Q & A With Hansal Mehta

With a bagful of accolades and critical acclaim, Mehta’s second innings is the stuff of film-makers’ dreams — and with Simran being the talk of the town, he has no plans of slowing down.

- Arnesh Ghose

Everybody knows every juicy detail about the Simran controversy, which blew up online a month ago. A lot of mud-slinging and dirty linen -washing took place on social media, with a Rashomon-esque situation leaving everyone quite confused. Hansal Mehta, on the other hand, was quietly shooting in a village in West Bengal through all of this. “I am not even on Facebook, it’s too much,” he tells me, as we sit down in his plush office for a chat (and some really great coffee). Mehta refuses to delve into the subject much, a stand I personally appreciate. In a time when all it takes is one Facebook post to start a storm of uncorroborated slander, film professionals (and politicians) should not befriend journalists. Our closest friends should not be the media, just so that we can threaten others with outing our beef in public.

Every situation turns into a social media trial these days. Are you angry about how the whole Simran-Kangana Apurva controversy played out online?

What is important is what is right and wrong for me. That is all that matters. See, I am quite seasoned and it doesn’t affect me. I am very focused. I am here to make films, and that is all I will do. My focus is on Simran, and that is all I am going to do. It is a very special film and it needs a lot of love and attention. That is why I have chosen to not speak about this incident, and I won’t in the future either. Whatever I feel will go with me to my grave. And this is not one stray incident, this has happened in the past. It is a part of making films, because it is all about passionate people coming together, and passions can run high. For me Simran, and making sure that it gets all my love, is all that matters.

On a personal level, what are the realisations you have had after this incident?