Director Prem Soni back in the industry after eight years of hiatus
Gone are the days when a Bollywood movie was considered to be limited up to a general storyline of
Gone are the days when a Bollywood movie was considered to be limited up to a general storyline of a guy and a girl falling in love and singing love songs. But now it has started to expand its horizons, and the new directors are making movies based on real-life concepts. One such director is Prem Soni who is all set to work on his new venture.
He will be exploring the subject of drag queens in his next movie titled ‘Laila Majnu’. Starring Shashank Vyas, Abhimanyu Tomar and Nehal Chudasama the movie revolves around two Southall boys who participate in a beauty contest.
The director will be seen back in action after 8 years hiatus. In an interview with a news portal, he said:
“Since I am coming back after a long time, it was important that my film offer a novel idea. It is India’s first mainstream drag [feature] film. Unfortunately, there is not much awareness about the subject in India. The drag culture has been embraced in the West, where they have stand-up comedians, singers and performers.”
Speaking about the eight years gap, Prem told the news portal that he was battling with depression after his movies Main Aur Mrs Khanna and Ishq In Paris didn’t do well at the box office. The filmmaker also spoke that since he was an outsider, people stopped talking to him during this time. He also revealed that only Salman Khan came forward to support him.
“Post 2013, I was in severe depression and went through a suicidal phase. These eight years were tough for me. So many people came up to me and said, ‘Your career is over. You can’t rebuild it now.’ I went through so many rejections. People stopped talking to me. They did not even have the compassion to understand that if a film does not work, it does not mean that the person is not talented. Even after 14 years in the industry, I have not been accepted here — it could be because my films didn’t work, or because I am an outsider. The only person who supports outsiders is Salman Khan and I am thankful to him for supporting me.”
