Team Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke recently got together to celebrate the success of the Zee5 series directed by Srijit Mukherji. The show revolves around Kavya, an IPS officer, who gets appointed as the lead investigator in an ISIS-K bomb attack case, where her psychological strength is put to test. The Telegraph chat with Srijit....

Srijit Mukherji

Congratulations on the success of Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke. What has been the favourite compliment so far?

My favourite compliment so far has been: “We did not know that you had such a bombastic action thriller in you.” It has really been a genre jump for me.

What does the success of this series mean to you? Why does it feel so special?

Any level of success at a national level is special because you are catering to a much, much larger cross-section of audience with extremely varied tastes and preferences. To kind of get some sort of universal appreciation of such a diverse audience pool is something which is very, very satisfactory. It feels extremely special. Ray opened a lot of doors and windows for me in Bombay. This has already started to have its effect. A lot of offers are coming in. I am extremely happy that this has worked.

How was the success party?

We reminisced, we danced, we spoke of the feedback that we got... we took a step back and realised what an incredible timeline we had to follow and we pulled it off. Everyone was there at the party. I was overjoyed to see Mita Vashisht... we had missed her during the wrap-up party, she could not attend it then.... apart from Sumeet (Vyas), everyone was there. Sumeet I think was shooting. Regina (Cassandra) came down. The entire cast and crew were there. It was a lot of fun.

Why did you decide to direct Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke?

It was something which was absolutely different from whatever I was doing. It came out of the blue. I am always up for challenges, and that’s one of the main reasons why I took this up. I love exploring the OTT space. The challenges of shooting with drones, the challenges of doing a cross-country action thriller where you are shooting in over seven cities, and traversing the length and breadth of the country were very special.

Why did you cast Regina Cassandra?

I had watched her in Rocket Boys and Shoorveer and I thought that she was absolutely smashing in both. She has an incredible screen presence. She is extremely athletic, something which was a prerequisite for Kavya here. Regina is great in action sequences; great in emotional scenes as well. She was a perfect fit.

You travelled to seven cities to shoot this series. How was your shooting experience?

I think I can just write a whole book on the shooting experience! It was more like a Bharat darshan for me, starting with Guwahati and Shillong, then going to Jaipur and Jaisalmer, and then coming down to Kochi, Alleppey, and shooting in Mumbai in between. It was quite an experience. It was very special. It was extremely enriching, learning about new customs, rituals, cuisines, and local culture, and getting to know your own country.

Which was your fave city to shoot in and which one was the most challenging?

Shillong and Kochi were both remarkable. I had never been to Shillong before this. I have shot in Jaipur and Jaisalmer before this. I will never forget the speedboat chasing sequence. It was very Bond-like, in the backwaters of Alleppey. It was a very special sequence where the director, the actor and the actress rode their own speedboats while shooting. There were no stunt men or women. There were no professionals. We were in the water on our own, and we had a blast.

Barun

What was your process of collaborating with the writers of the show?

That was one of the more difficult parts (smiles), because I usually work on my own writing. But yes, there were very good sides also to it because then you could cross your thoughts and argue, come up with your counter logic and counterarguments. It would only make your script stronger. As far as the dialogue writing was concerned, I devised almost a good 70-80 per cent of the show’s dialogues with the actors and wrote on the spot, lines... because you need to be in the moment to write.

Tell us about staging the action scene in the Kerala backwaters, which was a high point of the show.

day, a luxury which we usually don’t get in this part of the world. It really helped us a lot. We learnt how to ride a speedboat, and while riding how to shoot, swerve, overtake, and make circles. It was an enriching and huge learning experience for all of us. People were floored by the way Regina drove a speedboat on her own. Everyone was absolutely stunned to see her do all the stunts herself. Like an absolute professional. That one day of rehearsal really helped. It is a once-in-a-lifetime sequence for me. It was remarkable. I still get goosebumps when I think of it.

You had used drones to great effect in your earlier films. What was your first reaction when you heard about a plot point where drones were being used as a weapon?

The first thing that struck me was, ‘Yes, amar bodhoye drone-logne jonmo!’ Jokes apart, that really helped me a lot. Here we had quite a few drones operating together. My knowledge of drones came in handy.

We hear that you are all set to bring Sherlock Holmes to a national OTT platform. What more can you tell us about that?

It is coming soon!