Shubh Mangal Saavdhan Director Hitesh Kewalya On Movies (Pic Credit: Instagram/hiteshkewalya)
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Writer-director Hitesh Kewalya, who is known for ‘Shubh Mangal Saavdhan’ and ‘Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan’, says that for any film centring on taboo topics, it is imperative that it tells the story in the most engaging and entertaining way to deliver its message.
Talking about how sensitive information can be conveyed using entertainment as a tool, Hitesh shares, “I think movies on taboo topics work when packaged as family entertainers. On one hand, ‘Shubh Mangal Saavdhan’ used rom-com as a template, ‘Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan’ used farce as a tool to deliver its message.”
Hitesh Kewalya adds, “Whether it’s ‘Ek Ladki ko Dekha’, ‘Shubh Mangal’ franchise or ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’, the fact of the matter is we are finally taking these important films to the audience on a regular basis, especially when the society at large is already talking about issues like sexual orientation and masculinity.”
Sharing the core idea behind his creative works, Hitesh Kewalya says, “For me, the idea was to create a language through which the audience can not just discuss these issues in a healthy and entertaining manner. Like the biscuit scene in ‘Shubh Mangal Saavdhan’ or the Kaali Gobhi metaphor in the thematic sequel.”
As a creator, he feels happy to see a new form of content making its way to the fore, “It makes me very happy to see films being premised on unconventional love stories set in the hotbed of masculinity. We will soon walk into a gender-fluid era and so it’s time we sparked conversations about our influences, identity and preferences.”
“As a filmmaker, it’s not important to claim who came first or who started the trend but to celebrate the diversity and the fact that with producers like Aanand L. Rai and actors like Ayushmann Khurrana backing these scripts, we all are coming together to do it through our movies in an entertaining way,” Hitesh Kewalya concludes.
