Lootere, the new show on Disney+ Hotstar, marks the directorial debut of Jai Mehta. As the son of National Award-winning director Hansal Mehta, expectations are high, and the show delivers on a gripping voyage of power and corruption on a cargo ship.

In this exclusive interview with Hindustan, creator Hansal Mehta and director Jai Mehta opened up on the process of making the show, the casting decisions and collaborating on the editing process.

Congratulations on Lootere. I can't recall a show quite like it that has been attempted before in the Indian OTT space. I want to start by asking both of you, now that the show is out in the universe, what has been the reaction like? Were you surprised, were you anticipating something in particular?

Hansal: The response has been overwhelming. He has made me very proud, the way Lootere has been received. The amount of hardwork that has gone into it… the resilience, the patience, that this entire process has taken which is more than three and a half years, is paying off. When it is appreciated, you feel vindicated. That is the biggest takeaway right now. It is a sense of happiness and relief also.

Jai: It has been overwhelming for me too. We've getting a lot of love, a lot of calls and messages from industry folk only. People whom I have constantly looked up to are calling and congratulating and they are enjoying what we have made. It is a great feeling!

Lootere has a massive scale, not just in the drama but also in setting and casting. Jai, what was about the story that fascinated you in the first place and when did Hansal Sir come on board?

Jai: We both came on board together. The story came to us from creator and producer Shailesh Singh, and it was already written by Vishal Kapoor and Suparn S. Varma. Eventually Suparn went on to direct Rana Naidu. Vishal was still on and we were constantly working on the script.

What excited me was the possibility of trying and going beyond what we have done here. The fact that this was a really good opportunity to show that we are also capable of telling stories beyond our boundaries. We watch films like Blood Diamond and think, ‘Yaar kya film banayi hain! Yaha kyu nahi banayi? Kyu nahi bana sakte hain (What a film they have made! Why can't we make such a film here)?’ It is almost just that you know! Why can't we do it? It is almost just the right script. Hats off also to the team of Disney+ Hotstar for backing something like this. Because this is not a script that you would see getting greenlit by a studio when we speak of language being an issue, metrics and all that stuff. But it is very brave of them to trust us with this! So yeah, it was the opportunity to try and go beyond our comfort zone and the challenge is what was really exciting!

One of the most interesting parts of the show, even while I was watching it, was the casting. Not only of the main lead in Vivek Gomber, whom we have not seen in such a role, but also the African cast. They were all incredible. What was that casting process like?

We were in Cape Town and our South African casting director James, along with Mukesh Chhabra were there. This was literally one and a half months before the shoot. We went to a slum and we ended up doing open casting. Anybody who wanted to be in front of the camera were welcome to come and test. We had close to 5,300 odd tests that day. There were a lot more people standing outside and we were advised to get out of that place or else it would get really hectic. Eventually, we went back and sat through all the tapes.

There were a few auditions that were done in tapes also. I remember seeing Martial Batchamen Tchana, and others doing a bunch of call backs to test them myself to see how perceptive they are to change. They turned out to be the best. Not only are they natural on screen, most of them are non-actors! The actor playing Barkhad was only 27 years-old when he played that role! It was quite exciting, and they were all so talented.

I am curious to know, since this marks your directorial debut, as to what were the conversations with Hansal Sir during the process. Whether there were any particular aspects of the show which you wanted to have a second opinion on…

Jai: All the time! He is very good with script and casting. I relied on him heavily during casting and later in the edits as well. He is a hard critic but he is really, really good.

Hansal: I am frankly brutal on the edits. Even in my own work. I sometimes mercilessly cut things. No matter how much work has gone into it. That was one of the main things with Jai where at times you get very attached to the things that you have done. If it is not going with the story then just throw it out! That's something that we have been doing to each other's work for years. He watches my edits and gives his critical feedback. Jai has a very good sense of visual effects, and music. Whereas my razor-sharp focus is on how the story should be told, and the editing- which is one of my key areas. I believe it is the place where I rewrite my work. It works well for both of us, but some day, very soon, each of us have to be on our own! (smiles)

I learnt it the hard way, you know. My first film …Jayate, when I saw the first cut it was 3 hours 45 minutes! I fell asleep watching my own film. The first cut was so excruciatingly long, and I went on to cut around 1 hour 40 minutes from the film. So that brutality started very early in my life (smiles). I never felt indulgent.

My last question is to Hansal and whether he has any words of advice for any young filmmaker, including Jai, who is starting in the industry and who wants to tell certain stories.

Hansal: It is usually the same thing where I tell people that we often limit ourselves by the way we think. Before we even embark on the process of making our films, we limit our ambition, we limit our thinking. That is one thing I have learnt, that ambition is not dependent on resources. It is, but you can find ways if you are ambitious enough. Just be ambitious, bold and fearless. These are the three things that I tell people. Everything else- craft, style… it follows. Good filmmakers are unreasonable, fearless and bold.

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