Exclusive! Shakun Batra: I knew Deepika Padukone would understand how I wanted to explore Gehraiyaan

After nearly six years since the release of his second directorial, Kapoor & Sons, that captured family dysfunction, Shakun Batra is back with Gehraiyaan, a drama about the complexities of romantic relationships. The cast is a unique one with Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Dhairya Karwa.

Interestingly, Batra also marks a decade of his directorial journey on February 10, which begins with Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. Ahead of the release of Gehraiyaan, he spoke about his experience of helming these three films, the casting process of his new project, and its OTT release on Amazon Prime Video.

Edited excerpts below:

You made your directorial debut with Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, which incidentally completes a decade of its release around the premiere of Gehraiyaan. Do you think you have come a long way, or is this just the beginning for you?

Yes, you're right. My first one was released around February 10, and it feels like it was just very recently, honestly. No, I'm just three films old. I'm still figuring things out. I'm still figuring out what I want to make next, what kind of things I want to try. As I said, I think it's too early in my career. Yes, not in terms of the time I've been around, but maybe it's too early in my career in terms of my filmography to look back. I have other things that I want to try, and hopefully, when I'm 50, I can look back and see that there'll be more than five films. And that's that!

What is it that draws you to the complexities of relationships? Both the earlier films had unrequited love (Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu), and the other one explored a dysfunctional family (Kapoor & Sons).

Well, this is my curiosity. I don't understand if there's some mystery that you want to follow and figure out. It's not something I'm doing, to kind of do it consciously to make different films. No, it's what excites me and it's what draws me in terms of the kinds of movies or books that I've read. It's always been complex relationships, but also a more zoomed-out objective view of emotions because I feel it's getting easier to understand things. When you watch it over time, I think when you do something very subjectively, you can't study it.

Given that Gehraiyaan is set against a coastal backdrop, how important is the setting of the story to you?

Honestly, it came very naturally to the film. The characters lived in Bombay, and they had a house in Alibaug. So the sea became a very integral part as we went back and forth between the two primary locations of the film. And now it looks like one beautiful unit that's tied together because the title is Gehraiyaan, there is a sea in the film, there are shots of the waves. So I would say it all very organically fell into place and it gave this beautiful mood that I can only be thankful for. But it all came together on its own.

You know, it's become the norm to have a senior male actor as the lead while the other cast members are comparatively new. However, in Gehraiyaan, it's different, with the female lead, Deepika Padukone, being the senior-most. What was the whole thought behind this ensemble casting?

I think regardless of gender, the process stays the same. You want to find the closest person who is like-minded so that you understand the point of view on the story that you share. So for me, Deepika, even before I finished the script, I'd known each other, I'd met a bunch of times, and I knew that we were like-minded. I knew she would understand how I wanted to explore this story. So for me, it started with that. Then, Sid was somebody who'd done fantastic work as MC Sher in Gully Boy. I'd met Ananya, one of my co-writers. Ayesha had worked with Ananya, and she kind of saw that she was very close to what we were writing, and Dhairya came thru auditions. It came together beautifully. But as I said, it's baby steps. You try to find one person who's right for the path, then you go to the other. You hope that when they come together, there's some magic, but you can't define that magic; it just has to happen.

Since the trailer and songs came out, the most discussed subject has been the intimate sequences in the film. Did opting for an OTT release give an advantage to Gehraiyaan?

I keep saying it, I'm ecstatic. Even two years ago, if I had said this, people would have thought I was being foolish, but I enjoyed my favourite films on a laptop screen. The movies that wanted me to be a filmmaker were the ones that I saw on DVDs. So I've connected very deeply with films over a TV screen or laptop screen. For me, once the movie was ready, I saw no reason for it not to reach the audience, especially where we are with COVID-19 safety for people. I would love for it to be consumed at home, and for me, this is a win-win. I think the audiences are already on these great streaming services, and Amazon has such a wide reach that it makes me feel proud and excited that it's going to reach so many people so soon.

Does it ease the box office pressure?

I think the metric of success is going to change. So far, it's been a very primitive way of saying this is the number for the week. But as people consume and watch movies in different ways, the metric of success will have to be redefined. So we are still in a very early stage. So you may be like, "Oh, what about the box office?" Because you don't know how else to define success for a film. But I've always liked to step outside of those boundaries, and I think the true success of a film is its longevity, how many people watch it and love it. Sometimes that is the best reflection of that which is not a number. We have great references to a movie like Dil Chahta Hai, which when it came out, was probably one of the biggest box office deliveries of that year, but look at the longevity and look at the love they still receive. That's my take.

Gehraiyaan premieres on Amazon Prime Video on February 11, 2022.