EXCLUSIVE | Nandita Das: ‘The world shown in Zwigato wasn’t alien to me’

In an interview with the director of Zwigato, Nandita Das as to why she felt it was important to tell a story of the working class who seem to have vanished from mainstream cinema. She felt thematically, this was a topic worth exploring.

When we look back at Hindi cinema, the working class people did play the main protagonist. In yesteryear films, the common man was the central character in mainstream cinema more often. She felt it was worth exploring the world of the working class through  Zwigato . Nandita has been an amazing actor both on stage and on big screen and as a director too she has made a mark in the entertainment industry. Zwigato is set for release on the 17th of March.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Getting the team together, how difficult or easy was it to be the captain of the ship?

Being the captain of the ship is always easy and difficult and there are no two ways to do it. Easy in the sense that it is nice that right from the inception of the idea to its final stage, you make all the little decisions. You tend to think that everything is in your control. But actually, it isn’t. There are many factors that are beyond your control. It is also challenging that every decision that you make putting the cast and crew together and we started the shoot during COVID, so there was always that fear that nobody gets COVID during the shooting time, then probably we would have to stall the shooting. There are challenges in every shoot. Nobody can claim that their shoot was a smooth ride. That’s just the nature of the beast.

Whenever I meet the riders, I do tell them that there is a film coming out about you. And a lot of them know and they tell me, “The Kapil Sharma film right?” And they ask me if Zwigato is a new app and if we are doing an advertisement on it. Sometimes they are amazed, as to why we are making a film on them. They are also surprised that there is somebody who is interested in their life stories.

How did the idea come to you Nandita to do a film on the delivery boys?

It began with a discussion with a friend about growing unemployment and during COVID we were all stuck at home and we were still feeling so thankful that we were safe and we had roof over our head and also the anxiety around unemployment, somehow the gig economy seemed like a saviour and this new form of employment. But yet came with its challenges. It was more out of curiosity of wanting to know what their lives are and the more I got to know, the deeper I delved into it, I felt that here is a story of modern times that needs to be told.

 Basically the working class is kind of vanishing from our films. They are just becoming invisible. Also in our own collective consciousness and there by the reflection of that in films, they don’t get featured anywhere. Earlier there was a rickshaw puller and a coolie who were the main protagonists in films. And these working class people were shown as leads in Mainstream cinema itself, not only in parallel cinema. Even if you look back, in yesteryear films, the common man was the central character in the mainstream more often. Now the protagonist is about someone who has done something dramatic. Either you are a victim or a perpetrator then there is a story around them. Otherwise you don’t see that class of people at all. I just felt thematically, this is a topic worth exploring.

What was the research behind Zwigato?

The research was more about the app and things that I don’t understand at all, the world of algorithm and rating. And how do these rules in this app keep changing? The research was more about that. In terms of their life, my background was in social work, I worked with NGOs, I have travelled and been with people of various socio-economic classes and been to their home and especially when I was writing especially the dialogues, situations, it kind of comes back to you when you actually start creating that world.

So, I am sure because I have visited different parts of the country even as an actor even to small places and done those roles and been with people, so you may not come from exactly that world, but human emotions are universal and these situations and their particularities have come probably because of those experiences I have had both as an actor and both having done social work in that world. The world shown in Zwigato wasn’t that alien and when you start writing, it has to ring true. As a filmmaker you have to just start making that world look more authentic.

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