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People told me not make a film like 'Hichki': Sidharth P Malhotra

Press Trust of India  |  Mumbai 

With an unusual story about a protagonist suffering from Tourette syndrome, Sidharth P approached a lot of producers for "Hichki" only to get rejected, but the is now beaming with a smile and enjoying the success of the

The Rani Mukerji-starrer, which released last week, has been lauded by both the critics as well as the audience, and is "still numb" that the movie he "breathed, lived, consumed" for five years is getting overwhelming response at the box-office.

"I pitched it to every person in the world and everyone told me 'don't make a about a teacher, what is Tourette syndrome, are you mad and this isn't a commercial film'. Some heard me, some said I've lost the plot," told

"Then even I questioned myself - do I have it in me, have I really lost it? I went through this many times. I've been really fortunate that I got Yash RajFilms to back my story," he adds.

says he holds no grudges towards anyone for rejecting the story.

"I thank them for teaching me more humility and that one shouldn't lose faith."

Rani, who plays the lead character in 'Hichki', however, was not the first choice for the role.

"There was someone else but due to dates and other things it didn't fall into place. At that point of time, Rani had just delivered her baby so we didn't even know if she'd considering coming back.

"When we met Aditya Chopra, he said she may say no to you but let's give her a narration," he says.

says Rani liked the story after the first narration, but was initially unsure about how to approach the part.

"Earlier she had said 'don't take me because my priority is Adira today'. We had to figure out how to shoot with her for five hours in a day. As I knew the inside out, there was clarity and it helped us in shooting the film," he adds.

"Hichki" is an adaptation of US-based motivational Brad Cohen's autobiography, "Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the I Never Had."


After his nephew saw the film, "Front of the Class", the 2008 which was based on the book, he asked if he could direct it for Indian audience as he is good with handling emotions and drama.

Then, the rights were bought and writers of hit Marathi "Balak Palak" and along with and wrote the first draft of the in 2013.

But producers were still no where in sight. The script back then had a male central character.

Later, the turning of the lead role from male to female on Maneesh Sharma's suggestion happened but it didn't alter the screenplay much.

For the film, in which Rani's character is assigned to teach a new class '9F', the "We are a Family" says he drew that from one of his one unreleased television shows.

'9F' came from his first ever TV show called "Class 9", which never got released.

Malhotra, then aged 15, had shot the pilot of the show, which then trickled down in the story of "Hichki" decades later.

"That way I had the story of two underdogs. One, the and second the students whom nobody wants to teach," he says.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, April 01 2018. 16:20 IST
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