Badlapur [2015]. It is in that genre, but is a more emotional story.”
Raghavan considers himself a mainstream commercial director. After all, his last directorial venture, Andhadhun earned R457 crore globally. And yet, his films are set in a twisted world that’s rarely seen in mainstream Hindi cinema. The Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi-starrer too promises to be a wild ride. “Commercial filmmakers must up the ante. When Andhadhun did fabulous business, my next step wasn’t to double the business. I’m fearful of f***ing up the original with a bad sequel. I wanted to make a film just as great, but entirely different from it. I’m easily bored of mundane stories. I’ve grown up on commercial cinema, and I wouldn’t be happy if I made a movie that people don’t get. But at the same time, I don’t believe in spoon-feeding my audience. In Merry Christmas, if you miss a conversation while checking your phone, then you might miss how it ties in at the climax.”
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