Latest news with #TheHunt-TheRajivGandhiAssassinationCase
Indian Express
27-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Nagesh Kukunoor at Idea Exchange: ‘The climate has lent itself to many lawsuits, making it more terrifying for filmmakers'
Filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor on his recent series The Hunt- The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, keeping it apolitical and why we haven't cracked the true underdog sports story. The sesion was moderated by Alaka Sahani, Associate Editor, The Indian Express. Alaka Sahani: You have managed to keep your new web series — The Hunt- The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case — quite apolitical, given that it follows the investigation after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a gruesome manner. How did you decide on its tone and treatment? I've always been clear about avoiding politics and religion. It's one of those areas where you're absolutely going to upset someone. It really doesn't matter how objective you try to be. What excited me about The Hunt was the investigation. I was around when the assassination happened and understood snatches of it. However, reading Anirudhya Mitra's book (Ninety Days: The True Story of the Hunt for Rajiv Gandhi's Assassins) and realising what had really happened in those 90 days were two completely different things. When I read it, my mind was blown. The hunt itself was so interesting for me that I kind of saw the path forward, to not touch upon any political angles. It starts with a political assassination and people assume that the rest of it is a political show, but it's mainly the assassination. After the show came out, I just kept my fingers crossed for the first two weeks. We're not out of the woods yet but hoping that everything will go smoothly. Alaka Sahani: You had your primary source material in the form of a book. But what kind of research and filtering process went into it? I co-wrote it with two other writers, and when you have a book that you base everything on — and this is also for legal purposes — you do whatever the requisite research is. You read the articles, some of the SIT members themselves have written books. There are multiple and differing viewpoints. So it became apparent after gathering all the material that we wanted to pick one and run with it. And that was the book. However, what's interesting, and this was also the reason that attracted me to the project, was that I have never adapted a book before. The most amazing sequences that play out on screen will sometimes be a single line in the book. To pick the events that actually tell the story, to make it cohesive, because when you undertake the largest manhunt in history, it's not as simple as what's shown in the show. People are telling me, 'oh, it's such a thriller'. That's because we made it like that. In reality, no investigation ever plays out like that. Sandeep Singh: Were you looking for a theme for a series or did you decide on it after you read the book? Anirudhya Mitra brought the material to Sameer Nair, who heads Applause Entertainment (production company). Sameer asked him to write a book so that we can adapt it. Once the book was written, that's when he pitched it to me. It was a series from the get-go. For the past seven years, I've just been almost entirely in the series space. Gone are the days when you would look at something and say, 'Oh God! This is so dense, how do I condense it in two hours?' And now that this stress is out of the window, the only question is monetary viability. Way before streaming came to India, I'd been trying to pitch myself as a series director in the US. I've been an HBO fan and long format was something I was just waiting for. Feature films are awesome, but up to this point, it has been gratifying to do stuff in the long format. Mohamed Thaver: Towards the end of the series, there are certain things which are not directly said, perhaps hinting at something. Does the book also leave things open-ended or have you made some changes? We have made a couple of changes because there are so many theories floating around. So, one had to kind of maybe suggest and kind of leave it open-ended. So, that's what we did. In the case of a true crime, the moment you take it from the page to a dramatic format, the kind of liberties you have to take… So every small thing, including the words that come out of the character's mouth, makes me think: are we doing right by them? It arguably was the most stressful thing. And I don't mean for being sued or creating a controversy. It's me as a writer and a filmmaker; I want to do right by whoever I'm portraying. In my world, there is seldom any black and white, it is all grey. Even when I deal with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), it's dealt with so much humanity. There's never any finger pointing because as one of the characters says: 'One man's terrorist is another man's hero. Mihir Vasavda: Be it the LTTE side, the political side or the security establishment — how do you make a series without hurting any one of them? I don't know what that answer is but when we were writing it, more than anything else, we were absolutely paying attention to the fact that there would not be any misrepresentation. Taking liberties can be interpreted as misrepresentation. But it's