Thaindian News

By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, Oct 22 (IANS) Habib Faizal, who has made his directorial debut with “Do Dooni Chaar”, says he wanted to highlight the plight of teachers in today’s India and in future too he would like his movies to be rooted in the working class.

“I’d often wonder why our academicians are so underpaid. We live in an acquisitive world. In every city of India, kids look out of their home windows at big cars parked outside, wondering when they can get one of those,” Faizal told IANS.

The character of the underpaid teacher is based on Faizal’s own teacher Kewal Arora.

“I chose Delhi because it’s a milieu I know well. But the me-too syndrome exists everywhere,” says Faizal.

He fondly recalls how easily Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, who star in the film, blended into the locations in Delhi where they shot.

“Rishi Kapoor ceased to be the iconic star in Delhi. He became so much part of the Delhi-Punjabi milieu that soon plate-loads of delicious food started reaching our location from all the neighbours. That was a good thing. Because I had made it very clear to Rishiji that he was not supposed to lose even an ounce of his bulk. My protagonist Santosh Duggal had to be roly-poly,” Faizal says.

He credits a lot of the film’s efficacy to its lead.

“Once I had Rishiji and Neetuji playing protagonists, I had nothing to worry about. In ‘Do Dooni Chaar’, I wanted to bring forward the plight of our teachers. But not at the cost of entertainment value. First and foremost, I wanted audiences to like my film,” he says.

He has no intention of doing issue-based films and says he doesn’t even know when he’ll direct his next movie. But he is sure about his priorities.

“I’ve a 14-year-old daughter whose future I have to secure. I do know that whatever I direct next will again be rooted to the working class and its desires and longings.”

“But I am certainly not going to bring up the plight of a specific group of professionals in our country in every film I direct. ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ was about teachers being underpaid. My next film won’t be about the life of doctors or engineers or call-centre workers. I don’t want to become the Arthur Hailey of filmmaking,” Faizal says.