They say firsts are always special, and filmmaker Shoojit Sircar believes the same. Recently, his debut movie ‘Yahaan’ turned 20 years old, and walking down the memory lane, Shoojit Sircar recalled how the entire film came to life. In an exclusive interview with us, he also shared that despite the immense love, there are things about the movie that he would want to change.
Here are the excerpts from the interaction:
How was Yahaan born?


“‘Yahaan’ came from a lot of experience of my personal visits to Kashmir in connection with lots of documentaries. I made quite a few documentaries on Kashmir shrines and a lot of Kashmiri Sufism and culture for various television channels at that time. So, with my background in documentary, Kashmir was one of the most important subjects on my mind.”
How did Jimmy Shergill and Minissha Lamba come on board?


“I couldn't find anyone, so after so long trying, I tried for actors who could do it. But then one friend of mine, Tigmanshu Dhulia, I called him, and he helped me get in touch with Jimmy Shergill, and in the first narration itself, Jimmy agreed. Then came Minissha. I did a commercial with Minissha for, and then I thought, and I could not cast any Kashmiri girl because they were not ready to be in front of the camera, because they were scared. So, I had to cast somebody non-Kashmiri to play a Kashmiri girl.”
How special is ‘Yahaan’ to you?


“It's a special film because it's my first film. But there are many things I would like to correct now if I look back. But there is a lot of love because your first film is like first love, and you look back on a lot of your mistakes and, you know, that you can correct. I was young at that time and, you know, my perspective was different then.”
What are the changes you would like to make?


“I would have made a few corrections. An important factor that I regret is that my initial ending was quite different. In the original ending, Jimmy's character, Aman, gets shot by Minissha, and the young girl, played by a girl from Jammu, whose name is Juhi, walks back home alone from that mosque. So, I still regret that.”
Closing thoughts?


“I'm happy Yahaan is twenty years old. I would want the film to come out on some OTT platform . A lot of film lovers who hadn’t seen this first film of mine because it's not available, a very bad version of it can be seen on YouTube. But I'm trying to get it out and ask my producers from Sahara to give it to me so that we can play it out in the OTT and people can watch it. So, I'm trying that.”