'Sandhya is a rock 'n' roll film'

Lata Khubchandani

They say that behind every sucessful man there is a woman. A friend, a lover, a philosopher and sometimes, even producer.

Besides being a wife and mother of two, Ayesha is also the producer of her husband's film, Boom. This latest offering directed by Kaizad Gustad, of Bombay Boys fame is Ayesha's fourth film as producer. She has earlier produced films like Grahan and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai.

Ayesha is also gearing up for the release of her third film, Sandhya, a thriller written by Shadab Khan (son of the late actor Amjad Khan), and directed by Sangeeth Sivan (director-cinematographer Santosh Sivan's youngest brother).

Shadab Khan is no stranger to the industry. "I entered the industry to branch into different things and finally direction," the young writer says. "Acting was never my goal --- just a means towards my goal. After a certain point I wanted to write. When this idea came along, I decided to write it."

"Sandhya [twilight] is a psychological thriller. Metaphorically speaking, it is the line between sanity and insanity. It's an interesting subject," says Ayesha.

Sandhya sees Jackie Shroff and Raveena Tandon in the lead. They are supported by Javed Jafferi, Danny Denzongpa, Ashutosh Rana, Sophiya Haque and Rakesh Bapat. "It's a slick film, techincally amazing and very scary --- just the kind I love watching. That is why I wanted to make a film like Sandhya" says Ayesha.

The film is scheduled for release in the latter half of May.

"I was shooting with Jackie Shroff in Kutch [in the Western Indian state of Gujarat] for Refugee. Once, during a break, I narrated the story to him. He liked it very much and said he wanted to make it," says Shadab.

"Sandhya happened over seven drafts. One tends to get too close to one's story. I didn't want that to happen, to become fixated with my perception. I told Jackiedada what I had in mind but did not sit in on the casting."

"Everyone thinks Sandhya is the name of a woman, the heroine. But it isn't. For us Sandhya is a grey area --- the twilight zone between reality and fiction. Though it is a very distinctive, important character in the film."

"What's different about this film is that it has a run time of only two hours and ten minutes. The film has a pacy feel to it and with Sangeeth's innovative camera angles, the texture is very slick. I would call it a rock n' roll film. But I am still going to let the audiences decide."