Diving into the intricacies of adaptation, research methodologies, and the art of storytelling, one of our favorite filmmakers Homi Adajania talks about his latest experiment with us—Murder Mubarak, a cinematic adaptation of Anuja Chauhan's enthralling novel, Club You To Death.
The luxury enjoyed by a novel, in terms of pacing and time, isn’t really applicable to a film’s screenplay. ‘With such a large ensemble of characters it’s difficult to give every character a complex graph they can fully ride out and it seems prudent to focus on the plotting, no pun intended, which is what we did,’ says Homi. Plus orchestrating a mystery thriller also demands a delicate balance between revelation and concealment. ‘In a whodunnit, I think the fun is to give the audience the information in a veiled manner so they never feel duped that things weren’t shown to them.’ Below he explain further how he tied it all together.
Murder Mubarak is based on a book by Anuja Chauhan. This marks your first adaptation for the screen. What was it like since this is something you haven’t done before? What worked and what didn’t?
Well, due credit goes to the writers, Gazal (Dhaliwal) and Supro (Sengupta) for very effectively carving out the screenplay from Anuja’s novel. Both of them did the heavy lifting for the adaptation following which we had several discussions which resulted in a crisp shooting draft. I tried to see it as a stand-alone screenplay because I felt that if it worked on that level we were home free. I know the challenges they faced was condensing the material down.
What was the kind of research and prep that went into making a whodunnit piece of cinema? What were the challenges? What were the kind of films you fed yourself?
A lot of the prep is done in the writing itself. Where to leave the breadcrumbs, when to throw in red herrings, and when to intentionally amplify an audience’s suspicion of one character over another are the tools we use. In a whodunnit, I think the fun is to give the audience the information in a veiled manner so they never feel duped that things weren’t shown to them. It’s all about revisiting the breadcrumbs and suddenly everything seems as plain as day.
Your last outing was a drama series which was your debut feature in that category and now you’ve pivoted towards film again. Is this where you feel more like yourself?
Nothing like that. From web series to features, from theatrical to OTT releases, I love any visual medium to tell my stories on.
You’re blessed with getting such colourful and extremely talented ensemble casts. What’s the secret? How did it come about for this one?
I think I’m very lucky to enjoy the trust of my actors. If you look at my work, it’s subjective, you may not enjoy the story, but you’ll rarely feel that a performance isn’t good. There’s no secret really. As a director, the actor knows that I’ve got their back. I seriously respect the difficulty in the craft of acting and I create an environment for my actors that will give them wings... sometimes they flap around but most of the time they soar.
What inspires you to keep creating?
Curiosity and the joy of telling stories.
And what has been your most significant learning from the industry in all these years?
To do the best you can on every gig, so once it’s out, the result has no bearing on me. I know that every time, I put in the maximum effort I possibly can and so my sense of validation for any project doesn’t come from outside myself. Saying that, it obviously feels good when a story does well over one that isn’t widely received, but that’s a very short-lived emotion for me.
Anyway, the idea is to have fun and not to take any of it too seriously. We’re making movies not curing cancer. I guess the most significant learning for me is to use each film experience for creating great memories and being better for it.
Words Hansika Lohani
Date 19.03.2024