trying to just do the best that you can. Since it's been out, that's been my only stress. It was arguably the most exciting project I've done. But just constantly hoping that you haven't upset anyone… You can say the most meaningful of things in ways that don't offend people, as opposed to doing it in a way that's in your face and getting your point across. And it's genuinely the way I view the world. It doesn't take effort for me to write lines a certain way. Mihir Vasavda: Is it tougher to make these kind of shows or movies now compared to 15 years ago? It is a hypersensitive world and people can come at you from any angle. When I made Hyderabad Blues (1998), the censor board gave me 91 cuts. It was one of the most torturous processes to get the film to the theatre. So, I'm not new to this kind of milieu. There the gatekeepers were defined. So I knew that when I was going up before the censor board, such and such thing would happen. The Anand Patwardhans of the world were also on a parallel track with me. He was doing his own stuff and I would constantly look and say: 'Man, I could never do that'. I still write within this space and this is how I do it. In today's times, everything is so amped up. So yes, you really don't know what's going to happen and how. The biggest threat to our existence is social media. In 2019, I just disconnected everything and went off the radar. Alaka Sahani: What was in your mind while shooting the Rajiv Gandhi assassination scene? How did you want to portray him? I wanted to show him the way we've seen him in rallies, but arguably that was the most disturbing part of the shoot because you knew that you're portraying a horrific, grizzly scene. So, I tried to handle it with the maximum sensitivity because the whole thing is told from the child's point of view and we don't see anything. And we see very little of the aftermath other than the shoe. I think that was the one scene when you're actually doing the nitty gritties. But at the back of my mind, that was weighing a little bit saying that this is how he went. Alok Deshpande: Could you elaborate on casting for The Hunt. Also, how has OTT changed the casting game? What we understand as casting has changed because of the OTT space. Prior to that, if I had to justify a cast like this to a platform and talk about what the marketability would be and who brings poster value — it would have been virtually impossible. But now, when I clearly sort of lay out my plan, no one baulks. Here, the guiding force was clearly the fact that we had to get people who at least looked like the characters they were portraying. Casting Bay handled this show. They dug around and absolutely found them. Zeeshan Shaikh: Based on the research you did, what is your analysis of the actual assassination? For an organisation that was so secretive, LTTE really went out of its way — they clicked those pictures which showed their involvement in the assassination. They didn't take credit. But the justification was that everything that they did, they documented as proof to show that they could pull off the most audacious things. For example, when they ran a trial run with VP Singh, they had a bunch of different people recording but they followed the same format. Dhanu had a garland and went all the way to VP Singh and garlanded him, which is what's shown there. They wanted to take it back to Prabhakaran and prove to him that they could get all the way to the top. It was brilliant in its conception. They did the same thing here (Gandhi's assassination). Physics played a small part in it otherwise they would have gotten away with the perfect crime. The photographer wanted a slightly better angle and he raises the camera and that's a little bit above the blast radius and the camera survives. Zeeshan Shaikh: At a time, when there are so many filmmakers and artists complaining about their freedom of expression being repressed, did you feel the pinch of what has been happening around you while making The Hunt? If I were to go to my previous shows and tell you the kind of minute changes that one has to make because someone else might be pissed off. Not related to any political space, but a community might take umbrage. So it's everywhere. It's political, it's religious, it's caste-based, everything is no no. You can make a sweet love story set in some small town and I guarantee someone can sue you even there. It's the times we live in. That's the reality of what we do. Alaka Sahani: What kind of vetting did The Hunt undergo? It went through the same that every show does. Every small line, every explanation. The vetting process had been going on for a very long time. It's not something that just happened. Because the climate has lent itself to a lot of lawsuits, it's far more terrifying for filmmakers. Sandeep Singh: We are living in tough times where we have to be careful of what we are seeing and depicting. What do you think has changed? Social media. That is the root of all evil. I don't need to know everyone's opinion, but everyone has an opinion. Let's say you are in an airport and someone recognises you. There are beautiful pluses to that and there are minuses to that. Why would you walk up to a filmmaker and say that the film you made was really bad. What do you hope to achieve with that and what do you think the filmmaker is going to say? You pour