'I couldn't afford Manisha'

Lata Khubchandani

While Grahan misfired at the box office, One Two Ka Four (with Shah Rukh Khan/ Juhi Chawla/ Jackie Shroff), too, did not taste much success.

Now director Shashilal Nair returns with an experimental film, Ek Choti Si Prem Kahani. "I have worked with the biggest stars --- Shah Rukh Khan, Jackie Shroff, Juhi Chawla, but haven't had a hit film. So I thought, why not indulge my desire for a different kind of cinema," says Nair about his latest film starring Manisha Koirala.

"I worked with Manisha [Koirala] in Grahan when I had this idea and had told her the story. However, other things came up and I put it on the back burner."

Shot on a 25-day schedule, the film has no songs and no music. Says Nair, "It could not be made in two schedules. I thought people would be busy and I wouldn't get anyone to work in it. But Manisha had a few days in hand because some shoot of hers got cancelled. She told me she would take it up. Being a small budget film, I told her I couldn't afford her. She said, 'If you ever make money on this, pay me. Otherwise don't'."

The film is about a 14-year-old boy falling in love with a 28-year-old girl. Aditya Seal portrays the role of the 14 year old.

Nair put up advertisements when he couldn't find the right face to play the character. Says he, "We received quite a few responses from model coordinators. When the boy we had zeroed in on opted out because he had exams, we settled for Aditya and started shooting immediately."

Produced under Paragon Pictures, Nair's production house, the film will be released in select cities. Says Nair, "It's a small budget film which I will release in select theatres in Mumbai, Delhi and perhaps in Pune."

The two-hour-27-minute film is an experiment, says Nair. "It is a film you have never seen before. I realised all formulae haven't worked, all clichés have failed. So it was time to experiment and wrote this script. I would say it is not something anyone has seen for the last fifty years."

"My treatment of this film is different in style, in pacing. I think it is high time different films were made. The market is open worldwide today and different genres are being accepted," continues Nair.

When asked whether the film will work, Nair quips, "I think so. That is why I am distributing it myself. I am not selling my picture [to anyone]. I think the audience will identify with the film. Not immediately, but the next day!"

Nair's film releases May 30.