Nitesh Rai’s latest directorial venture Ramrajya released on November 4. The film stars Shobhita Rana, Aman Preet Singh and Salman Shaikh. It is produced by Prabir Sinha. The Free Press Journal recently caught up with the filmmaker for an exclusive conversation.
When asked if Shobhita co-operated with him or threw tantrums on the sets, Nitesh says, “Shobhita co-operated a lot during the shooting of the film. She did not throw any tantrums at all.”
The director has an interesting anecdote to share about casting the South actress. “I was editing a Punjabi film because I am a professional editor. It was at that time that I saw Shobhita and someone told me that she also works in South films. Because I had seen her work, I did not have to think much to cast her,” he states.
Opening up about casting Aman Preet, Nitesh adds, “Aman already works in South films and in this film two to three actors have been taken from South.”
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Talking about what he expects from his film, Nitesh explains, “There have been freedom fighters in the country even before when the country was not free. Even then, Ram was fighting for rajya. It is necessary to come to Ram rajya, which will bring peace in the country. Our freedom fighters had the concept of Ram rajya but after independence, they could not do much as they were under pressure.”
The director recalls his journey from editing to becoming a filmmaker. “I have been interested in films from the beginning but I started my career with film editing. I then worked for TV serials. I used to edit promos for a few TV channels as well,” he says.
Elaborating further, he adds, “Working on this script, there was a scene in Gurukul. There were more than 200 students in it and all of them were taken from Ranchi school. We shot in Ranchi with around 350 people.”
With a rich experience gained from editing, Nitesh has some interesting plans as a director. “I want to do good and challenging films. Ramrajya was also very challenging for me as a director,” he shares.
On November 4, many films from big production houses were released. On getting enough theatres to showcase his film, he states, “That is the work of the production house, the production house will take a call. It was before 2000 when the films of big people used to run and small people also used to run. Now after the lockdown, a little transition has happened and is happening.”
On a parting note, Nitesh feels confident about the success of his film. “We believe in content and have made a good film,” he signs off.
