New Delhi: After “Mere Pyare Prime Minister”, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has his eyes set on telling a father-son story, comparing two generations. He says it’s a salute to the new generation that is grappling with pressures of all kinds.
“I have started work on my next. It’s untitled right now, but its script is ready and we are casting,” Mehra told in an interview here.
What is it about?
“It’s a salute to the generation of today. What I have seen around me is that today’s generation is far more accomplished, and why not. It’s like a comparison of two generations, but it’s not so simple,” said the director, known for movies like “Rang De Basanti” and “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”.
Reflecting on the thought behind the film, Mehra said: “I think the world we have given to the youth today, they deserve better. We have given them anxiety, panic attacks, depression, attention deficiency syndromes.
“These things never existed, but we have created these things for the generation of today, and are putting so much pressure on them. “There’s peer pressure, competition pressure, performance pressure, pressure of structuring their life… ‘At 18, you will pass college, at 22 you will do the senior college, at 23 you get your first job, at 26 you do something else… At 30 you will get a house… If you don’t take a car by then, how will they feel… All that… And so, I wanted to tell a story around it in my own way.” In a nutshell, “it’s a father-son story in a unique setup”, he explained, adding that he is currently meeting people for the project and gauging if the response is good.
He doesn’t have a dream cast in mind.
“For the same story to be told, I believe there will always be three to four great actors… But (who knows) who is in the mindset at that point of time to absorb that story, because everybody is going through different phases in their careers,” he said.
He hopes to begin work on this new film before 2018 ends. Mehra’s last directorial to release was “Mirzya”. His next project as a producer is “Fanne Khan”, featuring Aishwarya Rai, Anil Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao. Mehra describes it as a “beautiful story” of a father and daughter, and says a lot about music and women artistes.