There is a bit of Tahira Kashyap in all the five female leads of “Sharmajee Ki Beti”, says the director about her first feature film, a passion project that she hopes will make audiences see women in a different light.
Tahira, who has been always been a storyteller, first as a writer of books like “The 12 Commandments of Being A Woman” and “The 7 Sins of Being A Mother”, and then as a filmmaker of short “Toffee”.
“Sharmajee Ki Beti” chronicles the stories of ambition and struggles of three middle-class women and two teenage girls, who all share the same surname — Sharma.
“I think the first piece of art comes from a place of a lot of purity, a lot of passion. You are passionate about the things that you experience and observe.
“All of these five characters, there are three women and two girls, there is some amount of storytelling experience I have observed at the personal level… So it comes from a very pure place of heart,” Tahira said in an interview.
The film, which will start streaming on Prime Video from Friday, features an ensemble cast of Sakshi Tanwar, Divya Dutta, and Saiyami Kher, Vanshika Taparia and Arista Mehta.
As a storyteller, the aim was not to be preachy but make people “connect, engage and empathise” with the lead characters, she added.
“It should evoke some sort of emotion in the audience’s hearts and their minds and if something reaches their hearts, it will also leave an impression on their minds as well and that’s how I want my messaging to happen.
“It was never that I wanted to be preachy or try to drive home a point. I really want people to start thinking about women in a different light altogether. I would wish all of that to happen with just a click but it takes time and I am ready to invest in that time in the most loving and compassionate way.”
According to Tahira, the idea behind having three middle aged women and two under the age of 20 was to connect with a whole spectrum of audience.
“They exist on the spectrum of lifespan and they still have interesting and compelling stories to tell. So the idea was to delve into the stories of the women who just don’t adhere to the certain stereotype of the women that have been shown in cinema,” she said.
Though she has loved making short films, directing her feature gave her a “different kick”, the director, who also helmed a short in the 2020 anthology film “Zindagi inShort”, said.
“It’s a different format and there is more stuff that you can tell with more characters, it can be nuanced, it can be deeper storytelling, it can take longer time to resolve and just the format, it’s very interesting for me,” she added.
She believes that she would never look down upon the short film format, which requires the “same amount of crew, hard work and storytelling”.
“It’s just that it’s done in two or three days, sometimes even more or less. But a feature film is a longer commitment and it felt really nice because I have been wanting to make this feature film for a very long time. It was just beautiful. And I won’t really say progression because I really respect the short film format also.
“I feel there is immense storytelling in short films and I really enjoy doing that. But when I got to make this, there was a different kick.”
It took her 32 days to make “Sharmajee Ki Beti” and Tahira said she is proud of what she has achieved with the film.
“It’s a little tough call for a debut feature filmmaker with five different women, so I am very happy that my film has been very budget-friendly as well. I want mid-size production films or small-budgeted films to get a lot of love and not get stereotyped as ‘Okay this is an art cinema project so must have been made on a small budget’,” she added.
Tahira is already working on her second feature, which is backed by Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga.
“I am going to be making a lot of films, I have written many. My next film is coming up with Guneet (Guneet Monga), she is the producer and there are a lot of things that I am going to disclose in due course of time but there is lot that I want to do and I am going to be doing,” she said.
Also starring Sharib Hashmi and Parvin Dabas, “Sharmajee Ki Beti” is presented by Applause Entertainment and produced by Ellipsis Entertainment.
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