There are some interesting shots in the film, such as the camera slowly descending from the top of a swirling staircase, as Ahana sits on the steps and scrolls through social media. Another shot shows us a solitary Imaad, with printed photographs of Tinder users spiralling outwards on the floor around him. As a debutant, how would you describe your style as a director?
Those shots are basically visual metaphors. So, for example, the camera going down the spiral staircase, that’s essentially Ahana (Ananya Panday) going down the social media rabbit hole. My crew was going mad because we couldn’t find a spiral staircase anywhere in Bombay that also fit the design of the movie. Luckily, we were in the World Trade centre. We’d gone there to find another location, and I just went through this one staircase, and I was like, “Damn, this is the staircase. This is exactly what we need.” But, yes, that’s a visual metaphor for her going down the rabbit hole. And then Imaad (Siddhant Chaturvedi) standing in the centre of the pictures of other lonely people is him going back to the person that he was. So he’s surrounded by loneliness, essentially, and you just kind of cut to that beautiful wide shot: He’s standing in the centre with the photos around him, and it’s just to make you feel how he’s gone back to who he was.
But the spiral staircase, I had (in my mind) from very early on. That, I knew I needed to find. So I drove my location manager insane to try and find the spiral staircase. I try to use as many visual metaphors as I can. I just think it’s cool and it’s fun, and it gives a little bit more purpose. And if people can kind of feel it and see it, then that’s an added bonus.
Imaad’s stand-up sets are funny and relatable. What made you choose stand-up comedy as a narrative device? How did you approach the humour in the film?
I feel like stand-up comedians today are our conscience on some level. They are the ones who are able to speak out the truth, be it politically, be it socially. They allow us to reflect in a way that cinema should do ideally — maybe we haven’t been doing it so much as of late, but stand-up comedians are there on the front lines. And of course, I love stand-up. I love watching stand-up. So we could have had Imaad be a singer-songwriter. Done to death. But a stand-up comedian? To me, they’re the rockstars of the modern age.
The comedy was all Sapan Verma. We did a couple of drafts and went back and forth, but he just captured it so naturally and so well. For the last piece, we had a couple of sessions with therapist Susan Walker, who gave us great insight. So a lot of research also went into it.