Canning the scam

Ice People

And now he's ready to make his directorial debut with a film on the 1993 stock market scam.

Titled Gafla, the film is due for release early next year. But what inspired the young director to capture the scam on celluloid?

Apparently, the idea struck him while he was studying at the New York Film Academy and at the Lee Strasbourg Theatre Institute. "I used to often walk down Wall Street with friends and watch the brokers in action. It made me curious about the way these guys functioned," he says.

Besides, he was also aware of India's stock market trouble of 1993. On his return he toyed with the idea of making a film on the subject though he firmed up his plans only in February this year.

"I've read books, met brokers and visited the stock market several times to get a grip on the subject," he says.

But before Gafla can be dismissed as a boring documentary, Hanchate is quick to point out that the film has a human angle to it.

The plot looks at the story behind the Rs 5,000-crore scam that changed the course of the Indian markets. " I'll portray the investors' plight and what they had to go through," he adds.

Son of a well-known paediatrician from Chembur in Mumbai, Hanchate was studying architecture when the film bug bit him. After completing his filmmaking course in New York, he's already tried out his hand at documentaries.

Three years ago, he worked with Subhash Ghai on Yaadein. "Though the film flopped, for me the experience proved invaluable," he says.

In 2001, he joined Vidhu Vinod Chopra and assisted him as a script consultant in his first Hollywood project Move 5. He also assisted him in scripting Yagna.

"With every assignment the urge to make a film on my own grew stronger," he says. Currently, Hanchate is looking for a co-production partner for his film.