Neeraj Pandey is back in his zone with Sikandar Ka Muqaddar. The cerebral, pulse-pounding thriller has the maker of films like A Wednesday!, Baby, Special 26 and Special Ops set up a high-stakes diamond heist in which there are three suspects — played by Tamannaah Bhatia, Avinash Tiwary and Rajiv Mehta — and a cop, essayed by Pandey mainstay Jimmy Shergill, who, driven by his instincts, is doggedly on their heels. With Sikandar Ka Muqaddar streaming on Netflix from November 29, t2 chatted with Howrah boy Pandey.

What spurred the idea of Sikandar Ka Muqaddar?

It started with a conversation between me and my fellow writer Vipul (Rawal). We were developing something else at that point in time. We took a break from writing that and started discussing other ideas. One thing led to another and the germ of an idea started forming in my mind. I took a few weeks to come up with a storyline. I shared it with Vipul and told him: ‘This is the story that is coming to my mind... let’s try and give it a chase.’

We started developing the screenplay and dialogues and because the flow was very good, the premise itself just started throwing up sequences after sequences. The film was a very easy write. After that, we started casting and then shooting.

So unlike a lot of your previous work, this story doesn’t have its roots in real life?

No, it doesn’t. It is not based on any real incident. It is completely fictional. But given how strange the world is, I am sure something like this must have happened to someone at some point in life! (Laughs)

As they say, truth is stranger than fiction!

For sure. This has a story which isn’t too far removed from reality.

Did you always want to make this into a film or did you toy with developing the idea into a series?

The idea was to always make a film. We have a slate with Netflix and were committed to making an original film for them and I was on the lookout for a story to be that film. It always thought of this as a film... no ambiguity about that. The premise wouldn’t have lent itself to a series.

From the promo, the film seems like it is vintage Neeraj Pandey. In what ways is it different from the thrillers you have made so far?

The very nature of filmmaking is exciting, irrespective of what you are making. Right from the moment you walk on to the set, you don’t know what the day holds for you... tons of people, tons of gear around and you don’t know where the next question is going to come from. So that, in itself, is an excitement that you are living with as a filmmaker.

For Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, the biggest challenge lay in the fact that we wanted to film this in a particular window of weather across the country. We shot across multiple locations and we wanted a consistent winter look, complete with haze. That is what we looked at in Agra, Pune and Lonavala and to some extent in Abu Dhabi.

Right from your first film A Wednesday!, what works for the collaborative relationship that you and and Jimmy Shergill share? He has been a part of almost all your projects, including your recent film Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha...

Well, he complains that we don’t work together too often! (Laughs) He is constantly cribbing about that. What works between us, to be honest, is trust. As you said, he was a part of my first film and I knew him for a few years even before that. He walked into A Wednesday! with complete trust and faith and that has continued even today. With every film we do together, there is no unnecessary doubt about what the journey is going to be like. The collaboration has only grown in strength.

The communication between us on set has eased out over the years. He has certain strengths as an actor and I tend to tap into them whenever I have him on board.

Do you think the texture and treatment of your thrillers, whether as a film or a series, has evolved over the years?

I certainly hope so, but that is for you to decide. It would be sad if I hadn’t evolved as a filmmaker in the last 15 years (smiles). I learn on the job every single day. The journey has been wonderful, it has tested me but also taught me a lot.

Coming back to Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, the title is very intriguing and a riff, of course, on Amitabh Bachchan’s Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Growing up, was that your favourite Bachchan film? What are your most memorable bits from that film?

Ah, the songs! O sathi re has been an all-time favourite. The music, Mr Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rakhee... I have tons of memories from that film. It was a Prakash Mehra film. Growing up, anything that was made by either Mr Desai (Manmohan Desai) or by Mr Mehra was very exciting for us. Just those names on the poster were enough. I watched it in Calcutta, of course, and I even had a vinyl LP of it at home.

When we thought of Avinash’s (Tiwary) character in our film, we named him Sikandar and the thought got subconsciously triggered within me that we could call it Sikandar Ka Muqaddar. It also fits because the film is about aspirations, destinies, greed, tenacity and mistaken identity.

In your film, Jimmy Shergill plays a cop who, in the trailer itself, says that he is driven purely by his moolvriti aka instincts. How much has instinct played a role in your journey as writer, filmmaker and producer?

It has all been instinct, every bit of it! I found out very early in life that I am not a good planner, it just doesn’t work for me. For me, it is all about gut and instinct.

Your last film Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, which released in August, didn’t do well at the box office. What do you think went wrong?

A film doesn’t need to go wrong all the time. I don’t subscribe to that. It is just that certain films don’t find takers. As a filmmaker, I told you a story, you didn’t like it. Fair enough. Move on.

Have you always had this attitude towards success and failure?

No one is born with it. But I definitely realised and recognised early in life that it doesn’t matter. What matters is the present and the process that you go through.

I loved making Sikandar Ka Muqaddar. Every bit that I am talking to you today about is filled with good memories and fantastic times that we had as a cast and crew, whether it was with Jimmy, Avinash, Tamannaah, Zoya (Afroz) or Ridhima (Pandit), Rajiv bhai... Jubin (Nautiyal) has sung a song, Manoj (Muntashir) has written it.... There are great memories of making this film. Those memories are not going to get diluted, no matter what happens on November 29 when the film releases.

You have made spiritual sequels (Baby and Naam Shabana) and direct follow-ups (Special Ops and Special Ops 1.5). Is there a film of yours that you feel is worth a revisit as a sequel or prequel?

Not immediately, not right now as we speak. These options keep getting discussed and thrown at me by people around me, by partners and collaborators, by my co-producer. But I have not been motivated or excited with that idea as of today. I don’t know what holds for tomorrow. Let’s see.

When is a film in Bangla happening? I have been asking about it for a while now...

I do want to make one at some point. I am still waiting for a phone call from (actor) Jeet (who Pandey collaborated with for the 2011 Bengali film The Royal Bengal Tiger). He needs to crack a subject...

I am sure that there are many others here who would like to collaborate with you...

That is the reason I got almost the whole of the Bangla industry to work on Khakee (The Bengal Chapter, the upcoming addition to Khakee: The Bihar Chapter on Netflix). So now, I can look forward to a story from anyone!