The message is empathy: Atul Sabharwal on new film 'Berlin'

New Delhi: Director Atul Sabharwal says his latest film "Berlin", starring Aparshakti Khurana and Ishwak Singh, aims to share the message of empathy in an era of "utter selfishness".

Set in 1990s New Delhi, the spy thriller follows a deaf-mute young man called Ashok Kumar (Singh) on suspicion of being a foreign spy. The case takes a complex turn after a skilled sign language expert Pushkin Verma (Khurana) is brought in to interpret.

"We live in an era of utter selfishness and that translates from the voter to the top. It's not anti-establishment, it's anti (against) the whole thing of lack of empathy. Pushkin's agenda is not political but empathy. The message is empathy all in all," Sabharwal told PTI in an interview.

The filmmaker, also known for "Aurangzeb" and "Class of '83", said "Berlin" is based on his 2016 short story "The Decipherer".

It all started with the idea of a deaf-mute waiter at a cafe.

"I used to go to a Costa cafe in Lokhandwala. They used to employ deaf-mute staff. One of the waiters there was unusually chirpy, he tried to talk to the customers in sign language, he often wanted to know why you had come there. Many actors, scriptwriters used to go there.

"There used to be production meetings. The peripherals of the film industry who didn't have offices used to hang there. All that used to go on and he would be very inquisitive. That inquisitiveness was the first source of inspiration. That slowly developed into a spy world," Sabharwal said.

At the time, the writer-director was reading spy novels by Eric Ambler and Len Deighton.

"There are also Michael Caine's films 'Funeral in Berlin' and 'The Ipcress File' based on Deighton's novels. When a world starts taking shape, you try to figure out what story you can narrate within it." His first note to self was: "The Decipherer" is to ear, what Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" is to eye.

Regarded as one of the greatest Hitchcock films, the 1954 title revolves around a bored photographer recovering from a broken leg who passes the time by watching his neighbours and begins to suspect one of them of murder.

"What would happen if I create a character like the one I meet at the cafe who can't hear and speak, and he discovers a conspiracy?" Sabharwal recalled wondering.

He then narrated it to a writer friend who was starting her production house.

"They wanted a story which could be a so-called international film. I told them all I have is this at the moment. At the time, I was working for Yash Raj Films where I used to write scripts according to them. I asked them to have a look at this short story if it made sense to them because I thought it was unfilmable. But they liked the story." Why did he feel "The Decipherer" was "unfilmable"? "The short story only has Ashok's point of view. If you make a film from a character's point of view who can't hear and speak, there will be no dialogues. It would be a silent film. It's unfilmable as a mainstream film for Indian audiences. It would have been too niche.

"The short story also didn't have a lot of stretchable material. It's a story more suited for reading because you can write what's going on in a deaf man's mind. But you can't film thoughts. The whole short story is about his thoughts, what he is seeing. Then I had to create a device through which he could speak his thoughts and hence the interrogation," he said.

The potential producers said they would make a film based on the short story if Sabharwal could write a script.

"I debated with myself as to how to go about it and added some characters like Pushkin that were initially not there in the short story. When I finished writing that script, they didn't like it much. They said it looked more mainstream a film as opposed to an international taste. I told them I wrote what I could. Let's not make it right now. I said if something different strikes me, I'll make the changes," he said.

Then he got busy with his 2020 film "Class of '83", fronted by Bobby Deol, and soon pandemic started.

Sabharwal said auditions were on for 2023 series "Jubilee" on which he served as screenplay and dialogue writer. Khurana, who played Binod Das in the Vikramaditya Motwane directorial, emerged as one of the breakout performers on the Prime Video show.

"I saw Aparshakti and I pitched the script for the first time. That's how the journey of 'Berlin' began." Now, the filmmaker had to find his protagonist Ashok.

Film's casting director Mayank Bawa suggested Singh's name following his breakout performance in 2020's "Paatal Lok", also a Prime Video series.

"Ishwak was very happy with the first narration," he added.

Singh, like co-star Khurana, learnt sign language for "Berlin" and started interacting with deaf-mute people as part of his preparation for the role.

"He started catching those nuances. He used to tell me that they have their own ego trip, arrogance, pride. They believe that people who can hear are actually disabled. Because they can't understand their language. He built it like that. At one point he had even invited a deaf-mute person to live with him in his house." Sabharwal also shared an update on his upcoming projects, including season two of "Jubilee", which is yet to be officially announced by Prime Video.

"'Jubilee 2' is being written. It's a very small team while writing: me, Vikram (Motwane) and Prachi (Singh). We keep racking our brains together and keep brainstorming. So that's going on. And, there is a series with Roy Kapur Films," he said.

"Berlin", a collaboration between Zee Studios and Yippee Ki Yay Motion Pictures, also stars Rahul Bose, Anupriya Goenka, Deepak Qazir, and Kabir Bedi.