Behind-the-scenes of film industry always interested Vikramaditya Motwane

Did you know director Vikramaditya Motwane had asked his actors not to watch any film from the 1940s or 1950s before they started shooting for the period drama ‘Jubilee’? Motwane wanted his actors to follow the script and come up with authentic performances. And that’s exactly what happened with ‘Jubilee’, the ‘Prime Video’ series, which has become the talk of the town ever since it started streaming.

The stunningly shot 10-episode miniseries recreated the ‘Golden Era of Bollywood’ and stars Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, Aditi Rao Hydari, Aparshakti Khurana, Ram Kapoor, Sidhant Gupta, Wamiqa Gabbi and Nandish Sandhu. Interestingly, apart from Prosenjit, Aditi and Ram, almost all the actors had to audition for ‘Jubilee’.

“I had watched dada (read Prosenjit) in ‘Autograph’ and ‘Chokher Bali’. Then, I watched him in ‘Shanghai’. Apart from his charismatic screen presence, he is also well-versed in Hindi. So, I knew I needed him to be Srikant Roy in ‘Jubilee’. He has a certain grace and dignity. Though he plays a grey character, you won’t consider him to be a villain once you watch the series,” said Motwane.

Born to a Bengali mother and a Sindhi father, Motwane has been one of the most influential filmmakers of Bollywood ever since he made his debut with ‘Udaan’ in 2010. The film was selected to compete in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Later, all his films, be they ‘Lootera’, ‘Trapped’ or ‘AK vs AK’, have a language of their own.

Through ‘Jubilee’, the director also pays a loving tribute to his grandfather, who produced ‘Andolan’ in 1951.

“Even when I was growing up, I didn’t know for a long time about ‘Andolan’. The film didn’t do well, so nobody spoke about it in the family. I decided to pay a small tribute to him,” said Motwane during his visit to Kolkata.

Since the time Motwane was working as an assistant director (for Sanjay Leela Bhansali), he was enamoured by the behind-the-scenes of making a film.

“The first film I ever wrote was also a story based on the Indian film industry, but it never got made. I made ‘AK vs AK’, which is also in the film industry. Though a lot is inspired, ‘Jubilee’ also has moments of imagination,” he said.