Exclusive! Lootere director Jai Mehta on fearing comparison with Hansal Mehta: 'Why would I want to compete with my father?'

In Pic: Jai Mehta and Hansal Mehta

Pirates, ships, ill-fated people - these words always excite us, and Hansal Mehta's son, Jai Mehta, has combined all of these to deliver a spectacular crime drama, ‘Lootere'. The series, which marks Jai's directorial debut, has been receiving a good response from audiences and critics alike. Now, as the series garners rave reviews, midday.com sat down with the producer of the show, Shaailesh R Singh, and the captain of the ship himself, Jai Mehta, to discuss several things - from how Jai decided to make his debut with ‘Lootere' to any fears of comparison with his father, Hansal Mehta.

As we started off the conversation, we learned that ‘Lootere' is Shaailesh's brainchild, which he entrusted to Jai. When asked why he trusted Mehta to direct the series, the producer of the show said, "Because I've known Jai for almost 20 or 30 years, and I knew he would make a fantastic directorial debut. It's also my OTT debut, so I wanted someone whom I am comfortable and confident with, someone I can trust 100%. I couldn't find someone better than Jai and Hansal. As it's my first time, I really wanted someone I could rely on. So, that's why I approached Jai and asked him to read it and come on board if he liked it."

When you have a father who is known for his craft as a director, the fear of comparison often comes to mind, but with Jai, that was not the case, as he never felt like competing with his father, Hansal Mehta.

"I don't fear comparison. If I make half of what he makes, it means I have achieved a lot. There is no comparison, no competition, and no pressure. Why would I want to compete with somebody who has taught me? Why would I want to compete with my father? We work together. We are not competitors. Honestly, there is no competition. We constantly share our learnings with each other. Whether I need to get in touch with any actor, I will call Shailesh ji or Suparna or Hansal sir. We are constantly sharing things with each other," Jai said.

When we delved deeper into the conversation and asked him about feeling pressure to deliver the best, Jai told us, "When it comes to delivering, you know, a lot of people don't know where we come from. We don't come from a family which has a film background; we are all first-generation filmmakers, sort of. And my relationship with Hansal sir is... I have been working with him for as long as I have also been his son. I have been his assistant for 15 years; our working relation is as long as our father-son relation."

He further continued and said, "What is the worst that will happen, yaar? We have been poor before; we will be poor again; there's no big deal; it's okay; at least we tried."

To note, Jai Mehta's directorial debut series is available on Disney plus Hotstar. The series has been streaming on the platform since March 22nd. Hansal Mehta is a showrunner for 'Lootere'.