Written by Anushree Majumdar | Published: March 17, 2018 12:24 am Arjun MukerjeeTop News
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In Mumbai, one mustn’t feel surprised when asked to state exactly which “society” or apartment block they live in. It’s never quite enough to tell an inquisitive stranger the name of the neighbourhood — they must also know which building. In a city where space is a constant constraint, the apartment blocks function as a self-contained universe, where lives inside little boxes play out like multiple TV screens in an electronics store; where parking lots double as playgrounds in the afternoon, and everybody knows everybody. In ad director-turned-filmmaker Arjun Mukerjee’s debut offering, Three Storeys, that kind of microcosm is explored in another Bombay specialty — the chawl.
“One of the things that interests me as a filmmaker is how adept we are at wearing masks, during every kind of interaction in our lives, whether it is with our neighbours, the cabbies, the workplace. But when it comes to love, the masks slip off, and we show ourselves as who we really are,” says Mukerjee, 47, whose film explores three love stories that are intertwined and play out over three storeys of a fictional chawl. These are centred around a Goan widow, a young Maharashtrian housewife, and two teenagers who must combat much more than love jihad to be together.
Three Storeys, written by Althea Kaushal, seems like a pastiche of some of the world’s best short story writers — O Henry, Anton Chekov, Roald Dahl and Saki, to name a few — who were all masters of the twist in the ending. “The first story, featuring Renuka Shahane, is based on a short story, titled The Right Kind of House, that we purchased from the estate of the American writer, Henry Slesar,” says Mukerjee, who has directed over 100 ad films since his career in the advertising industry took off in 1999. Shahane does a wonderful job as Flory Mendonca, a widow whose immaculate three-room setup is for sale, but nobody wants to pay Rs 80 lakh to live in a chawl — till a charming buyer shows up. “We needed somebody who could deliver a mix of the modest and the macabre, and who could play both a young and an older Flory. Renuka just fit the part so well. We worked hard to make sure that Flory’s Bombay Goan accent sounded authentic, as well as her apartment, since so much takes place in her living room,” says Mukerjee, who recce-ed 160 chawls before a set was created on a strip of marshland in Trombay.
In its second week, Three Storeys is quietly gathering favourable reviews for its performances, and for its portrayal of its women characters. Traditionally, men have etched their identity in the world outside, while a woman’s life is inside her home — a space that demands her to be mother, sister, wife, lover — without any pay or reprieve. “Most of the heads of department in the film were women. I didn’t set out to make a film that would be preachy or ‘women-centric’. I’ve always thought women are far more interesting than men, and wanted to tell some of the stories,” says Mukerjee.
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