November 5, Meenakshi Sundareshwar is helmed by debutant Vivek Soni. Over a Zoom call, we chatted with Sanya, Abhimanyu and Vivek on their Friday film, their hacks to make a long-distance relationship work and the love story they see themselves as part of.

A long-distance relationship scores high in terms of relatability for most. Vivek, what was the genesis of the story of Meenakshi Sundareshwar?

Vivek Soni: As you said, long-distance relationship is such a universal and relatable theme. I don’t remember the last Indian film in which this theme was explored. The idea simply excited me.

And I love this genre. I love love stories. There are only seven-eight stories in this world and we all operate within that. I believe that if you put in a personal aspect into a love story, then it anyway becomes different. Martin Scorsese had once said, ‘The most personal is the most creative.’ Every story has probably been said before, but then it hasn’t been said by you. So, as a film-maker, what counts is the perspective one puts in. We all are different individuals who react to emotions differently. As long as there is a personal touch and a new perspective to tell a story, it ends up being different from the rest.

Sanya and Abhimanyu, what were your reasons to sign on? Did your characters Meenakshi and Sundareshwar resonate with you in any way, despite belonging to completely different milieu?

Sanya Malhotra: As Vivek said, it’s a universal theme and that’s what got me interested. I love watching love stories. I was once in a long-distance relationship and I could relate to both Meenakshi and Sundareshwar. This film has a very simple and sweet story which I, as an audience, have been craving to watch. I am glad that I got to do it.

Abhimanyu Dassani: When I got the narration, what interested me was the uniqueness of a long-distance marriage, and yet the fact that the emotions were so common. It was threaded together very seamlessly and hence our connect to the characters also felt very natural. That really got me. If I like to watch something, then there is no doubt that I would like to be a part of it. When I read this, it just made me happy. I want people to watch this film and feel happy. One thing we can guarantee is that at the end of this film, you will be happy.

A lot of art these days doesn’t have soul, and hence, one gets tired of it within a certain time. Art is timeless and can be watched over the years, but that can only happen if that particular piece of art has soul. I resonated with the soul of this script.

What do you think is the key to keeping a long-distance relationship alive?

Abhimanyu: It’s a one-word answer...

Sanya: Communication! It’s the most basic and the most important one....

Abhimanyu: Patience, compassion, understanding... communication is key.

Madurai is not a setting that we often get to see in mainstream Bollywood. Vivek, how much does the milieu contribute to the story?

Vivek: Of late, most shows and films are either set in Delhi, UP, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan.... In order to break the clutter, I decided to go to Tamil Nadu. I wanted to explore that landscape.

Also, there is a personal angle which has remained in my subconscious. When I was a kid, my mom and dad had gone to Madurai but they didn’t take me along. They clicked a picture outside a temple there. When I saw that album, that picture somehow stayed on in my mind. So when we decide to set our film in Tamil Nadu, the image of that temple immediately sprung up in my mind. Maybe that, in a way, pushed me towards Madurai.

Normally, people would plan a trip. You just made an entire film out of it!

Vivek: I did visit it before that! (Laughs) I also watch a lot of regional films. I am a huge admirer of (film-maker) Mani Ratnam’s work and I always wanted to explore the kind of visuals one gets to see in his films. It was the amalgamation of a lot of things that made me choose Madurai as the setting.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter if a film is set in Tamil Nadu or Rajasthan. Emotions toh wohi rahenge. The emotions of a long-distance relationship will be the same, whether it’s Kashmir or Cherrapunjee. We set it in Tamil Nadu in order to explore its visuals, culture, costumes, music.... It’s a Hindi film set in Tamil Nadu and we have added some Tamil words organically.

Sanya and Abhimanyu, was there any kind of special prep that went into playing these characters in an uncommon milieu?

Sanya: I think the biggest challenge, to start off with, was the lockdown. We were supposed to start the film in February-March 2020, and then the lockdown happened. That gave us a long, long break to get closer to the characters. While shooting, I remember, we (Sanya and Abhimanyu) did scenes without each other. So there was actual distance when we shot some scenes, and I had to imagine his reactions to what I was saying. In the film, we call each other, we are on video calls, and those scenes really helped us in developing these characters. Even as actors, we were in a long-distance relationship! (Laughs)

Abhimanyu: Like she said, it was in the middle of the whole Covid situation and that was our biggest road bump. Both Meenakshi and Sundareshwar are very different from the characters that the two of us have played so far, and we had to make sure that they didn’t come across as caricaturish or stereotypical. To make the viewer feel what they are feeling... that was very important to us. It’s a romantic film, so if we didn’t connect with our characters, the whole thing would crack.

Is there a love story that you have loved enough to fantasise yourselves in it?

Sanya: Holiday!

Abhimanyu: Maid of Honor.

Sanya: Maid of Honor is getting a Bollywood remake, na? But we will make it again for you! (Laughs)

Vivek: There are a lot of films I connect with and I imagine myself in them. Like Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, (Charlie) Chaplin’s City Lights, Kundan Shah’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Rockstar... there are too many!