Mod is a heartfelt, emotional love story between two completely mismatched people.
Aranya (Ayesha Takia Azmi), a “full-of-life” 25 yr old, lives in the sleepy and idyllic hill station, Ganga. The little town is the home of many colourful characters – Ashok Mahadeo (Raghubir Yadav), Aranya’s whacky father who is the head of the local fan club of Kishore Kumar, the fiery Gayatri Garg (Tanve Azmi), “GG”, her aunt, friend, and confidant, who runs a restaurant and is a mother figure to Aranya, chubby Gangaram (Nikhil Ratnaparkhi), the local shopkeeper who harbours feelings for Aranya and Ashok’s music band, the ever present Kishore Bhakts.
Aranya’s mother left to pursue bigger dreams in the city when Aranya was a little girl and both father and daughter hope that one day she will return. They wait dutifully everyday to see if the lone train that passes by their house will bring her back. Aranya runs a watch epair store, a legacy handed down by her mother to support her father and herself.
One day a total stranger, Andy (Rannvijay Singh Singha), lands up at her doorstep to have his watch fixed. He is painfully shy, but keeps returning day after day to have his water logged watch repaired. As payment he leaves a 100 rupee note in the form of an origami swan. Aranya slowly warms up to this quirky stranger and through a series of meetings and against all odds they fall in love.
But who is Andy? Where is he from? And what is his past?
As Aranya discovers the truth about Andy, the film heads to an exciting and emotional climax in the strongest tradition of great love stories.
When love happens, life takes a turn...
Nagesh Kukunoor – Director’s Profile
A chemical engineer by profession, Nagesh Kukunoor gave up his lucrative career as an environmental consultant in Atlanta and using his personal savings wrote, produced, acted and directed his immensely successful debut film, Hyderabad Blues, which went on to become the largest grossing low budget Indian film in English. Some of its box office records in India were astounding given the fact that the film was not what was traditionally defined as “commercial” in Indian filmdom. It ran to full houses for 31 weeks in Mumbai, 28 weeks in Hyderabad and 28 weeks in Bangalore. In addition, the film has been to several international festivals winning audience awards at the Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta and the Rhode Island Film Festival. With its commercial box-office success in India, Nagesh has created a new genre in Indian cinema - the indie film that breaks the traditional barrier of both commercial and art cinema.
Rockford, a coming of age story of any boarding school going kid, his second film also written and directed by him, follows the same style of film making- of telling empathetic stories that are real and every day, as well as entertaining. Besides its tour of several film festivals, beginning with the Austin Film Festival in 1999, the film was also commercially successful, doing over 16 weeks of business in India.
Bollywood Calling, the filmmaker’s third film, stars Om Puri and Naveen Nischol in the lead. This film also had a very successful commercial run in India and other countries with Indian Diaspora. His next film 3 Deewarein is another ‘genre bender’ on the Indian movie front combining elements of drama and mystery and boasting of an impressive star cast of Naseeruddin Shah and two of India’s biggest Hindi stars Jackie Shroff and Juhi Chawla. The film has been acclaimed critically in India and abroad. It also won the writer-director, Nagesh, a premier Indian award, Film Fare award, in the best original story category.
Hyderabad Blues-2: Rearranged Marriage, the fifth film from the director, is a sequel to Hyderabad Blues, a film that started it all. Picking up six years from where it left off, HB2 also casts Nagesh in its lead.
Iqbal, featuring Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad and Shreyas Talpade, is an inspiring story of a deaf mute boy from a small town in rural India who dreams of making it to the Indian cricket team. Released in 2005, the film was a huge box office success and has been included as mandatory reading in many middle school text books. This film won the National Award and many awards for the director and acting awards for the cast.
Loosely based on a true incident, Nagesh’s next film ‘Dor’, starring Shreyas Talpade, Ayesha Takia, is a story of two women of different worlds coming together. This film received rave reviews, was a runaway success at box office and screened at many international festivals.
His Bombay to Bangkok, again starring Shreyas Talpade and Lena Christensen, is a whacky romantic comedy released in early 2008.
In 2009, shifting gears yet again, Nagesh tackled the action thriller genre about a man with the ability to see the past in 8 X 10 Tasveer starring Akshay Kumar.
