Mrs Scooter shows the affection of a woman for her deceased partner's vehicle. Director Shiladitya Moulik tells Trisha Mukherjee how the belongings of a partner complete this love story
Someone somewhere is waiting for you,” read a sticker on an abandoned scooter at a parking lot in Delhi, which eventually inspired director Shiladitya Moulik to come up with his debut film Mrs Scooter. The indie film is now doing rounds of several international festival and is getting rave reviews.
The poster and title stand out for sure. The director explains, “The poster represents my love for art. The dissection is an attempt to put across the inner meaning of the film. Also, I wanted to do away with the conventional way of portraying the protagonists on the poster. The title is a clever way of putting together the two main characters of the film, the wife and the scooter.”
Based in western UP, Mrs Scooter is a story of how a young bride’s destiny is intertwined with a scooter. With a tale of separation followed by a happy reunion, the movie features award-winning actress Anjali Patil and Satyakam Anand of Gangs of Wasseypur fame.
The film is “not at all predictable,” said the director and added, “It is not a murder mystery but, every moment in the movie will make the audience anticipate until the very end.”
“While I was on lookout for an interesting concept for my story, I intended to keep it unique. I wanted to begin with something with which at least I will be happy,” says Moulik. The soundtrack of the film has been appropriately chosen. The songs which meaningfully convey the essence of the scenes are most often played in the background. “The lyrics are conversational, capable of weaving a story within a story,” says the director. A huge fan of music, Moulik has made sure that the playlist is extremely melodious.
He was an adman and the journey towards the filmmaking has been interesting. “It was an interesting journey. Advertising has been more challenging. It sort of gave me a military training before I could set foot in the film industry, thereby helping in the making of the person and the director I am,” he says.
Mrs Scooter, which has been widely appreciated at the New York Indian Film Festival, has also been invited to BFI london Film festival, Florence Indian Film Festival, Berlin, Sweden, Pittsburgh and Busan (S Korea), after which it will be all set to release in India.
“It feels amazing to know that people have liked my work abroad, but I am eagerly waiting for the reactions of the Indian audience, who will be capable of identifying themselves with the setting, the story as well as the characters,” said Moulik.