'Mukesh Jasoos' writer-director Heena Dsouza: Content is not really the king as they claim it to be

Heena D`Souza

She has created impeccable art in form of cinema - short films, long-format feature films and also ad films. She helmed Neena Gupta's 'Shuruwat Ka Twist', 'Adi Sonal' (a short from an anthology series) and short films like 'Pressure Cooker' starring Pallavi Joshi and 'Faded', released in 2019. Heena D'Souza, the writer-director of the recently released web series 'Mukesh Jasoos', has won several awards for her work. However, perhaps that's not enough she points out a persisting issue in the industry, that it all ultimately boils down to "Will the masses like it?".

"Due to platforms like YouTube and social media, it is comparatively easy to make short films and get one's work released and noticed in the public domain. But when it comes to getting funding for feature films and web series it is still a tough industry to crack," said Heena, who moved to Mumbai in 2010 for work only to develop a keen interest in theatre. She started attending plays almost every weekend and sometimes even during the week. Meanwhile, she worked as a content writer in an educational firm, developing multimedia content for schools.

"And at that time I had no idea that I would end up making films. The opportunity was very accidental; I moved to a company called 'Homeveda', which was co-owned by Vinay Mishra, who also owns a digital short film platform called 'Humaramovie'. Both companies operated in the same building. So watching short films being made gave me the confidence and the itch to make my own short film. So I wrote a short film script and pitched it to 'Humaramovie'. The film called 'Vighna Bharta'. It was made under a budget of Rs 20,000 which went on being viral on YouTube. Since then, I have made several short films, documentary and corporate ads," said Heena, who is now an in-house director, writer and script curator with 'Humaramovie'.

However, despite consistently making critically acclaimed films it took her a long time to make my first long-format content. Her breakthrough in the industry happened when her first big-budget short film 'Pressure Cooker', starring Pallavi Joshi got nominated for Filmfare. It also got nominated for MIFF and won the Best Film in Talenttrack digital awards.

After this, Heena's another short 'Adi Sonal', starring Neena Gupta and Lalit Bahl became a part of a feature-length anthology called 'Shuruaat ka Twist'. It had got a theatrical release in 2019 and was very well received by critics. She went on to make another short called 'Sarvgun Sampann' in 2019, which was also nominated for Filmfare.

'Mukesh Jasoos' is her web series debut. But making it to the OTT platform was not a cakewalk for Heena, as she said, "OTT Platforms like Netflix and Amazon are very reluctant to work with independent filmmakers and small production houses. They also seek bigger names and star cast. Content is not really the king as they claim it to be. It is still a big hustle for Indie filmmakers and small production houses to get their projects funded despite having good ideas."

She added further, "Another issue with the industry is that it all ultimately boils down to "Will the masses like it?". And hence till today platforms are very hesitant to experiment and how they fund a concept heavily depends on statistics and the age-old tried and tested story ideas and not so much on how good or out of the box the idea is."

So how did she crack the deal with a biggie like Disney+Hotstar for 'Mukesh Jasoos'? "I have been very lucky to be associated with 'Humaramovie', it's a production house run by Vinay Mishra, Preeti Ali and Pallavi Rohatgi. They have been in the industry for the past eight years mentoring fresh talent. They streamline ideas and projects and pitch them to bigger platforms like Hotstar. 'Mukesh Jasoos' was one such project to get picked by Hotstar for its new vertical called Disney plus Hotstar Quix. Under this vertical, they have launched 13 new shows, and 'Mukesh Jasoos' is one of them."

She is currently working on a web series and pitching two feature-length films, hoping for them to get funded soon!

Talking about her experience working for 'Mukesh Jasoos', Heena said, "Due to pandemic 'Mukesh Jasoos' was shot in a very tight deadline. We didn't get much time for pre-production as well but I am very thankful for having such a dedicated team that made it possible. Even though the shoot was extremely hectic, we all enjoyed it a lot. My actors Rahul Bagga, Paritosh Tripathi, Ruchi Malviya, Rajeshwari Sachdeva, Poonam Dhillon were all a delight to work with. When the energy on set is good, the work automatically becomes easy and enjoyable."

'Mukesh Jasoos' has been garnering good reviews on social media. The show stars Rahul Bagga, Paritosh Tripathi, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Ruchi Malvia and Poonam Dhillon as the lead cast.

Mukesh Jha is a fraud lawyer, who changes his mind and wants to become a detective. Along with his able aide Muktaram he starts solving cases, only to find himself in the midst of a sinister plot, where dead bodies start piling up!