MUMBAI, March 20: Filmmaker Richie Mehta on Thursday said he was initially hesitant to direct a film on Phoolan Devi, the dreaded Chambal dacoit-turned-politician, but later he agreed.
“It happened when Kanwal, Kishore and Shareen approached me after I finished ‘Delhi Crime’, seven years ago. They had acquired the rights for the autobiography of Phoolan Devi. They said to me, ‘We think you’re the right person to tell this story.’ I said, ‘I think you’re wrong’,” Mehta said.
We went back and forth for five years about this and they persisted and said it’s you, he added.
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“A year and a half ago, I realized, I think I know how to tell this in the context of the film. I pitched it to them and they said, ‘absolutely, let’s go’ and here we are,” he said.
“Phoolan: Trapped and outnumbered by 2,000 armed men, Phoolan Devi fights a brutal 48-hour siege that will either end her life — or rewrite the rules of a man’s world,” read the official synopsis.
The upcoming film is an Amazon Original and Mehta said he has great experience working the streamer.
“I’ve never felt in my life more empowered to express everything that’s in my heart about a subject. Because of you (Prime video) and because of the team here,” Mehta, who worked with the streamer on “Poacher”, said.
It is produced by Mehta, Shareen Mantri Kedia, Kishor Arora, and Kanwal Kohli. (PTI)
