Q. It is a very different, unique film. Is that the USP of the film?
Anushka: The story is very interesting and visually it’s of course a very different film. And, I think you are right that it is something that people would have not seen before. May be that’s the reason why it is garnering a lot of interest from people also. I guess people like things which are different and uncommon. It is still in the commercial family movie space. So it is a family movie.
Q. Phillauri is a family film as you said, and it is also different from your first produced film NH10.
Anushka: It depends film to film, and we are only interested in good stories and sometimes it can be a hard hitting story like NH10 and sometimes fun family entertainers like Phillauri. So, that is the interesting thing about making movies.
Q. What were your thoughts when you read the script?
Diljit: I really liked the script, and everybody has worked really hard. All of us are trying to tell a story in this film, and I hope everyone likes the movie.
Q. No actor wants to be typecast. Do you think that you took the transition at the right time?
Diljit: It just happened eventually. Also, earlier celebrities were not reachable so easily but now they are. If you really want to enjoy Phillauri, you must go to the theatre and watch it.
Q. It is your debut film. Do you agree that this movie is for the big screen?
Anshai: It has been mounted for the big screen, and it is a very conscious call that we took whether it be the VFX or non-VFX motion of it. It’s been shot with certain intent.
Q. How did this story really come about? It is something new and unique and it’s coming in 2017. Nobody thought about it ages ago?
Anshai: I am sure it must have but it takes producers to take the risk by saying yes to it. It took us two years to write it and another year for VFX to fall into place. The shooting time was not much. We shot the entire movie in about 60 days.
Q. You are playing the character of the musician in this film. How do you feel about it?
Diljit: This movie is not about the singer but about Shashi. The film has a romantic angle, emotions and drama.
Q. How did the casting come about? It is very interesting to have Diljit on the board in the film with you, and he also has a different look in the film.
Anushka: Casting I truly believe is pre-decided. We all have heard the stories about which actor was supposed to do the film and which actor ended up doing the film. In Diljit’s case when we were thinking about Phillauri a lot of names were taken and one of them were Diljit, but at that time I got to know that he does not shoot without the turban. Visually when we thought about the story, we didn’t think that Phillauri could look like that but the idea looked interesting to us. So, then, we approached Diljit and he immediately said yes which was very respectful of him. With Sooraj, we thought he cannot talk in Hindi but when we had a talk we got to know that he is from Delhi and he can speak Hindi so then we sent him the script and he said yes, and rest is just history.
Anshai: You write characters, you have a certain look in your head. Meanwhile during writing we watched some of Diljit’s films, so then we were taken by his work and then we met him and all went smooth from there on.
Q. You have touched on superstition in the movie. Do you think people will relate to movie more through this?
Anushka: I think, yes. Everybody knows about it. We have just touched the chord of it. We have only used it to introduce the spirit in the film. It is the observation of the culture. We have not dived into it in any other way. So the film is essentially a love story, the journey, and the love story of this ghost.
Q. How was the campaign Shashi conceptualised?
Anushka: When we were thinking about the ways to market this film which was just after we finished shooting of the film, we knew that lends itself to it and that you can do a lot with marketing, and unique ideas popped up with this film. So, the group of young people came with this idea that we can put Shashi in historic events because she can be anywhere and I think that was a quirky way of promoting the film. I think social media is such a huge platform today to put your point across and it has taken the point across: that it is a fun and quirky film and the campaign was successful.