Q&A WITH AMAR KAUSHIK

The Stree hitmaker’s recent release, Bhediya, is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining yet poignant films of 2022. Amar Kaushik, known for his funny bone, talks about the importance of sugarcoating bitter pills while attempting to hold a mirror to society, and the prospect of a Bhediya prequel

- Ananya Ghosh

My first introduction to Amar Kaushik was through a short film in Apatani called Aaba, about an orphan girl whose grandfather is battling the terminal stages of lung cancer. It was 2017. The 22-minute short, shot entirely in a remote village of Ziro with local people forming a large portion of the cast and the crew, was a heart-warming story rooted in the simple, daily life of the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh.

It was Kaushik’s directorial debut, and won the Special Prize of Generation KPlus nternational Jury for Best Short Film at he 67th Berlin Film Festival. It was also the same year that the Rajkummar Rao-starrer Newton won the Art Cinema award in the Forum section of the festival.

One year later, was watching Rao in Stree, a horror comedy that was also a commentary on patriarchy. The film was credited to one Amar Kaushik, the same Kaushik who made Aaba. He seemed to be a shapeshifter. I love to be a shapeshifter. It might backfire someday, but love to dabble in different genres. That, for me, is the fun of making movies,” chuckles Kaushik, as we sit for this interview. He had picked up the Best Debut Director Filmfare that year.

Excerpts from a freewheeling chat with the filmmaker:

While Aaba had minimal dialogues, all your feature films since then Stree, Bala, and Bhediya are especially known for the quirky conversations among characters. In fact, your debut short is so different from the movies you did afterward that it almost seems like the works of two separate directors. Which one is the real you?