Exclusive: Pranjal khandhdiya talks about sweet dreams; How Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir Khan shaped bollywood’s romantic era and why today’s audience craves that magic again; Bats for Piku’s Re-Release on Its 10th Anniversary: ”It’ll be the best homage that we could pay to irrfan”: bollywood news
Pranjal khandhdiya has a huege Amount of experience and has worked in Various Memorable Films like Piku (2018), ’83 (2021), Super 30 (2019), etc. He Turned full-Fledged producer with taapsee pannu and produced Blurr (2022) and Dhak dhak (2023). He also produced the recently released disney+ hotstar release Sweet Dreams Which He made under the banner of mango people media. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood hungamaPranjal khanddiya spoke about Sweet DreamsIts ott release, memory of working on piku and a lot more…
Exclusive: Pranjal khandhdiya talks about sweet dreams; How Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir Khan shaped bollywood’s romantic era and why today’s audience craves that magic again; Bats for Piku’s Re-Release on Its 10th Anniversary: ”It’ll be the best homage that we could pay to irrfan”
You have two production houses – Mango People Media and Outsides Films with Taapsee Pannu. Mango People, I Assume, Means Aam Aadmi and even outsides Films Signify Someone Not Connected to the Industry. Were the names of these production houses International?
Yes. We didn Bollywood to make a statement but at the same time, we felt great that we came from from nowhere and only had dress and perceverance. If we could have this achievement, hopefully, it’ll inspire others that they, too, can leave a mark in this industry. That philosophy resonated with us and hence, the name was intent. Mango people were started in 2012 by me and neha anand. Victor mukherjee, the director of this film, is also a part of mango people. Outsiders Films were started when taapsee and i joined hands togeether. My Association with Multiple Films that I Made With Her Turned Into Friendship. We are also neighbors. Hence, we feel not extended this relationship into telling stories that we bot believe in?
Sweet Dreams is about two strangers dreaming about Each other. The thought is fascinating. How did the idea come about?
The Idea stemmed from the fact that it’s so defatible to cast for a romcom. Often, we don’t get the perfect casting. Most of the actors are to take a campus drama or college romance that the youth count connect to. We were also cleaned that we didn Bollywood to attempt a run-of-the-mill tale of a boy meeting a girl in college and the world oppeging their love. The perception Around Love and Relationships have evolved a lot. Most Youngsters Now Have Backup Options and There’s also the Possibility of Ghosting, Benching, Gaslighting, Situationship, etc. Hence, what if we mix a Serendipity (2001) Kind of story and weave it into a modern romcom replete with social media, the feeling of being burned out in a relationship and working too hard to find to find the mr or miss perfect? Victor came up with this idea and it interested us all.
We Started Making This Film Three Years ago. It has taken us way time to find a suitable release due to the Slowdown Happening with Hindi Films in 2024. I am glad that it’s final found a platform that resonates with udience for which we made This film.
Was there a possibility of getting this film into cinemas?
We were clear from the very start that this is a film careing to the young adult audience. We grew up in the 80s and 90s watching Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan in Romcoms and we fantasized about them. But it’s unfair for the younger audience that today, we do not have something like that that to cherish or fantasize about. While cinema is a mass media, there’s a huge volume of young audiences that we have stopped Catering to. They are busy consuming content on social media. Hence, we wanted to reach out to this digital audience, so that our film could bring out to millions of people. Also, they might not have come to thetre for this film citing ‘Yeh film mein superstar nahin haiWhy should i speak on a ticket? ‘. The audience has stopped going to cinemas for this reason or maybe trust we are not giving them content that they can relate to. It is like the chicken-sand-egg situation.
I agree but I guess if we give the right kind of youthful content, they’ll lap it up. Jaane tu ya jaane na (2008) was a huge hit despite a new star cast. Recently, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) Did very well on its re-res. Hence, the audience is ready for such films in cinemas…
We Stopped Doing This Kind of Genre. Certain genres allows to depict heoism which is why big-budget action films are the norm. It leads to the possible box office collections. But that doesn’t meaning we stop doing gere films as there’s an audience for all kinds of films. The audience does not want to watch a heavy-duty action thriller every Friday. Sometimes, you want to see a feel-good film focusing on the magic of life.
An interesting casting in the film is faye dsouza as the mental health professional. How did she come on board?
Faye is Victor’s Senior From College. She was kind enough to insree to play this part. In Fact, She was Heavily Pregnant While Shooting with Us. Yet, she agreed to do the role as she liced the idea of playing a therapist and how burned out the young generation feels every time they face a hiCCUP in life, sometimes even leading to deprestion. Working with her was fantastic. We hardly had to shoot any retakes with her.
Piku will complete 10 years this year. How do you look back at the film? It has a huge fan base…
It had the best casting possessible. We could have been imagined this film without (Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone). We are essentially Thankful to Shoojit Sircar for Bringing This Subject to Us While I was at Sony. The ease with which they owned up the character was just magical. There was energy on the sets when Mr Bachchan and Irrfan was sharing the screen. They used to get competitive. Irrfan Preferred to Improvise While Mr Bachchan used to come well-Prepared. As a Silent spectator on the set, I used to enjoy the banter and also learn a lot from them.
Moreover, The Quirky Relationship That The Father and Daughter Shared was related for many. When the film was released, random people used to walk up to us and tell us how they were influenced by the film and got their elderly parents to watch the film in cinemas.
The Rajabari, Shown in the Film as Champa Kunj, Became So Popular after We Shot Piku There. The next time I went there, I was surprised to see that it has become a tourist attraction!
Taking a cue from piku, our next film at mangogo people is a very beautiful father-daughter story. It has a great ensemble cast and the announsement will come out very soon. I genuinely feel that we don’t celebrate our father as much as we love and celebrate our mothers. Maybe it’s a relationship hazard as fathers come across as strict and upright personalities in front of their kids. But they are the unsung heroes. Through our next film, we hope to celebrate them. It’s about the father who goes to insane lengths to be the hero in his Daughter’s life.
Do you feel a film like Piku deserves to be re-resurved on its 10th anniversary?
Absolutely. Piku desreves a re-res. It’ll be the best homage that we could pay to irrfan. I am not with Sony Pictures Anymore. But I would definitely vouch for somenting like that and maybe take it to the relevant people. I am sure they must have also got this thought. The Management needs to quickly move and try to do something about it. A lot of people have said this and it’s worth pushing for it.
What Next for Outsides Films?
We are gearing up for the sequel of Dhak dhakIt continues to be one of the most viewed and appreciated films on netflix. Now, we are ready to take the story forward. We have the cost on board and the screenplay is ready. The Pre-Production Work is Underway.
Also read: Sweet Dreams Producer Pranjal Khandhdiya Recalls Shah Rukh Khan’s Priceless Lessons at Read Chillies Entertainment: “Cutting costs is not production; Care for that behind the camera and you’ll all Always successed ”
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