PANAJI: Having started out with a hugely celebrated directorial debut “Masaan”, Neeraj Ghaywan is feeling the pressure to outdo himself but he says it is more of an “internal struggle.”
“Masaan” bagged several top honours at the festival circuits, including two awards at Cannes- FIPRESCI, International Jury of Film Critics prize and Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard section.
“Struggle for second film is more internal. For the first film, the struggle is external. Right now, I am dealing with my own self because getting to that next story is really challenging.
“The pressure is there because of the way people talk about ‘Masaan’. I am deeply buried under the pressure to make my second film,” Neeraj told PTI.
“Masaan”, a colloquial word in Banaras for cremation ground, followed four characters whose lives are connected by the river Ganga. The film starred Vicky Kaushal, Richa Chadda, Shweta Tripathi, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi.
The director says his way of dealing with the pressure is to forget that he made a film like “Masaan”.
“I am like ‘no, forget Masaan, it doesn’t exist’. I want to start out with a completely clean slate, without any baggage. That internal struggle is something that I am going through.”
It has been more than a year since the film had it’s theatrical release in India—where it was successful too— and while the director isn’t toying with a solid idea right now, he did have one subject which he let go.
“I was toying with some idea, but I got too attached with the material and hence had to distance myself from that. I have been doing ad films and have just made this one short film. It is very topical,” he said. (AGENCIES)
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