I'm just a storyteller: Jagmohun Mundhra

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The director of Provoked, Jagmohun Mundhra is back, this time with a film on terrorism.

Jagmohun Mundhra has managed to shake off the tag that comes with making slightly seedy, erotic movies like Perfumed Garden and Monsoon. The London-based director says that he’s now focused on films based on real life incidents. After Bawandar and Provoked, Mundhra’s latest film is based on the climate of terrorism in the UK post the 7/7 bombings in London.

Shoot on Sight saw its world premiere at the Osian Film Festival on Saturday evening and Mundhra is glad that the feedback from the audience in Delhi has been positive. “It’s a subject that I was aware of, the events that followed that terrorist attack affected all of us who were living in London at the time. I’m glad the people here have appreciated my endeavour to express what Asians went through then,” says Mundhra, happy to count this one as his 33rd film.

Shoot on Sight is a fictional drama based on the real-life order passed by the Scotland Yard after the July 2005 bombings in London. In Mundhra’s film, the action takes place within the London Police force, where Tariq Ali, played by Naseeruddin Shah is ordered to investigate the police shooting of a suspected Muslim terrorist on the London Underground. Distrusted by both his superiors in the police, and his fellow Muslims, he finds his inquiry hampered from all sides.

“Overnight, everything seemed to have changed. I couldn’t stop a cab because I was looked upon as a suspected terrorist because of my beard. When the shooting took place, I watched the media coverage and the Scotland Yard was trying to unruffle a few contentious feathers by having a Muslim officer as the investigating officer. I felt there was a story to be told,” says Mundhra.

As a filmmaker, Mundhra says he is inspired by everyday events around him. “Reality will reverberate and resonate more than fiction. I always tell the story through the eyes of a protagonist, it helps to gain a wider perspective and yet, treat the subject intimately,” says Mundhra.