your heart and soul into it. The last thing you need is someone walking up to you and saying… it's like, if I walked up to you with your child and say, 'that's one ugly child'. Tell me which parent is going to be like 'you are right, this is a ugly child'. If you have something nice to say to someone who's made a film, say something nice. The last review I read was in 2006. So, I really don't care much for reviews either. With social media, the hate floats to the top and that's what sticks. I have no desire to constantly engage with that. None. Mihir Vasavda: Why haven't we cracked the true sports underdog stories in India? The problem is that in order to reach a larger audience, two things happen. First, you have to get a star. You've destroyed the story there. If you don't worry about the way the person looked and you brought a star, I understand what the filmmakers are doing. Then to justify that star, you need to make it bigger and bigger. Let's say you whittled it down and made it like a three-five crore film. You tell me who is going to see it. Where are you going to show it? Then you have to circle back around to the fact that you have to get at least a B-list star. Our movie universe setup is not equipped to deal with this. That's not going to change. Mohamed Thaver: What prompted you to write and direct to Iqbal? Someone wanted a bunch of us to write short stories to commemorate former President Abdul Kalam's second term in office. I wanted to tell an underdog story. So I had an idea about a deaf and non-speaking kid who excels in malkhamb. I started writing the short story and it was only supposed to be like 10 pages. Seven went in describing what malkhamb was. So then, when I flipped it to cricket, all you had to say was Iqbal wanted to play cricket and you're done. I wrote a short story. A lot of people thought it was a movie about cricket and it wasn't. It never was. The heart and soul was about someone with a disability and overcoming it. This is a classic underdog tale. Alaka Sahani: Is it possible to make more top grossers like Pushpa? If it weren't for the big films, half the industry would not function. The success keeps people employed. There is a certain level of excitement to walk into a theater and watch something on that scale. But that can't be the only thing on offer. With OTT, the world has just become a smaller place. I had written a sci-fi film in 2000 and people kind of laughed. Now I can pitch the same. They might still say, 'we're not going to give you Rs 500 crore to make it' but that is a different conversation. Zeeshan Shaikh: Your film Dor is an official remake of a Malayalam film. What is the creative freedom in recreating art that has already been created by someone? There's not just one way to tell a story, right? I was on a jury and I saw Perumazhakkalam (2004), a Malayalam film. Both this movie and Dor are based on the same original idea about a woman losing her husband. I loved the idea. But TA Razzaq, the story writer and producer, got there first. So I had to go and get the rights from him and then make it. But if you look at Perumazhakkalam and Dor, there is absolutely nothing in common. Not the lensing, not the way the story is told. Sometimes the core idea appeals to you and you say, 'I bet I could tell the story differently'. I did it once again with a movie in 2011 called Mod with Ayesha Takia and Rannvijay Singh. It was based on a Taiwanese film called The Moment in Time that I watched at a festival. Suanshu Khurana: With so many big budget films with big stars not working in recent times in Hindi cinema, how do you see the uncertainty in the film industry? Does it need a fresh perspective? Is that what's happening? There's always a need to put things in a larger context and try and make sense of it. You have some hits, you have some losses. If we look back at the cinema that happened 50 years ago, it was driven by whatever stories were told at that point. So I don't know if just Hindi films aren't working or if now there's a larger scope for other languages to dub and then occupy what is known as the Hindi cinema space. Even when we couldn't raise money for a single film, I had this pig-headed approach that if you try hard enough, someone will give you that money and then eventually the movies would get made. Maybe this is just the lower part of the cycle and again there'll be two or three hits and again it'll come back up again. Zeeshan Shaikh: Did you get a call from DR Karthikeyan (who headed the SIT) after The Hunt was released? He has an alternative version of how things unfold. Sivarasan (the mastermind of the operation) is an important character with an interesting backstory. Is he someone you'd want to flesh out in another version? The answer is no to both. But characters who have a lot to lose are always interesting to write. Given everything, it was great fun writing Sivarasan. Then getting someone like Shafeeq Mustafa for the role. Shafeeq does the first audition and what I remember most is, he takes a drag and holds the cigarette and his hand shakes. I just loved it. That was one of the ways I saw Sivarasan. I wanted that nervous energy. The way Shafeeq walks, that's Sivarasan. I didn't have to structure that walk. Again, these are all the joyous parts of fleshing things out. So no, I would not be interested in doing anything larger.
