I’ve waited 12 years to make Love Soniya, says Tabrez Noorani

Filmmaker and the line producer of global hits as Slumdog Millionaire and Life Of Pi, Tabrez Noorani has personally rescued sex workers and girls caught in human trafficking racket from brothels in India. Now in the process of completing a feature film on the subject, Tabrez says the entire cast jumped into the project without bothering about their fees. Rajkummar Rao plays a character based on the director himself.

Tabrez says, “Rajkummar’s character attempts to rescue sex workers and girls trapped in human trafficking. I did the same.” The director continues, “I’ve waited 12 years to make Love Soniya. The subject of human trafficking is very close to my heart. I’ve researched, visited brothels, even rescued sex workers from the flesh trade with the help of NGOs. This is the film I’ve always wanted to direct.”

But something or the other would keep coming his way. “In 2007 I was all set to start my dream project when Slumdog Millionaire came up. Then again when I thought I’d get back to it, I was asked to be line producer for Eat Pray Love and later Life Of Pi.”

But he’s only too glad with how things turned out. Says the ecstatic first-time director, “To have a producer of David Womark’s stature back me in my directorial debut, and that too in a film about sex trafficking in Hindi, is an amazing break for me.”

Tabrez feels not much justice has been done to the theme in cinema. “The only significant film I’ve seen on human trafficking is Lukas Moodysson’s Lilia Forever. Otherwise Indian films on the theme like Nagesh Kukunoor’s Laxmi and Pradeep Sarkar’s Mardaani did not have the bandwidth to make a broad impact,” he says.

Although Tabrez has reservations about the Hollywood hit Taken’s creative handling of the subject, he is pleased with the reach of the film. “The message of human trafficking went far in Taken. I’d want my film to have the same reach,” he says. The director couldn’t be more pleased with his actors. “Freida, Richa Chadha and two new absolutely fabulous actresses Mrunal Thakur and Riya Sisodia — they’ve all surrendered to my script from the moment they came on board. No money was discussed. And I can’t begin to describe Manoj Bajpai’s level of commitment to the project.” The film is slated to move to Hong Kong for its next schedule.