New Beginning

He may have not accompanied the starcast of his debut film to the Kolkata promotional event,but Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan has Kolkata in his mind nonetheless. “How is the film being received in the city? I have heard Kolkata is a sports-loving city,am sure it will relate to the film,” he says over the phone. Maybe,maybe not. Had Lahore been about football or cricket one could have confidently assured Chauhan an instant city connect,but his directorial debut is about kickboxing,a sport the average Kolkatan knows little about. “That maybe so,but Lahore is not only about kickboxing. It’s a love story too and it’s also about Indo-Pakistan relationships. It works on so many levels. I am sure people with connect with the emotional core of the film,” he says.

We have seen a few films on boxing (remember the Mithun Chakraborty starrer Boxer?),but a film on kickboxing has to be a Bollywood first. “Lahore,in many ways is also a vendetta film. In that context I wanted to show a brutal sport in my film. My characters actually use kickboxing as a way of venting their pent-up feelings. The brutality of the sport actually adds to the drama,” says Chauhan.

Of the words of praise that Chauhan’s film has collected so far,most are about the film’s outstandingly choreographed action sequence. “The fact that I have actually represented the country in kickboxing probably helped. My understanding of the game is thorough. However,I feel that the film is technically brilliant throughout. It’s not the kickboxing scenes that stand out. India has rarely seen such a technically-polished venture,” says Chauhan.

Though the film propagates Indio-Pakistan friendship,Lahore has been banned in Pakistan. “Bollywood has a notorious reputation of Pakistan-bashing. So it’s only natural that Pakistani authorities will be suspicious of any film set in Pakistan. However,I have tried to tell my story from a neutral point of view. Yet,the Pakistani authorities are reportedly offended with some scenes and dialogues,” he says.