Tell us about Samaantar.
Samaantar means parallel. It deals with life and relationships and will throw up questions about ourselves. Like with my earlier films, I have tried to present a thought I haven’t expressed before. When Quest/Thaang that deals with homosexuality and man-woman relationship won the National Award, people said that it was ahead of its time and that it requires courage to make a film like that. I always say that I want my films to be like the very basic toy, the kaleidoscope. A small twist can reveal a multitude of new possibilities. In the same way, I want to explore and unravel the myriad layers of life through my films.

How did you manage to rope in Sharmila Tagore to do her first Marathi film?
Sharmila’s an old friend and we have done Bengali films together. While reading the script, Sandhya and I could think of no one other than her for the role. Her poise, intelligence and acting skill was just what we wanted. When I called her up, her first reaction was apprehension because she doesn’t know Marathi. I told her that Seema Biswas did my Dhyaas-parva and Deepti Naval did Anaahat for me—and neither knew Marathi. I also told her how Bengali and Marathi are similar in terms of language and people. She was immediately convinced and now, we are going to Kolkata to shoot the second schedule of the film after having completed the first one in Pune.

Big Bollywood names like Subhash Ghai and Amitabh Bachchan are doing Marathi films now. But you were probably the first mainstream Bollywood actor-director who veered towards Marathi cinema.
It’s strange but the top heroines of every era have been Maharashtrians—Lalita Pawar, Durga Khote, Nalini Jayant, Urmila Matondkar and Madhuri Dixit. Yet none of them ever acted in a Marathi film. But when my acting career was at its peak, I went out of the way to do Marathi films. My directorial debut, Akriet, was also in Marathi.
I feel every story or concept can be best told in a particular language, be it Marathi, Hindi or English. I don’t succumb to the notion of making a film in a popular language for the masses. Till now, I have made six Hindi films, six Marathi films and one English film—and this has happened very naturally.

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