“My heart was always with cinema”- Romilla Mukherjee
Debutant director Romilla Mukherjee has always had a special fondness for murder mysteries and family fare. “Parinda" and “Parichay" may seem worlds apart, but she"s always believed that widely different themes can be blended beautifully together into one single movie. The result is “Detective Naani", ready for release this summer.
What
is
“Detective
Naani" about?
It
is
about
a
crime
committed
in
a
Mumbai
society
complex.
Since
75
year
old
Naani
is
the
sole
witness,
she
decides
to
solve
the
case
herself.
Her
unusual
team
of
detectives,
made
up
of
her
2
young
grandchildren,
2
teenagers,
an
old
invalid
gentleman
and
her
dog
Bruno,
bring
high
spirits
and
high
adventure
to
the
proceedings.
As
the
crime
is
a
serious
one,
their
investigation
brings
them
close
to
danger
and
evil,
and
only
their
united
willpower
and
courage
save
the
day.
What
made
you
think
of
directing
a
feature?
Call
it
a
childhood
obsession.
My
heart
was
always
with
cinema.
At
age
13
I
was
already
noticing
names
of
directors,
producers,
cinematographers,
editors,
music
composers,
even
casting
directors.
My
father
had
a
huge
collection
of
old
Hollywood
magazines
like
“Screen
Stories" which
had
abridged
versions
of
screenplays
and
stills.
I
would
devour
everything
from
“Gone
with
the
Wind"
to
Marlon
Brando"s
Julius
Caesar".
But
you
never
went
into
formal
film
training?
Strangely
enough,
no.
I
stayed
in
advertising,
doing
corporate
and
ad
films.
I
never
thought
that
Indian
cinema
would
have
room
for
the
kind
of
stories
I
would
like
to
tell.
Obviously
I
was
wrong.
When
Farhan
Akhtar"s
“Dil
Chahta
Hai" happened,
it
was
like
a
bolt
of
lightning.
Suddenly
here
was
a
film
that
spoke
my
language,
and
it
had
found
the
kind
of
audience
I
was
looking
for.
It
gave
me
hope
and
started
me
off
on
this
journey,
and
here
we
are.
What
made
you
think
of
this
story?
I
had
seen
a
cover
story
of
a
criminal
racket
in
an
India
Today
magazine,
and
it
stayed
with
me
for
years.
When
we
decided
to
make
a
family
film
with
an
original
script,
the
India
Today
cover
popped
back
in
my
mind.
I
started
writing
about
a
lively,
lovable
75
year
old
lady
who
turns
into
a
detective
to
solve
this
heinous
crime.
Before
I
knew
it,
I
had
added
2
naughty
grandchildren,
2
teenagers
and
an
interesting
old
gentleman
who
acts
as
Naani"s
ground
floor
spy.
And
ofcourse,
a
big
huggable
dog.
I
had
finished
about
40
pages
before
I
realized
that
Detective
Naani
was
inspired
by
my
mother.
It
took
me
totally
by
surprise.
So
your
mother
Ava
Mukherjee
was
always
your
first
choice
for
Naani?
Yes,
first
and
last.
She
kept
telling
me
to
choose
one
of
our
many
great
senior
actresses,
but
I
knew
without
a
doubt
that
she
would
be
the
perfect
Naani.
Her
personality
and
charm
had
made
such
a
success
of
the
Ayurvedic
Concepts
Dadima
campaign.
I
think
the
same
Dadima
became
the
inspiration
for
my
Naani.
What
was
it
like
directing
your
mother?
Oh,
she
will
tell
you
that
I
was
a
hard
taskmaster.
But
I
knew
she
had
the
talent
and
toughness
to
rise
to
any
challenge.
She
has
an
aura
of
goodness,
of
grace
mixed
with
a
wacky,
mischievous
sense
of
humour.
This
is
the
absolute
essence
of
Naani.
By
the
time
the
camera
rolled,
my
mother
had
totally
absorbed
the
character
into
her
system,
completely
lost
herself
in
the
story.
She"s
a
very
natural
actress.
Since
her
main
language
is
Bengali,
she
spent
8
months
working
very
hard,
learning
Hindi.
She
has
a
Bengali
accent,
but
she
wanted
to
honour
the
language
by
speaking
grammatically
correct
Hindi.
Which
part
of
directing
did
you
enjoy
the
most?
Everything.
Being
a
first
time
director,
I
knew
that
the
best
way
for
me
to
get
great
results
is
to
create
a
democracy.
My
cinematographer,
art
director,
editor
and
sound
designer
were
my
creative
collaborators
on
this
film.
They
protected
my
vision
and
enhanced
it.
The
one
thing
that
I
did
entirely
on
my
own
was
working
with
the
actors.
There
is
a
saying
in
film,
“Never
work
with
children
and
animals".
Well,
I
did,
and
it
was
a
total
blast.
Kids
are
so
pure,
so
open
to
everything.
Once
they
sense
that
you
trust
their
intelligence
and
talent,
they
give
you
so
much
more
than
you
could
have
imagined.
When
we
saw
the
rushes
after
the
first
week
of
shooting,
we
knew
we
had
something
special.