Jai Mehta says, "The truth is that I am Hansal Mehta’s son first. And I am not competing with him."
Hansal Mehta and Jai Mehta Pic/Instagram
The positive response to 'Lootere' has given director Jai Mehta not only validation but also a chance to get out of his filmmaker father Hansal Mehta’s shadow. After co-directing the hit series Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) with Hansal, 'Lootere' marks Jai’s first independent directorial. The filmmaker says it is relieving to make an independent identity, but he doesn’t intend to distance himself from his father’s rich legacy.
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“I do feel slightly relieved that people know me as an individual filmmaker. But more than me, I think, the producers, who want to work with me, would like that. The truth is that I am Hansal Mehta’s son first. And I am not competing with him. If I am even half as good as he is at my job, I would achieve a lot. Everything that I have learnt is from him and Anurag (Kashyap) sir. They have been great teachers. I am not here to surpass them,” says, Jai, who assisted Kashyap on Gangs of Wasseypur (2012).
Contrary to what one would think about his privilege being a filmmaker’s son, Jai shares, he faced rejections initially because people assumed he would make “Hansal Mehta kind” of films.
“People talk about nepotism, but the truth is my father is not some blue-blood royalty. He is a first generation filmmaker, who literally got limelight a few years ago. People think I have had it easy but I have been trying to make a film for seven years and no one has ever wanted to make a film with me for the simple reason that my father is Hansal Mehta, saying, ‘Yeh toh Hansal jaisi film banayega.’ But tell me if tomorrow Hansal Mehta or Anurag Kashyap wants to make a film, will you not work with them? So, what’s wrong if I will make a film like theirs?” Jai says.
Revealing that a script of his faced rejection from every top production house in the industry, the director-writer says he is unsure if he will ever get to make it.
“You have no idea how many doors I have gone knocking to. There’s not a single producer in this industry, whom I have not pitched my script to, including Dharma Production, Excel Entertainment, Balaji Motion Pictures and Junglee. And I don’t know if I will ever get to make that film. But I am just glad that this script helped me put my foot in the door and get established as someone, who wanted to be independent," he says.
Jai, however, had no complaints as he believed it wasn't the time for that story to be realised. The filmmaker, in fact, is happy that all the producers he was then in touch with not only praised his earlier script, but also expressed appreciated him after watching Lootere.
"All these production houses have been so nice to me. They genuinely liked the story. Maybe it wasn’t the right time. Timing plays such a big role in filmmaking. I am happy that all those people, who saw me as a kid narrating his film to everyone, messaged me after watching Looters and said, ‘We knew you were meant for bigger and better and we are so happy to see this.’ It was such a nice feeling.”
Jai also mentions Bollywood star Ranveer Singh among the people, who reached out to him to congratulate for the show.
“He called me at 3 in the morning. Initially, I thought it was a prank call. I couldn’t believe it was him. I wondered how he even knew me. But it was so nice of him. He saw Lootere. I am considered too much of an outsider for Bollywood and too filmy for the outsiders. I like it. The only difference between me and someone new entering the industry is that I have a little more inside information,” he laughs.
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