Filmmaker Ishrat R Khan is gearing up for his big screen release Guthlee Ladoo on October 13, 2023. The film stars Sanjay Mishra in the lead role. In an exclusive chat with The Free Press Journal, Ishrat talks about his soon to be release film, his next with Sunny Singh and his working camaraderie with Anees Bazmee.
While elaborating about Guthlee Ladoo, he shares, “It’s all about lower cast beings. Most of the films made on lower cast has merely depicted about the torture that they are subjected to owing to their caste done on them. Recently, Jai Bhim, a south language film also depicted their bad treatment. We have related this story to their right to education. They have understood their right to education. If their children are educated they will get jobs on higher posts and they will not have to do the ancestral job of cleaning toilets etc.”“I received the best director award in Kolkata.This regressive attitude is seen even today in villages. A particular backward community who have their own rules and regulations and they have formulated their separate law which they have to abide by. It is my debut film. Guthlee means seed and through this seed a tree stands tall. Basically it means the base or foundation. I have been here for almost 30 years. I assisted director Aneese Bazmee on films Deewangee, Sandwich, No Entry, Welcome and Welcome back. In fact, No Entry, the script is ready and whenever it will come, it will create a huge buzz,” he adds.
Sharing on his working experience with Anees Bazmee, he tells, “I started my career with Anees Bazmee starting with Radhe Shyam Sitaram with Suniel Shetty in a double role and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan followed by Sandwich, starring Govinda, where he played a double role. Anees ji is a writer and thus his screenplay also is meticulously written. He is not only a good director but is a fantastic actor as well. He enacts the scenes and shows to the actor. Mostly, all the actors want Anees Bhai to perform and then they will follow him. Be it Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar or Firoz Khan, everyone wanted him to perform first and then would enact in the scene. He is so emotional at heart, if he mouths an emotional line, tears would start flowing down his cheeks. He feels the lines while mouthing unlike today’s actors who just read their lines.”
When asked about his next film, he reveals, My next film is a rom-com genre film titled, Love Ki Arranged Marriage. The cast includes Annu Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Rajpal Yadav, Avneet Kaur and more. There are almost 26 actors in this film. It's a family entertainment and a love story that is produced by Raaj Shaandilyaa and Vinod Bhanushali. The film is made on a large scale and mostly shot in overseas. It is slated to release around November-December.”
