Vitthal Teedi director Abhishek Jain shares filmmaking journey and bond with Pratik Gandhi

The fact that Abhishek Jain has been a Radio Jockey is quite evident with his stoic baritone on the phone and perfect enunciations. If he’s nervous about launching an entirely original OTT platform, he is certainly not giving it away, wry humour remaining intact. About three days before launch of the platform, OHO Gujarati’s YouTube channel has more than 8.5 thousand subscribers already, steadily increasing just like the crescendo of Vitthal Teedi’s title track sung by Aditya Gadhvi.

Vitthal Teedi is Jain’s directorial venture after a long while, so is his collaboration with Pratik Gandhi. Jain launched Gandhi on the silver screen back in 2014 in Bey Yaar, post which there was no looking back for both. Pratik Gandhi’s performance in the 2020 show Scam 1992 made him a phenomenon in mainstream Bollywood. And yet, Jain was not remotely surprised. In an exclusive interview with Republic World, he says, “I knew this talent always existed within him, even when we met back in 2012. He was a theatre artiste when I met him while making Bey Yaar, and believed that his talent one day would be seen by the world.”

• Image: PR

Reuniting with ‘brother’ Pratik Gandhi

Jain considers Gandhi a brother “as he calms me down whenever I’m feeling anxious. He is a strong, reassuring presence in my life like that of an older brother,” he says. Jain had messaged Gandhi on social media while wanting to cast him for Bey Yaar, and their collaborations have been nothing short of perfection. While Bey Yaar became a massive hit among Gujaratis, Wrong Side Raju won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Gujarati in 2017. While the concept of creating the OTT platform struck Jain about six months before the pandemic hit, lockdown remained a rather productive time for the director-producer. The duo are set to re-create magic on screen with Jain behind the lens directing Gandhi once again for Vitthal Teedi, set in a rural Gujarat with the use of the rustic Kathiyawadi language.

Jain comes from a Marwari family from Jodhpur, with the only connection to Gujarati language being the fact that he grew up in Ahmedabad. Apart from the city itself – a love letter to which has been written in Wrong Side Raju as a song – he fell in love with the language too. He first made Kevi Rite Jaish in 2012, founding for an entirely new genre in Gujarati movies. It was a sleeper hit, completing 50 weeks in cinemas and still remains a mass favourite, that co-incidentally released on June 15, same date as Lagaan, one of Jain’s favourite movies. He fondly recalls this in his memoir Aa To Just Vaat Chhe..., written in Gujarati, with chapters highlighting the blinding passion and multifarious ideas that he, Mikhil Musale (director of Wrong Side Raju, Made in China) and Anish Shah (director of Dhunki) shared to tell stories. And perhaps that’s what gives his movies a tinge of objectivity along with the soul, substance and a social commentary supported with dramatic deus ex machina.

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“There was an era of Naresh Kanodia where he literally ran the industry for as long as 40 years. But the audience was changing and the industry too, needed to. I wanted to make films that I watched growing up and related to an urban crowd having grown up in Ahmedabad,” he says, addressing the folktales, romances and literary retellings that once influenced ‘Dhollywood’. These have changed drastically with the kind of filmmaking Jain brought in. However, he remains a fan of the kind of movies that were made in the golden era of Gujarati cinema – Bhavni Bhavai being one of them. A theme of social critique through satire or comedy is also seen in Abhishek Jain’s movies, much like the movies he’s been influenced by.

“Lions roared in background while making Vitthal Teedi”

Jain is now looking at telling more and more stories – even retellings of the literary tales that shaped Gujarat. “There are gems in literature right from Javerchand Meghani to Kanhaiyalal Munshi to Tarak Mehta – there are stories of the hinterlands waiting to be told. Vittal Teedi, for example, is set in the 1980s Saurashtra. The story is about a small town gambler who battles circumstances and his own principles, someone finding his own way amongst a dilemma of moral in a peculiar cultural milieu,” he shares.

Jain’s elucidation of an anecdote while shooting Vitthal Teedi is fascinating. It was shot near Gir “where we could hear the lions roaring in the background. There were times when we would be shooting at night and when a shot would be on, we’d hear the frantic roars and would have to stop.” Recalling of this experience lights him up, underlining his need to tell a good story above anything else. “I have evolved as a filmmaker in the last decade, but the vision that I started with remains the same,” he says, reiterating wanting to ‘make regional global’ in a Ted Talk he gave five years ago.

Jain has donned the hat of a producer looking at the numbers and logistics. Gujarat government’s recent introduction of a revised subsidy policy for Gujarati filmmakers for them to get a larger remuneration influenced all producers of the industry. However, he has also directed and written movies – sticking to the vision of making relatable urban Gujarati movies for the young audience with rose-tinted glasses that he wore and an endless thirst to make movies as can be read in his memoir. Jain chooses to remain modest while answering this, about the process of making a decision about catering to the masses to bring in the moolah or give the audience content to fall in love with, “I do not think I am skillful enough to handle both, a good story is always my priority. For my whole team, story comes first, then is excitement, and then are the numbers.”

A step closer to the dream

As a director, Jain feels that Guajrati representation has significantly improved “with the release of series such as Scam 1992, people are more curious to know about the Gujarati culture. Even something like a Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma has been a trendsetter on television.” Addressing Gujarati characters being caricaturized on screen, he says, “that is not the case anymore. If the audience likes something on television, it cannot be called stereotyped or caricaturization. Whenever I speak with Asit Kumarr Modi, we often talk about discuss about retellings of popular Gujarati literary tales, as his show is also an adaptation of stories written by Tarak Mehta. I have a lot to learn from him”

As of now, Jain sounds optimistic about his upcoming venture, and excited that he got to work with Pratik Gandhi after so long. With blurred lines among the industries, work becomes even more invigorating for Jain who feels “One finding a perfect platform for creative expression is what matters, regardless of what language it is in. A regional actor going to Bollywood, or even Hollywood is perfectly alright.” Perhaps that is why OHO will also have English subtitles for those wanting to explore the world of Gujarati cinema – with old classics and new content streaming – Jain’s excitement is only amplified, almost infectious as he takes a step closer to his vision of ‘making regional global’.

IMAGE: ABHISHEK JAIN'S INSTAGRAM