Writer-director Atul Sabharwal, who is coming up with spy thriller Berlin, believes every film, small or big, deserves to be in theatres

Nonika Singh

Variety is the spice of a writer’s world. Soon after giving us wondrous depiction of golden years of Indian cinema in Jubilee, writer-director Atul Sabharwal is ready with a spy thriller titled Berlin. The film, which has been selected for two major film festivals, MAMI and Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, is not like the fantastical Mission Impossible or Ek Tha Tiger’s spy-verse. Rooted in reality, Atul shares, “It is more in tradition of authors like John le Carré or Len Deighton.”

Most of us may think that thrills are integral to spy genre, Atul says, “Ingenuity of characters, how they wriggle out of discomfiting situations when caught in a bind is what matters the most.” Berlin the title has something to do with Germany. But, since it’s a plot point he won’t give in what it actually refers to. Yet, one secret he lets out of the bag is that deafness and muteness of one of its lead characters is not a trick/cover. Though his directorial venture Class of 83 and Jubilee, which he wrote, did exceptionally well on OTT platforms, he believes. “Every film small or big deserves to be in theatres.”

Serious and sombre

For someone who swears by the magic of larger-than-life silver screen, yet whose magic has been discovered on OTT, he finds no contradiction. Rather he wants us to toss this query to the industry bigwigs, who have this deep fear of tragedies even though our biggest blockbusters have been tragedies. By tragedy he does not mean weepy tragic endings, but films with serious and sombre soul. Having grown up on Doordarshan and films of Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, and serials like Buniyaad and Tamas, he observes, “You can’t escape the influence of your formative years.”

Thus, his bent of mind has always been towards trials and tribulations rather than celebrations. Those of us who believe Punjabis are always balle balle, this Punjabi with roots in West Punjab disagrees and has a credible thesis for it, “Balle balle Punjabi Bollywoodisation happened only during the nineties.” Of course, he has not lost the sense of humour that comes naturally to Punjabis. Ask him about the bonhomie between three Punjabis, he and his lead actors Aparshakti Khurana and Ishwak Singh, and he laughs, “It was great; asi pinniyan khaande rahe te film banande gaye.” Mind you, he insists, “I can speak better Punjabi than both of them put together.”

Deeply rooted

Never mind that he lived mostly in Agra, he has not lost touch with his roots. Currently, he is writing a novel based on his grandparents, who came from West Punjab. Drawn to the rural landscape of Punjab, its folk tales and musicians… if he listens to Asa Singh Mastana and Surinder Kaur, he reads up Avtar Singh Pash, Amrita Pritam and Bhisham Sahni. Plus, he has watched many Punjabi films, the latest being Maurh and Manje Bistre.

Undeniably, he would love to make a Punjabi film and believes that some dose of Punjabiyat was present in Jubilee too. But, he agrees, “Unless you make it in Punjabi, the real ras won’t come through.” Viewers may have indulged in guessing games, in Jubilee he and director Vikramditya Motwane didn’t have specific actors in mind as, “We only wanted to capture the spirit of that era.”

Writing, he shares, is part imagination and part research. Hold it, research he thinks is a very academic word and he would rather replace it with taste or aptitude. Yet another word he would like to dispense with is ‘merciless’. “Every single line that is added or removed while on the sets where obviously the director in me takes over is a joy. Words like cutting mercilessly are corporate inventions and have no place in the creative process.”

Moolah matters

Whether OTT is the medium where writers are the uncrowned kings, he quips, “If we are, where is the money?” He agrees that compared to mainstream Bollywood, things are not as skewed on streaming platforms, but adds. “Writers don’t get a king’s ransom. Actually no one does. The money goes in upping the production values.”

Moreover, he opines, “OTT koi kranti thodey la sakta hai…they are here to make money.” Spoken like a true Punjabi… frank and upfront. As for Punjabis being a mighty force in the film industry, he views it as a topic of serious research, of ethno movements and how history plays out. Meanwhile, he is busy writing cinematic history and taking us to eras gone by as Berlin too happens to be a period film.

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