Jay Shewakramani: Story convincingly fits into Indian milieu too

Kareena Kapoor Khan

Engrossing as its narrative is, Keigo Higashino's Japanese mystery novel The Devotion of Suspect X has inspired four cinematic adaptations - the 2008 Japanese movie, Suspect X, the south Korean edition, Perfect Number, that followed two years later, the 2019 Tamil offering, Kolaigaran, and the Chinese version. Even as an English adaptation is expected to be underway, film aficionados will be able to enjoy the Hindi version, Jaane Jaan, this month.

Producer Jay Shewakramani couldn't put his faith in anyone other than Sujoy Ghosh when it came to adapting the story for an Indian setting. "The beauty of this narrative is that, inherently, it is a love story. Emotions are universal. Sujoy [Ghosh] adapted it to be based in the mysterious town of Kalimpong. Pick any Sujoy-film, and you'll see how easily he roots his characters in the local setting. For instance, [his previous film] Badla was adapted from a Spanish movie, and was shot in Scotland. Even then, it was steeped in Indian values. He knows how to make a true-blue Indian story," says Shewakramani.

Higashino's tale explores the lengths to which one can go to protect those they love. It follows a brilliant mathematician, Yasuko Hanaoka, who inadvertently becomes involved in a murder. Consumed by her love, her neighbour, Ishigami, a fellow mathematician, deftly plans to help her cover up the crime. As the police investigation ensues, a riveting battle of wits between Ishigami and the brilliant detective Kusanagi unfolds. Call it fate, or a stroke of luck that the film that now stars Kareena Kapoor Khan was initially set to feature her actor-husband Saif Ali Khan in a narrative that was expected to have the protagonist's gender reversed.

"Saif and I had just [come up with] the idea of the film, Jawaani Janeman. Sujoy was to do the film then [with producer Ekta Kapoor], but it never materialised. I would chase Sujoy every year, telling him to make the film," he says, as subsequent reports of the film's narrative being all too similar to Ajay Devgn's Drishyam began to make their way online.

Khan had expressed his apprehensions at the time. However, during the lockdown, Shewakramani says he finally managed to get Ghosh's nod to roll with it. This time, they took the film to Kapoor, who had heard about it from Khan for several years. "She loved it instantly. The story convincingly fits into the Indian milieu. We started the film towards the end of the lockdown. The story begins in Kalimpong and Darjeeling. Because hill stations are socially distant, the larger chunk of the shoot was wrapped up, smoothly. In Bombay, we had a shorter schedule."

While a Sujay Ghosh-directed venture that features Kapoor would be considered an offering apt for a theatrical release, Shewakramani says he found the perfect home for the film on the web platform. "It was always planned as a Netflix movie. There is a thrill that we experience when our film simultaneously releases in 250 countries at once."