Genres need not be about gender, Janhvi a superstar: ‘Ulajh’ director Sudhanshu Saria

Mumbai, Jul 29 (PTI) Sudhanshu Saria says it was exciting to tell a spy story through a female protagonist as it opened up new possibilities in “Ulajh”, his upcoming thriller fronted by Janhvi Kapoor.

Set in the intriguing world of Indian Foreign Services (IFS), “Ulajh” follows the journey of a young IFS officer, played by Kapoor, who gets embroiled in a dangerous personal conspiracy after getting appointed for a career-defining post.

The patriotic thriller is written by Parveez Shaikh and Saria while Atika Chauhan has penned the dialogues.

“I never look at stories from a gender lens, I don’t think genres need to be about gender. For me, Parveez’s choice to make the protagonist a woman was exciting and that opened up possibilities in a fresh way,” the filmmaker told PTI.

Spy thrillers are one of the most popular genres in Hindi cinema and Saria is happy that they get to be one of the firsts to come up with a spy thriller, led by a star like Janhvi.

“I know there’s a wave of spy thrillers that will come now. There’s a Yash Raj Films one with Alia (Bhatt) and Sharvari (Wagh) in it, but I’m excited that we get to lead that charge. For me, Janhvi is as much a superstar as any of those before who have done these big massy spy thrillers,” the director said.

Known for “Sanaa” and streaming show “Big Girls Don’t Cry” Saria said he started working on the movie three years ago when Junglee Productions approached him to direct the movie.

“I was really surprised that they thought of me,” said the “Loev” fame director, adding he was awestruck by the twists and turns in the movie.

“I saw a real possibility in the script of reinventing the genre. This was three years back, I always think of what our audience is going to be looking for in 2025-2026 or 2024, when you are sitting in 2021… It ticked all the boxes for me. So, for me it was a very easy yes.”

The film boasts of an ensemble including Roshan Mathew, Gulshan Devaiah, Adil Hussain, Rajesh Tailang, Meiyang Chang, Rajendra Gupta, and Jitendra Joshi.

The casting process for “Ulajh” was a significant undertaking, taking approximately eight months to assemble the talented ensemble, Saria said, adding he was delighted to be working with such accomplished actors.

“It made directing such a joy. Every day I would go on the set, I would look at the call sheet and be like, ‘Which exciting actor combo pair am I going to work with?’. For me, it is always about serving the audience. I work for the audience, and the idea of keeping them excited and serving up actor after actor, and putting them in the same film, I was very greedy about it.”

The film is slated to release in theatres on August 2.