In an exclusive chat with BollywoodLife, producer Aditi Anand talks about the film.
Filmmaker Mari Selvaraj’s much-awaited film, Bison, is set to hit theatres on October 17. The film revolves around kabaddi player, and features Dhruv Vikram as the protagonist, and other actors including Anupama Parameswaran, Lal, Rajisha Vijayan, Azhagam Perumal, and Pasupathy in key roles. The film was officially announced in December 2020 under the tentative title DV03. But the official title was announced in May 2024. In an exclusive chat with BollywoodLife, producer Aditi Anand talks about the film.
How’s life been lately for you?
How’s life been lately is a very difficult question for anyone alive today. It’s a kind of intense world. But for me personally, there’s a film releasing on the 17th of October. For a producer to have a Diwali release is a big deal. And to be able to have a film like this release on Diwali for me is massive. It’s something I’m super proud of.
What was the exact idea behind the film?
So the idea for this film actually came from the idea of working with the director. In 2019, I had just finished a film called The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir, which was Dhanush’s first international film. And it was a kind of pretty big international co-production between India, France, Belgium, the United States, and so on and so forth. We had a huge international cast. Because the film was releasing in Tamil Nadu, I had started kind of exploring some partners there. Around that time, I was also very disillusioned with the film industry. And I saw a film called Kala. That film was produced by Dhanush and the company that he used to run at that time.
And the idea of going to watch that film was just to was just to basically send Dhanush a screenshot of the logo, send him a screenshot of the ticket. It was more an obligation. It was a Rajinikanth film. I wasn’t a Rajinikanth fan. It was more an obligation. I went in to see it with a few friends with the intention that we’d stay for a bit and then leave by the interval. It was the most phenomenal cinematic experience of my life. And when the lights came on in the interval, the four of us looked at each other and said, well, you know, this is something special. And we stayed to watch the full film. And then the next day, I went back to see the film. Because I was so moved by it. I texted the director, which is something I never do. Just kind of cold text people. But I texted the director purely as a fan. And I said, hey, I was really moved by this film. And I’d love to meet you. And one of the reasons why I was so moved by the film was that it was a very political film. And, you know, it was becoming harder and harder to make things like that of that nature in Bombay. So when I saw this film, I was deeply moved. I was inspired. I was motivated. I reached out to the director. And I said, you know, if you’re ever in the city, I’d love to meet you. He texted back almost immediately and said he happened to be in Bombay at that moment. That night, we decided that we would meet for a drink. Drinks became dinner. And that were the director’s name was Paranjit, director Paranjit. So he and his AD and I, we had a, it was like a, it was like a kind of like finding a piece of your cinematic soul kind of meeting. He had proposed that we work on a few films together that he was producing. They were smaller films. Of course, my intention going into that relationship had been to produce a film where Ranjit was directing. Around November of that year, I met Ranjit again at Ife Goa, where a film that he had just produced called Pariyaram Perumal was playing in theaters. And I ended up going to see the film with him and the director of that film, which was Mari Selvaraj. And I was astounded by the film. I was spellbound by the experience of watching the film and how the audience had consumed that film. And up till that point, I had not been convinced by the idea of working on five projects that were not directed by Paranjit. But walking on the dark streets of Goa with Mari on one side and Ranjit sir on the other side, I kind of looked at Mari sir and I looked at Ranjit and I said, let’s do this. And so those five films, out of those five films, one of those films was Bison. At that point, Mari sir had only directed that first film called Pariyaram Perumal, which was an exceptional film. But soon after we signed him, he went on to make Karnan with Dhanush, Mamanan with Uday Nidhi Stalin. And then he also made this stunning, beautiful film called Varai, which just came out this year. So Bison has been in the making since that meeting in Goa in 2019. And we’re finally going to make it happen and, you know, share it with the world in 2025. And it’s the best Diwali gift that I think I could ever hope for. I’m so happy for that.
With Bison, I’m sure you’re so nervous. What state of mind are you in right now?
My state of mind is harassed because I’m a producer and producing is an endurance race. And it is, I think, one of the toughest jobs to do. But at the same time, when you get the opportunity of working on a film like this, the experience of having done it, and the experience of having worked with somebody like Mari Selvaraj, that in itself actually is a destination. So I’m super excited about the film. It’s a really exceptionally beautiful film. It really takes, I’d like to give you a small example. In his last film, there’s a scene in which a young boy, he has a crush. And he finds the handkerchief of a girl who he likes. And every director would have taken that scene on this boy’s face, right? He holds that kind of kerchief close to him, smells it, every director would have taken it on his face. But Mari sir, he shot this boy’s feet. And so what Mari sir is able to do is to turn things that are very big moments into very tender, very personal, very intimate moments. So though this is a sports film, he’s going to take you into the heart of this character and make you kind of like feel every emotion that this boy is going through. So my prevailing feeling is of disbelief that I managed to pull this off. I also planning to take, you know, the film to different film festivals.
How far have you reached on your plans to take this film to film festivals?
So look, you know, I love the idea of film festivals. I’ve also worked on a lot of independent films. But one of the ethoses at Neelam Studios, which is my company with Ranjit, is that films are a medium of the people. Films have to go to theatres, films have to be consumed, films have to create a sense of community amongst people who come and see the film. And so for us, the priority was definitely making sure that it gets to theatres in the best way possible. So this is going to be a Diwali celebration. And I think that as far as festivals are concerned, we’re certainly open to it. We will certainly pursue it. But the real kind of festival is a festival of cinema that happens when people buy those tickets to come in to watch the film and to give it the kind of love that Indian audiences do.
Are you working on any other project too?
Well, we have another film, which is actually finishing shoot just at the end of this month. And that’s going to be slated for an early release next year. That film has a super exciting cast. We’re keeping it under wraps for the moment. But you know, we’ll be making an announcement in the next month or so. So we have a release in October and then we have a release again in the early parts of next year.
We also have two series that are in the process of being written. And so hopefully those go into production by early next year. And then we have two more films in our slate with Applause Entertainment, who are partners on Bison.
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