In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to abrogate Article 370 which gave Jammu & Kashmir a special status. On December 11, 2023, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India unanimously upheld the government's decision to abrogate the article. 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' director Aditya Dhar has taken the producer's seat to back a film based on the abrogation of this important provision. The film is titled 'Article 370' and is directed by National award-winning film director, Aditya Suhas Jambhale. It stars Yami Gautam, Priyamani and Arun Govil among others in key roles. The film is releasing in theatres on February 23.
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Ahead of the release of 'Article 370', Outlook India had a conversation with Aditya Dhar where he spoke about working with his wife Yami, why he made the film, his struggles in the early days and a lot more. Excerpts from the interview.
How different is when you're directing your wife in a film like 'URI' and when you're just a producer and not calling all the shots. Is the equation different?
When it comes to work, we both are very professional. This is my third film as a producer. I have already done a film with Yami as a producer which is going to come in the next two to three months. It's called Dhoom Dhaam. It's an action comedy film brilliantly performed by Pratik Gandhi and Yami.
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We maintain and balance our work and personal lives. At home, it's all about family, food, and being together but when it comes to work, we are out-and-out professionals. Unanimously it was decided that we needed to approach Yami for this project. It was our company which contacted Yami's team to figure out the dates.
I am also the writer of the film and there was a lot of creative collaborations happened. As a producer, you are just there to provide the best assistance possible for the vision that your director has. In our case, our endeavour was to help Jambhale in creating an extraordinary film and I hope we did a great job with that. Same for our actors, be it Yami, Priyamani or others. They are extraordinary actors who only want to support us as much as possible.
You are a Kashmiri Pandit and you have seen terrorism and atrocities. Does making films like 'URI' or 'Article 370 cathartic for you?
Yes, absolutely. Since childhood, we have been witness to what happened in Kashmir. We have heard stories about how the separatists and terrorists were finding support behind the garb of this Article, how they were hiding their crimes by taking support of this. Revoking Article 370 was necessarily one of the most important steps anybody would have ever taken.
Everybody thought that there was no route to achieve that and you couldn't find a way to go around it as all thought that it was a close end loop. When we got to know how the operation was conducted and how that loop was basically taken care of, is what made it such an incredible story. We said we had to make it. It's something which is very important as a subject and event to be brought in front of the audience. Everybody knows it happened but nobody knows how it happened. It's such a great and exciting story that we were actually compelled to bring it to celluloid and make it happen. I really hope that audiences also resonate with the kind of event it was, the kind of details we have brought into and we have extracted and understood how the machinery was able to pull it off.
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You are not from the industry and had your own share of struggles in the initial days. Was it the reason you chose Aditya to direct the film so that it opens a scope for the talented outsiders?
For me, it took 15 years to release a film like Uri. Every second year, I was directing some other film but it was not happening. Somewhere somehow luck was not favouring or I was not good at "hanging out" with industry people and all that. So, definitely I felt isolated and when I and my brother decided to open our own production house, we said we have to give opportunities to genuinely talented people. Jambhale was our first choice and it has been an incredible journey with him. This is his second film with us. We have already shot the first and is called Baramullah and he has done a fantastic job. It is coming out in a few months.
