After Nil Battey Sannata, Ashwini Iyer is gearing up for her second directorial, Bareilly Ki Barfi, which, like her debut, is set in a hinterland of India. The director revealed that she prefers to shoot in the small towns as it is difficult to shoot in the streets of cities like Mumbai. When asked to talk about the reason for making films set in towns rather than metropolises, director Ashwini Iyer said that viewers in smaller towns find it easy to relate to the characters.
“Most of us are born and brought up in the heartland of India and by heartland, I mean the heart of India. People from the small towns of India often come to the big cities for studies and then they join the MNCs in the cities. But their heart is still in the small town that they belong to. So, for me, the small towns give me more flavour and they give me more space to shoot. I don’t know how to shoot films in Mumbai,” said Ashwini.
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Kriti Sanon too had her own take on the films set in the interiors. The actress believes that what connects the audience more than the movie being set in unconventional cities is the story of the middle-class families. She says:
“I personally also feel it is not only about heartland but it is also about the regular middle-class story. Any middle-class family story becomes very relatable for the audience. Even if you show a middle-class family to Delhi, it will still be relatable for the audience. So, it isn’t just small town stories, but the stories about families which people can relate to.”
The lead actor, Ayushmann Khurrana also felt that that audience was now looking forward to exploring different cultures that exist within the country and it was the director’s duty to stay true to the region the film is set in. The actor explains:
“I always feel that we should be true to the region. The success formula is always a mixture of the heartland and the middle class connect. I could relate to a film like Sairat because the basic rooted romance was so strong. Getting equated to different cultures is also very new for the cinema and that is something that excites the audience.”
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Bareilly Ki Barfi is slated to release on August 18. The slice of life comedy also stars Rajkummar Rao in a pivotal role.
