Sanjay Suri – Onir and I respect each other’s aesthetics

ctor-producer Sanjay Suri says he and filmmaker Onir have their share of arguments, but respect each other’s aesthetics, vision and body of work.

Sanjay has acted in and co-produced films directed by Onir such as “My Brother…Nikhil”, “Bas Ek Pal”, and “I Am”. And now, Sanjay has co-produced “Chauranga” with Onir and Mohan Mulani.

“There is a vision as a production house. Onir and I have disagreements and arguments, but we respect each other’s vision, aesthetics and body of work. At the core, there should be trust, there is a friendship and that’s why we are able to work together,” said Sanjay about running a production company with Onir.

“Onir and I have been working for the past 11 to 12 years. And the endeavour has always been to bring those stories in front of viewers and make those kind of films which we ourselves like first.

“Be it any socially relevant subject or an engaging drama or human relationships or on human rights, various emotions, challenges or opportunities…we usually like those kind of stories,” he added.

Their internationally acclaimed film, “Chauranga”, helmed by Bikas Ranjan Mishra is the first time that they’re working with another director as a production house.

“For Onir, it was the first experience with the producer’s hat without being a director. The freedom that he enjoys while directing his films… he gave it to Bikas as well and I’ve always been associated with taking or giving that freedom,” he said.

About their reasons for backing projects like “Chauranga”, Sanjay said: “We associate only with those projects which we like and feel we can make it with certain independence. When we associate with it on a script level, we get attached on that level itself because we don’t change the script after that.”

The film centres around the story of a 14-year-old boy falling in love with a 16-year-old from an upper caste.

Inputs by IANS