The Waterfront Indie Film Festival (WIFF) hosted an engaging ‘Round of Applause – Panel Discussion’ featuring Hansal Mehta, Tushar Hiranandani, Rohan Sippy, and Vishal Furia in Mumbai, where they discussed filmmaking challenges, amusing experiences, their journey in the OTT world, and more. Hansal was in his element as he raised laughs with his trivia and one-liners.
Scam 1992 director Hansal Mehta cracks up crowd at WIFF: “OTT creators are delivery men, just like Salman Khan’s directors on Eid!”; recalls BBC rejecting him for Criminal Justice: “I had just made Simran then. I don’t blame them”
He revealed why the final episode of his cult show Scam 1992 dropped a day later, “Danish Khan of Sony LIV told us that the show has to be released on October 9. We were in August and we were not done as we had barely started post-production. But Danish insisted that the show needed to come out on October 9. So, we were completely focusing on delivering the content.”
He added, “We delivered the last episode on the day after the show was released. The reviews were out by then and people commented that they were waiting for the second season even though the final episode was left to be released!”
Hansal brought the house down as he quipped, “I have always believed that our job is to meet delivery deadlines. We are deliverymen. This is what we do mostly on OTT and Salman Khan’s directors do for Eid!”
On a serious note, the maverick filmmaker noted, “Films are tied by different kinds of preconditions that we have to make a film in a certain way. Friday decides your fate. With the web, the shows get a chance to breathe. People would watch it over a period of time. 10 days later, Pratik Gandhi was being recognized. One month later, he was being mobbed! Also, the fact that you are making something without thinking about how Friday was going to be is a good flip side of being able to work in this medium.”
He also confessed that life before Scam 1992 was a bit challenging. He revealed, “I was offered Criminal Justice before Applause came on board. But somewhere, the BBC guys did not have enough faith in me and they disappeared.” He joked, “I had just made Simran (2017) then. I don’t blame them.”
Tushar Hiranandani credited Hansal for getting him on board for Scam 2003 – The Telgi Story. He also raised laughs as he said, “It was the second wave of COVID-19 and I was going to work on Srikanth (2024). Rajkummar Rao was supposed to do my film. (During the second wave of COVID in 2021), I called Hansal sir because an actor friend wanted to be cast in the second season of Scam. He asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was about to start work on Srikanth. He told me, ‘Beta, teri picture chalu nahin ho rahi hai’! I sat at home for two years during COVID and this is what I get to hear!”
He continued, “My wife was lying on the bed. Those days, we were only lying on the bed; we had nothing else to do! She heard my conversation and she asked me, ‘How does he know (that the film won’t go on floors?). I told her, ‘Raj (Rajkummar Rao) ka baap hai woh. Unhone kanyadaan kiya tha’!”
Tushar Hiranandani continued, “He asked, ‘Tu show karega?’. I agreed since I had nothing else in my hand. He spoke to Sameer Nair and 5 minutes later, he asked me if I would do Scam. My wife heard it and she started jumping!”
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