Nagesh’s latest film Aashayein opened in August of 2010 to rave reviews and tells the story of a man who learns to live life all over again when he realizes he has ninety days left to live.
Filmography:
| > Hyderbad Blues (1998) | > Iqbal (2005) |
| > Rockford (1999) | > Dor (2006) |
| > Bollywood Calling (2001) | > Bombay to Bangkok (2008) |
| > 3 Deewarein (2003) | > 8x10 Tasveer (2009) |
| > Hyderabad Blues-2 (2004) | > Aashayein (2010) |
I said I would never make a love story because I felt that there was nothing interesting to add. Guess I was wrong. In Mod, I found a story that epitomized my sense of love and old fashioned romance.
I set the story of Mod in the hills of Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri, in the fictional town of Ganga – my idea of a small town in Utopian India. The production design and locations made Ganga a town that one reads in fairy tale love stories – pretty, fable-esque yet real and above all innocent. Combining over 40 locations we created this magical place where Aranya could fall in love with Andy.
The winter months were cold but this added to the backdrop of the film. The cold added another dimension to the songs that were shot at night – it is quite difficult to be romantic and in love in sub zero temperatures. We shot straight for 42 difficult days wrapping the film towards the end of March.
I had the best time ever directing the crop of actors on this film.
Ayesha, who I rate as one of the finest actresses in the country today brought Aranya to life a hundred fold better than I could have ever imagined. Her grasp of the character and the core of every scene only made my job easier. Tanve Azmi brought her grace and finesse to the role of Gayatri Garg and created the perfect aunt cum friend to Aranya. Raghubir Yadav made Ashok whacky and memorable as only Raghubir can. In addition hi magical voice added serious depth and reality to the character. The surprise was clearly Rannvijay Singh.
Known for his macho image on MTV, it was a joy to see his honesty and sensitive side that made Andy completely believable. Supported by a host of other actors like Ananth Mahadevan, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Rushad Rana and Prateeksha Lonkar, the script truly came to life.
Finally the music! Tapas Relia, my music director, created magic with 4 memorable tracks. From the romantic Tu Hi Tu, to the heart rending Chand Pal Ke Hamsafar to the whacky Aaj Main Ho Gayi Jawaan, he’s given Mod a solid footing to stand on. After all every good romantic Indian film depends on its music to truly make it shine!
It’s been a long journey but well worth it.
I truly look forward to sharing this experience with the audience.
Nagesh Kukunoor
Cast & Crew
Principal Cast:
Aranya : Ayesha Takia Azmi
Andy : Rannvijay Singh Singha
Ashok Mahadeo : Raghubir Yadav
Gayatri Garg : Tanve Azmi
Gangaram : Nikhil Ratnaparkhi
Dr. Reddy : Ananth Mahadevan
Crew
Art Director : Haris Umar Khan
Costumes Designer : Aparna Shah
Sound Designer : Vipin Bhati
Film Editor : Sanjib Datta
Lyrics : Mir Ali Husain
Music and Background score : Tapas Relia
Executive Producer : Devika Bahudhanam
Director of Photography : Chirantan Das
Producers : Elahe Hiptoola & Nagesh Kukunoor
Producer : Sujit Kumar Singh
Written and Directed : Nagesh Kukunoor
Shreya Entertainment Background
Shreya Entertainment returns to Bollywood with the Nagesh Kukunoor directed ‘Mod’, starring Ayesha Takia Azmi in the lead with VJ turned actor Rannvijay Singh Singha. The film release is scheduled during September/October 2011. The company had previously produced some of Bollywood’s more popular films such as: Jism, Paap, Rog, Yakeen, and Holiday.
Shreya Entertainment is also focusing on the delivery of audio and audio-visual content to users via mainly digital platforms [such as, wireless, broadband/online, IPTV, and DTH. Content includes: Television programmes, Movies [Bollywood, regional, and Hollywood], Special interest programmes [wellness, cookery, reality, spiritual, nature, wildlife, and humor, among others], and various genres of Indian and International music. Meanwhile, Shreya Events, as part of Shreya Entertainment, is a provider and a promoter of events and events management solutions. More information can be obtained from: www.shreyaevents.in.
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