India Today
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
The Hunt director Nagesh Kukunoor: Nearly impossible to make something political now
Nagesh Kukunoor-directed 'The Hunt- The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case' has been receiving a lot of love from audiences. However, the filmmaker had his doubts before taking up the SonyLiv show, as he was hesitant to venture into anything political. In an exclusive chat with India Today, Kukunoor opened up about adapting 'Ninety Days' into a series, and why he typically refrains from handling sensitive how the series came about, Nagesh Kukunoor shared that the initial conversation began between Applause and Anirudhya Mitra around his book 'Ninety Days: The True Story of the Hunt for Rajiv Gandhi's Assassins'. The production house then approached him to direct the show, but his initial reaction was a firm no."When Sameer Nair called me, my initial response was a no because I did not want to do anything political. He told me, 'Just give the book a read, it has nothing to do with politics'. And literally, it came out as a true crime thriller. After reading the book, I knew how I would position this show as - a police procedural. Once in my head, I was clear that I wouldn't put my finger on any kind of politics, then I knew I was okay. But it didn't make the job any less challenging. Each scene that you write it's so arduous at times because you know you're writing scenes based on real-life characters. Some of them were still alive. And that stress is always there, and I hope they're not misrepresented. I hope it's not showing them in a [bad light]. It was something new for me. And so yes, it was lovely to just go back into fiction and write whatever the crap it is," he shared with a loud also spoke to him about the challenges filmmakers face when dealing with political themes today. Calling it 'nearly impossible', the director said, "The self-censorship is so high. No one wants to, and sometimes it doesn't need to be political. It will be some random person somewhere who sets something off, and then the media picks it up, and it gets into the political scene. So, it's an unfortunate side product of the times that we're in."Kukunoor added that this was also the reason why he has chosen to stay away from social media. "Because you put a picture of just yourself, and 20 guys will say, 'Do you think of yourself as a hero?' I don't want this. I don't want people pumping hot air and saying, 'Sir, you look amazing, what do you do?' I don't want either of those. Go watch my work.. If it's good, it will make it to the news. I don't need to hear compliments from a random person, sitting in a city miles away. I have zero desire for that kind of input into my life." READ THE HUNT REVIEW HEREThe 'Iqbal' director also touched upon the pressure on public figures expected to take a stand on every topical subject. He shared that he doesn't understand why it's important for his voice to be heard. "If you ask me about filmmaking, I'll say, okay, I have a voice. I make films like this, and that's my breakdown. There's a process. But if you ask me about, like, rocket science, I wouldn't have an answer. Also, why is my opinion so important? People are so driven by opinions and what others say. I may have opinions, but I need not voice them," Kukunoor Amit Sial, Danish Iqbal, Bhagavathi Perumal, Sahil Vaid, Vidyuth Gargi, and Girish Sharma, The Hunt is streaming on SonyLiv.- Ends
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Between Truth and Drama: When filmmakers tread the line while telling real stories
In a cinematic landscape increasingly drawn to true events, the question of how much creative liberty is too much is one that filmmakers often grapple with. From retelling political assassinations and hijackings to exploring biopics, storytelling rooted in real-life events must strike a careful balance between staying authentic and keeping the audience engaged. The director's dilemma: Sensitivity over sensationalism Filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor , who has never hesitated from experimenting with his work, recently dipped his toes in the genre of true crime drama. With his latest release - 'The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination ' he has presented a seven-episode long investigative drama based on the murder of an ex-Prime Minister. Highlighting how he managed to strike a balance between creative liberty and authenticity of the story, Nagesh Kukunoor, in an exclusive conversation with us, shared, "A lot of the people of my generation remember it (the assassination) very clearly. So, you want to handle it with the utmost sensitivity and not sensationalize things. " "For me, what is exciting about the project is it never taps into any of the political connections. What it deals with is a pure police procedural, a crime thriller, if you will. And that's what got me excited about the project in the first place. And it's a book, 90 Days, literally, once we chose to adapt it, it plays out like a thriller. And even though people are familiar with it, I guarantee that when you actually see the jaw's going to be on the floor at several points, saying, Oh my God, did that really happen?" The art of dramatization: Writing what wasn't said Shedding light on how drama brings the real on reel, the director added, "Now where we have to take creative liberty is, let's say, I'm giving a random example. Let's say a couple of people met, a decision was taken, and then an event happened. This is what would have been reported by the journalists during that period. Now, if we choose to dramatize that, I'm going to have to write a scene. I'm going to have the characters say certain things. And then I'm going to have it actually play out." "Now, I wasn't there, so how would I know exactly what words were said, right? But in writing the dialogues, and I had two co-writers