Sandeep Modi: The film is not seedha, it’s a genre-bender

Sandeep Modi and Karan Johar

Sandeep Modi couldn't have asked for a better 2023. The creator-director won appreciation for his deft handling of The Night Manager, a show that had the tall order of matching its British original. Even as praise continues to pour in, Modi is busy "manifesting" the future. And it includes a Karan Johar production. "Karan and I have wanted to do a film since Chumbak in 2017. We have been manifesting. Even before The Night Manager trailer dropped, Karan and I knew we were [collaborating]. The film is a genre-bender. It will be a popular film, but it won't be seedha," he grins, adding that the project is currently at the writing stage.

(From left) Aditya Roy Kapur's The Night Manager is an adaptation of the British original of the same name

For now, the director agrees that the present is exactly as he would like it to be. His spy thriller - starring Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sobhita Dhulipala - has become the most-viewed Hindi web series of the year so far, as per an Ormax report. The success tastes sweeter since Modi went through a lot of struggles to make the Disney+ Hotstar series. It was originally imagined with Hrithik Roshan, but over the years, the cast drastically changed. Was it nerve-racking? "I have a strange analogy that my wife hates - it is that she must have met a lot of people, before settling down with me. It's not about who you envisaged [at the start, but who you ended up with]. We never write keeping stars in mind. You try out an actor, and then it does or does not work out. I met Aditya Roy Kapur at a time I didn't expect to. Anil Kapoor agreed in a day. Such is filmmaking; some things take forever and some happen in a day."

Tom Hiddleston, who led the British original of the same name, was impressed by the adaptation after watching it at a London screening in April. Since then, rumours have been rife of a crossover between the two shows. Asked about it, Modi says, "The producers are the same. John le Carre's [who wrote the original book] sons are [among] the producers. I keep pushing them, and it might make for a great crossover. Singham entering the world of Sooryavanshi is fun, so this could be too."