EXCLUSIVE! Director Arjun Varain Singh on Netflix’s Kho Gaye Hum Kahan

Netflix’s Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is a socially relevant film which will make you think. No specific characters, but you can relate to all of them. It’s about three friends who live together in an apartment in Mumbai. They are actually school friends with different lives – Ananya Pandey is a MBA, Siddhant Chaturvedi plays the role of a standup comedian and Adarsh Gourav is a gym instructor in the film.

They are close to each other, but everybody has their own battles to fight and they are looking for validation on social media and not valuing what they actually have around them, real friends and family. Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is very relevant in today’s world.  Director Arjun Varain Singh talks about the film with Firstpost’s Lachmi Deb Roy.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

What prompted you to do Kho Gaye Hum Kahan?

I would say your first film has to be something that is very close to your heart and some of my most favourite filmmakers have done the same. I need to make a film about people around the world that I have seen. That was the first initial inspiration and desire to make a movie for our generation.

Did you gather any information about today’s youngsters stuck in this and not being able to get out of social media?

I didn’t have to look very far, but I only had to look at myself, my friends and family, and just see how we are. The film isn’t supposed to be a commentary on social media as much as it is supposed to be a commentary on our generation. It is just that social media happens to be an integral part of that and mobile phones happen to be the tool for us to communicate, which is what separates this movie about our generation from the previous ones.

If you have to talk about the experience of your own social media, what will that be?

My social media experiences have been similar to everybody else’s. It would be similar to Ananya Panday’s character Ahana, looking for validation, similar to Siddhant Chaturvedi’s character Imaad. I’ve been on Tinder, I’ve used it to meet people. I use Instagram to flaunt my work or my photography or my personal life. I use it for every respect.

How did you zero down the cast for your film?

I think the script finds the actors. I always wanted Sidharth for this role. I have known him since I was an assistant on Gully Boy. For Ananya’s part I wasn’t too sure. I met Sid in Goa to have a chat with him about the script, and he and Ananya were shooting for Gehraiyaan and staying at the Taj Village. That was the first time I met her and she was shooting sketches for a promotional video. As soon as the camera went down, her entire body language changed, and I said that this is Ahana. She was so vulnerable that was perfect for the character and I later came to know she read the script and was actually auditioning for the part. Adarsh had just come out of The White Tiger and looked completely different but he’s such a great actor; building your body is totally secondary, you need to have an actor that has the depth and the vulnerability to play the character.

What is your take on the way cinema has changed ever since the OTT boom? Has it given new opportunities to writers and directors?

I love OTT. I love Netflix and I’m not saying this because my film has released on the platform but because it allows new voices to be heard. What is so beautiful about this platform is that it allows films to have breathing space and time. It gives an opportunity for filmmakers’ voices to be heard that may not be the case with cinemas in theatres all the time. But there’s nothing more beautiful than a cinematic experience as well. They are two very different mediums I feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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