Four new directors to watch out for in the coming months

AYAN MUKHERJEE
Wake Up Sid (October)
Big break: Films are in Ayan’s DNA: his dad is actor Deb Mukherjee, his uncle is the yesteryear star Joy Mukherjee, Kajol and Rani are his cousins. No wonder then that Mukherjee wanted to direct a film much before he knew what direction entailed. “I understood at an early age that the director made the film. I wanted that guy’s job but I didn’t have a clue how to go about it,” he says. Director Ashutosh Gowariker, who is married to Mukherjee’s half-sister, Sunita, showed him the ropes. “I asked him if I could assist him on Swades and he took me on,” says the 26-year-old. Although he terms his Gowariker days “immensely valuable”, Mukherjee’s big dream was to assist his favourite film-maker Karan Johar.
Industry grapevine has it that a drunken Mukherjee sent a text message to Johar and that’s how he got a meeting with him. Mukherjee sets the record straight. “I really wanted to work with Karan but I had no link with him. My cousins were not going to help me so I just dashed off a clever text message to him. The message was such that if Karan didn’t reply, he would look uncool,” he says with a laugh. Well, Johar did reply but with a polite “No”. A week later, Mukherjee bumped into Johar at a breakfast hosted by a common friend. They bonded over movies and that evening, when Mukherjee texted Johar again, a meeting was fixed. Result: Mukherjee ended up as an assistant director of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Johar was impressed enough to offer to produce Mukherjee’s maiden venture, Wake Up Sid.
Debut dreams: Mukherjee describes the film as a story of “a directionless boy who discovers himself over a Mumbai summer.” Terming it as a “tiny slice of life,” he says the film is “a feeling that you walk out with.” The script clicked with Ranbir Kapoor, who agreed to play the lead. Konkona had no reservations playing a “slightly older girl” to Ranbir’s Sid. Quiz him on Johar’s influence on his film-making style and he says, “Both of us are interested in stories about people and relationships. There is a lot of Karan in my life and therefore a lot in my films.”
Mentorspeak: Says Karan Johar: “Wake up Sid is a result of Ayan’s vision. I always knew his intelligence and his “old soul” approach to life would result in a simple but effective piece of work. I feel validated and I can only hope the audience feels the same.”

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