with me, we made sure that we handled it with as much sensitivity as possible to make sure that we were true to the characters of the people we were portraying. So I would like to think that we did a solid job. We didn't point fingers. We just let the events play out as they did. We handled both sides with equal sensitivity. " The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case Trailer: Amit Sial, Sahil Vaid, Bagavathi Perumal, Danish Iqbal and Girish Sharma Starrer The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case Official Trailer Another noted film personality who weighed in on the subject is Anupam Kher . He has been a part of several movies that are based on real events. We got in touch with him when his 'IB71'was about to hit the big screens. Inspired by true events, 'IB 71' is an espionage thriller set against the backdrop of the Indo-Pak war of 1971. It follows the story of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer, who uncovers a sinister plot by Pakistan and China to launch a joint attack on India within ten days. Speaking on the delicate tightrope between truth and cinematic storytelling, Anupam Kher, in context to 'IB71' specifically mentioned, "As far as the incident is concerned, there is not much cinematic liberty taken. But of course, because jab incident hua tha toh background score nahi chalta hai. Yeh film mein background score hai. And thodi-thodi cinematic liberty is taken with any, even when you make biopics. You do make it because it's an experience you want to give to the audience. It's a ten-day film that has to come in about two hours of cinema. But the feel of the film, the incidents of the film, what actually happened, how we sort of conned ISI, and how our agents went there, stayed in a hotel, etc. That is absolutely true." Anupam Kher Interview: IB71, His EXPERIENCE Of 1971 WAR, Vidyut Jammwal & More The grey zone: where liberty becomes a risk There is a limit, however, to how filmmakers can stretch the truth. In legal biopics or political thrillers, dramatization can lead to controversy, defamation cases, or political backlash. Even well-researched films. That's where filmmaker Nagesh's earlier quote becomes relevant - "We handled both sides with equal sensitivity." Audience decoding fact from fiction With the rise of true-crime documentaries and biographical cinema, audiences now bear a responsibility too. The line between truth and creative liberty often blurs unless viewers make the effort to research what was real and what was invented for screen impact.
Hindustan Times
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Not Mani Ratnam or Sundar C, but this 2-film-old director gave Bagavathi Perumal career-altering role
Actor Bagavathi Perumal, who is mostly seen in Tamil films, recently played a pivotal role in the Hindi series The Hunt—The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case. The series, like the title suggests, talks about the aftermath of assassination of India's former Prime Minister by a Sri Lankan rebel group. It is available for streaming on SonyLIV and OTTplay Premium. Bagavathi Perumal Watch recent web series like The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, Good Wife and more on OTTplay Premium right now Bagavathi Perumal, who plays investigation officer Ragothaman in the series, is known for playing a range of characters; from being an atrocious and abusive cop in Super Deluxe, to an unaware police officer in Tourist Family. The actor in an exclusive conversation with OTTplay spoke about his acting range, and that one director who tapped the potential in him. Bagavathi Perumal on playing character roles Bagavathi Perumal played supporting roles in films like 96, Blue Star, Super Deluxe and Tourist Family to name a few. His range varies from playing a villain, to a friend and characters with grey shades. Speaking about this, he said that every actor aims to be not boxed. 'The one who broke my pattern and pulled me out is Thiagaraja Kumaraja (director of Super Deluxe) sir. He was the one who wanted me to do the role, and it is because of him others began to see the potential in me,' he added. Also read: The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case actor Bagavathy Perumal: How well a supporting role is written is criteria to judge good writing The actor also gave an example of Singampuli who played a role not expected out of him in Tamil film Maharaja. 'He was shown in a completely different shade. Only a director par excellence can show an actor in a different form. We, as actors, get usually trapped or typecast in certain roles. It is because directors fail to see actors in a different light. There are only few filmmakers who can see beyond the stereotypes,' Bagavathy Perumal mentioned. The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, also stars Amil Sial, Sahil Vaid, Girish Sharma and others. The seven-episode series opened to positive reviews upon its release and was praised for its gripping narrative. Bagavathi Perumal was recently seen in Mani Ratnam's film Thug Life and Sundar C's Gangers.
India.com
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India.com
OTT Releases This Week (June 30 - July 4): Kamal Haasans Thug Life To Priyanka Chopras Heads Of State, Whats New On Netflix, Zee 5, Prime And More
photoDetails english 2924213 Updated:Jun 30, 2025, 12:01 PM IST Good Wife 1 / 9 Release Date - July 4 (JioHotstar) The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case 2 / 9 Release Date - July 4 (Sony LIV) Uppu Kappurambu 3 / 9 Release Date - July 4 ( Prime Video) Companion 4 / 9 Release Date - June 30 (JioHotstar) Thug Life 5 / 9 Release Date - July 3 (Netflix) The Old Guard 2 6 / 9 Release Date - July 2 (Netflix) The Sandman Season 2 7 / 9 Release Date - Season 2 Vol. 1 - July 3 (Netflix) Kaalidhar Laapata 8 / 9 Release Date - July 4 (ZEE 5) Heads Of State 9 / 9 Release Date - July 2 (Prime Video)
