Exclusive! Gaslight director Pavan Kirpalani breaks down the reasons behind the name of the film

The murder mystery thriller stars Sara Ali Khan, Vikrant Massey and Chitrangda Singh.

Gaslight poster

Pavan Kirpalani-directed Gaslight starring Sara Ali Khan, Vikrant Massey and Chitrangda Singh is the latest murder mystery thriller on Disney+ Hotstar. The movie has gathered a lot of attention all over the country and has received mixed reviews.

In a candid chat with OTTplay, the filmmaker spoke about his film as well as the actors. Talking about how he came up with this unusual title for the film, Kirpalani unveiled, "It's I think the most looked-up word. They say to do that, you know that gaslight I just felt like it's a topical word. It's something that I think we're all kind of beginning to understand that it's a, it's a thing that we all have experienced or, or, you know, consciously or unconsciously we even do it to each other. And this idea of psychological manipulation and deceit and trying to make someone think that they're not good enough."

"It's a form of psychological abuse that happens everywhere. And we just warming up to it not just for like, as in the current time where we're kind of more aware of mental health and mental illnesses and conversations like this are happening in this country. It's a very app that we can use this uses the title, and also not just because of that, not because I want to cash in on it. But also because the movie kind of is, at the core of it kind of, about that," he added.

Speaking about how it was possible to shoot Gaslight in 36 days, the filmmaker shared, "One person or department can't be the reason, because filmmaking is a collective effort right? So you can't just say, one department is the reason why we are able to pull it off in 36 days. It's so many people coming together, all falling into place, and all following this one vision that has been set up by the script and what the script demands and feel like. I mean, these movies also, I personally feel these kinds of movies are usually centred around one location, and usually are best done in tight schedules, right? I have made movies like this before, and they usually are on a tight schedule. So but this one, it was obviously the choice of location was just one palace, and it was much bigger, and there was an estate and, and there are quite a few characters. And the story is very complex. And a lot of things are happening. And a lot of it I have to count on the fact that it was just great planning, a lot of prep work."

"I mean, the DOP spending endless hours, over the months, the first shoot, figuring out how to shoot the film, what the tone was the visual palette, you know, doing breakdowns and storyboards, and basically staging, wrecking the place a couple of times with my team. And, so we were quite thorough on those aspects on the technical and acting aspects. So I think once those were sorted, making the movie became a lot easier because we kind of knew what we were doing," the Gaslight director added.

Stream Gaslight on Disney+ Hotstar now.

Share