As his movie inspired by the Vyapam scam gathers rave reviews, Zeishan Quadri is working hard to figure out what story he will tell with the third installment of cult series GOW3, inspired by his hometown
Zeishan Quadri says he has never meant to write movies to inspire change. "I am only here to offer entertainment."
Screenwriter, actor and producer Zeishan Quadri has only one thing to say to people who say his movies, like the Gangs of Wasseypur series, are too violent or full of unnecessary expletives. "Come to Wasseypur in Dhanbad, come to my hometown, and stay there. You will see that all of this [portrayed in the film] exists. The question to be asked then will be, 'will you come back to tell the tale?'", he says in a telephonic interview. Even as he works on the third edition of the crime thriller, he is basking in the reviews of Eros Now's just released film, Halahal, which he has co-written and produced. The movie is inspired by the 2013 Vyapam scam, which was about the alleged rigged nature of the examination, admission, and recruitment system for government jobs and educational institutions in Madhya Pradesh. It was said that the exam, taken by millions of students each year, involved a system where many of them were actually paid proxies for other undeserving students. Over a hundred people were arrested by the police, but none convicted, since most of them either suspiciously died in custody or were released on bail. "It was my genre. I like stories where the good people become bad, and the bad become good," says the actor-director, 37.
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The movie has been praised for its unsentimental approach, and addressing the frustration people face with the system. It reveals the true nature of matters in India—where nothing really changes, regardless of what may happen.
Quadri wrote Gangs of Wasseypur, which is inspired by the goings-on at his own hometown, Wasseypur in Dhanbad, where he was born and grew up. It focuses on the coal mafia and the power struggle within
Quadri says he has never hoped to bring about change through movies. The writer, who grew up in Wasseypur, and worked at a call centre in Delhi for a few years, moved to Mumbai in 2009, to become an actor. His acting career may not have taken off, but he wrote the landmark movies, Gangs of Wasseypur 1 and 2, which focused on the coal mafia, with director Anurag Kashyap. The films gave rise to a genre untapped until then—the hinterland crime thriller. India watched the movies and asked, does this really happen? "It's the situation shown in Halahal as well. Good people become corrupt, and mostly it is the circumstances that are to blame. Some very powerful forces are at work here. It's the stark reality, and one that nobody wants to admit. If you admit it's reality, then you have to change, right? But if you deny, then life moves on as it has."
He says his inspiration is the society around him—what he sees on TV or what comes up in conversations with people. But he is very clear that he doesn't aim, or hope, to change society. "I am only here to offer entertainment. I don't expect people to change their behaviour after watching my movies. Two months after Wasseypur was released, a man was gunned down in the middle of the road in my mohalla. Post that, many murders have happened there. The power struggle I discuss involves a lot of money, and that matters the most. If people haven't learnt right and wrong from their parents, how will they learn it from me?"
Barun Sobti plays the lead in Halahal on Eros Now, inspired by the 2013 Vyapam Scam
Quadri is currently awaiting the release of Hansal Mehta's Chahalng, and also working on the direction he wants GOW3 to take. "We are wondering if we should continue the story or start afresh. It's all in the air right now. But soon, we will crack it!"
We wish him luck for that and can't help but ask, if Wasseypur is so crime-ridden, doesn't he worry for his parents who live there?
"Everyone in Wasseypur knows who I am—Zeishan Quadri—much before the movies released. No one dare do anything," he laughs.
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