Director Rajeev Barnwal, best known for writing Besharam and directing-writing Sanjay Mishra and Neena Gupta starrer Vadh, is currently garnering accolades for his recently released directorial web series Jehanabad - Of Love and War on SonyLiv. The show is touted to be based on the jailbreak incident happened in Jehanabad in 2005, where a total of 372 inmates fled from the prison in a well-planned attempt.
As a maker speaking about the challenges of creating a show based on real incidents, he says, "It is very challenging to create a show based on a real incident. The only problem with that incident was there is not detailed research on it, except the fact you just get to read about that particular day in media. Knowing very less about the event made it difficult hence, I created my own events."
"So I was inspired only by the jail break fact and rest process behind that incident is something I fictionalized. Seamlessly, I roped in the love story. I kind of worked on these two parallel tracks and mixed them at a certain point. It was challenging to create a balance between the two tracks. I love to write love story but in this show and Vadh, I went out of my comfort zone and tried to create something more tough", adds Barnwal.
Sharing about his working experience with Sudhir Mishra he says, "Working with him is very educative I would say. When he came on board as a mentor and show runner, he gave some suggestions and inputs which I incorporated. Also, he was very open to discussions. We sat and discussed over lot of things for the show. He also came on the set a few times while shooting and was always a call away which made everything so easy. It was very exciting for me also to work with a filmmaker whom I always admired. He always guided us on the right path as a mentor. Throughout the show, Sudhir sir really held us together and mentored us very beautifully to bring out the intelligence of the script."
Lastly adding about his future prospects he states, "I have got couple of good stories for films and long format shows. For the last three years I'm constantly working either on Vadh or Jehanabad. It has taken a lot of time from me, creatively and mentally. I have a couple of good ideas for my next projects. Also, I'm very open to new scripts and ideas from others which I can direct."
With Sudhir Mishra as show runner, the show stars Harshita Gaur, Ritwik Bhowmik, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Rajat Kapoor and others.