Depicted India, Pakistan relationship metaphorically in 'Pataakha': Vishal Bhardwaj

Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, who is busy promoting his forthcoming film 'Pataakha', says he tried to depict metaphoric relationship between India and Pakistan through the protagonists of his film who keep fighting each other for no reason.

Bhardwaj was interacting with media at the 'Balma' song launch of 'Pataakha' along with actors Sunil Grover, Radhika Madan, Sanya Malhotra, and singers Rekha Bhardwaj and Sunidhi Chauhan here on Tuesday.

'Pataakha' is based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story titled 'Do Behnein' and it revolves around two sisters who share a difficult relationship with each other.

On how he managed to depict metaphorically the relationship between India and Pakistan through protagonists of the film, Bhardwaj said: "We completed shoot of the film in 30 days. Earlier the title of this film was 'Churiyan' but everyone was calling it 'Chudiyan', so I got really irritated and I renamed it as 'Pataakha'.

"We used the relationship between two sisters in the film as a metaphor for the relations between India and Pakistan who keep fighting each other for no reasons."

Bhardwaj has earlier adapted William Shakspheare's 'Hamlet' and 'Macbeth' for his films like 'Haider' and 'Maqbool', respectively.

With 'Pataakha' being also an adaptation, Bhardwaj said: "We have perception that literature is boring and I feel that it is completely wrong.

"It's an individual approach of a director about what kind of depth he wants in his project. I think the kind of depth you get from literature, it is difficult to find in popular stories. I always try to bring literary aspect in films and I feel our Hindi literature is still unexplored when it comes to adapting into the film."

Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone were supposed to be a part of Bhardwaj's next film. However, with Irrfan's illness, the film was postponed.

When asked about the status of that film, Bhardwaj said: "I don't know the status of that film, but we all want Irrfan to be healthy again. I miss him as a friend but more than that, I miss him onscreen."

'Pataakha' stars Sanya Malhotra, debutant Radhika Madan, Sunil Grover, Saanand Verma and Vijay Raaz in lead roles. It is scheduled to release on September 28, 2018.

--IANS

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