Vipul Shah: OTT Is An Alternate Reality Which We Can’t Ignore

Director Vipul Shah has been getting a lot of praise for his latest web show ‘Human’. In a candid chat with Outlook, Shah reveals how the idea for the web show came about, how he decided on casting his wife, actress Shefali Shah, in the lead role, and what the new-age OTT platforms have done for him as a filmmaker. Excerpts from the interview:

Where did the germ of the idea for 'Human' come from?

I had read about human drug testing going wrong in Africa and thousands of people dying and subsequently, human drug testing was banned in Africa after that. It created a curiosity and I wanted to know what is happening in terms of human drug testing. That was how the subject came into existence and I wanted to make a film out of it. I wrote a film script and realised that a film script will not do justice to the subject and hence we decided to switch to the digital format and now we are finally here with the show.

In ‘Human’, the doctors are trying to play god. Has there been any incident in your life or the life of someone you know who has faced such a hard time from doctors?

In my life, thankfully, I have never faced any hard time from any doctor. In fact, all the doctors in my life have been wonderful and they are all very close to me, but sometimes you do come across some doctors or stories of some doctors and you feel shocked listening to them. I have heard some such stories but personally, I haven’t experienced anything of that sort.

People trust doctors blindly but for doctors, it is a means of earning money as their profession. Should doctors be thinking of money or should they be selfless and just serve humanity even if their own finances are very bad?

I don’t really know. I am nobody to judge any individual’s personal choices. It is absolutely the personal call as to how he/she chooses to live their life. But when you are associated with a noble profession, there is an expectation of balance. You will be expected to balance humanity as well as the commercial aspect of your business and if you can’t then it’s fine. As long as you are not ill-treating a patient or misdiagnosing a patient, it should be fine. It will be the choice of the patient to go to that doctor or not. As long as he/she is treating the patients correctly, the rest of it should be completely left to his/her individual choice.

As a filmmaker how do you see the boom of OTT? Is OTT giving filmmakers who were probably not getting enough work from the mainstream are finally getting their due?

I think the OTT is an alternate reality which we can’t ignore. It is a great platform and it is going to co-exist with films. It is not going to disappear anytime soon whereas it is going to become stronger. It will create opportunities for young and old, all filmmakers, actors, writers and directors and everybody to come out and tell some stories which are absolutely fascinating. So, OTT is a great platform to be on and I am very happy to be working with Disney+ Hotstar.

How did Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulahri come on board and when did you think that Vishal Jethwa would be the perfect choice for that character of Mangu?

We actually had Shefali and Kirti as our first choice and when we gave them the script to read they both accepted the script in one day itself, and they were very excited to be a part of the show. It is a great thing for us that we got our best choices. As far as Vishal is concerned, I have known him for some time now and we did some auditions with him and he was absolutely brilliant in those auditions.  We did not have to think twice to get Vishal on board. Not just these three, we also got some amazing actors together like Ram Kapoor, Indraneil Sengupta, Sandeep Kulkarni, and Seema Biswas, on top of all. So, I would say we have a terrific star cast in this show. 

You have been in the industry for such a long time. Have you ever had any regrets?

I give my best to everything that I do and I don’t really expect every project of mine to be successful.  Just because something is not successful, doesn’t mean that it creates a feeling of regret. I am proud of everything that I have done so far because I know that my commitment, my honesty, and the hard work that I have put into all my projects were the same as I put in any successful project. So, I have no regrets.

As a filmmaker, do you have any tick boxes, like some particular thing has to be in a script for you to pick it up as a producer or as a director?

There is only one tick box. When I listen to a script or when I think of an idea as a producer or a director, it has to connect with my heart. I have to instinctively get connected to the emotion of the story. If the script is emotionally connecting me to it, then that is enough for me to take up the project.