“The bottom line in Aata Vel Zaali was catharsis and I had to get the emotions of characters without them shedding a tear or trying to be over the top.”
The versatile actor cum director Ananth Mahadevan is now all set to make a film in Marathi titled Aata Vel Zaali (Its Time To Go). Shivraj Wauchal and Bhagyashree Limaye have been cast in the film as younger Dilip Prabhavalkar and Rohi Hattangadi in challenging roles.
Says Ananth Narayan Mahadvan who is directing the film, “The casting of the young Dilip Prabhavalkar and Rohini Hattangadi in IT’S TIME TO GO( Aata Vel Zaali) was a very rough as well as challenging exercise. We finally zeroed in on Shivraj Waichal ( right b and w) who matched young Dilipji and (below) Bhagyashree Limaye who has an amazing resemblance to Rohiniji in her younger days ( see b and w pic)”
Says Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, “I wanted to look at death as the celebration of a life well lived and not as a sombre reminder of the end. The film is headlined by Marathi acting legends Dilip Prabhavalkar and Rohini Hattangadi and revolves around an ageing couple who seek active euthanasia. It is produced by Dinesh Bansal, GK Agarwal and Mahadevan himself.
With Mumbai-set Aata Vel Zaali Mahadevan said that he wanted to spotlight the existential crisis faced by the elderly couple played by Prabhvalkar and Hattangadi who feel they are leading unproductive and obsolete lives and hence seek active euthanasia as an unusual remedy. Through the eyes of an ageing couple I have made a black humour film even though it sounds very serious and poignant. The whole film is a satire. Thats how I have treated the film so that people are not frightened by the mention of the word death”.
Citing the example of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand which featured Rajesh Khanna as a cancer patient who laughs death away, the director said the 1971 classic was the perfect formula for a film script. “When you are talking about death the mood should be the opposite of it It should not be as depressing as death You have to make it palatable to the viewers. If you have the strength to laugh at death you will have the strength to face it too. The question that our protagonist asks here is why are you frightened of death If you want a happy ending to your story you must know where to end it”, he added.
Mahadevan started writing Aata Vel Zaali in January last year in the middle of the pandemic which according to him has altered people. “With the loss of a loved one in every family due to the coronavirus the filmmaker said death was suddenly seen in a different perspective.This autonomy that humans are today demanding for their lives whether it is societal or medical is something that intrigued me. Because when we started looking at life and death in a different perspective over the last two years, I realised we never spoke about death we are frightened to talk about it.”
“There were a lot of cases especially among the elderly where they felt they did not want to get into a situation where they get a disease and suffer or get into prolonged hospitalisation. They did not also want to be separated from each other We have almost always seen that when one spouse dies the other one virtually goes away soon”.
When Mahadevan researched these cases he came across repeated mentions of active euthanasia. Unlike passive euthanasia which is mercy killing for those on ventilators or coma active euthanasia is only for healthy people who dont want to be patients who have understood that they have lived a good life so let’s have a good death let us die with dignity,” he added.
The director known for helming acclaimed dramas like Gour Hari Dastaan in Hindi and the National Award winning Marathi film Mee Sindhutai Sapkal said his new film was an extremely tough script to write but he still finished in 20 days flat.The challenge Mahadevan noted was to avoid using any tropes usually associated with themes around death. I could not write anything that was illogical melodramatic or something which would not be anything but cathartic .The bottom line was catharsis I had to get the emotions of characters without them shedding a tear or trying to be over the top.”
The filmmaker chose to make Aata Vel Zaali in Marathi as it was the most organic setting for the project.Mumbai the director said is not merely a city where the couple in the movie lives but also serves as a crucial character in the storyline.The smells, the sounds and the nature of what we call the upgrading Mumbai a whole city ready for upheaval vis a vis people who have reached the last chapter of their lives and are ready to leave.
The contrast between the two is what I wanted to bring out.That comes beautifully when you set it in a chawl with Maharashtrians Their behaviour traditions in parallel with the modernity of a city that is bursting Thats probably one of the strong reasons why Marathi came naturally to this. I could have made it in Hindi but I doubt whether the flavour that Marathi language has brought to it would have come in Hindi, he added.
Mahadevan is looking for a theatrical release for Aata Vel Zaali very shortly. He has also entered it to the Oscar selection process from India.
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