Anshuman Jha’s face is perhaps the most unforgettable from the crop of young actors in Bollywood. The young man who made his debut with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love, Sex aur Dhoka (LSD) certainly did make a mark. His later films such as Fugly, Chauranga and Mona Darling have helped him consolidate his position in offbeat films.
Anshuman’s latest film Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain, that was screened at the Jaipur International Film Festival earlier this month has been in the news for winning the Best Feature Film award at HBO’S South Asian International Film Festival in New York. Unlike the usual teen love stories, this film deals with the romance between middle-aged people. “This is a story for all generations. It will cut across ages and barriers,” says Anshuman who plays the lead as a younger man.
The film also stars Sanjay Mishra in the role of a 55-year-old who learns about love from the younger generation. His own daughter teaches him how to say ‘I love you’ to his wife (her mother). “We premiered it at New York. It addresses the problem about how men start taking love for granted after a point — especially, our parents generation for whom monotony sets in. It’s unconscious. In a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek way, the younger couple explains to the older man how he needs to admit his love,” says
the actor.
This is probably the first, out-and-out love story that Anshuman has acted in, after a series of thrillers. “When this was offered to me, I just loved the script because it deals with a universal topic. Most Hindi films usually deal with a boy and a girl’s love story, but here, you also have the love story of a couple that falls in love after many years of marriage,” says Anshuman.
Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain will release mid-year in India.
ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress.com
@aishatax