Jehanabad director Rajeev Barnwal: "I was there when this happened" [Exclusive]

Filmmaker Rajeev Barnwal is currently garnering accolades for his recently released debut web series Jehanabad - Of Love and War. Best known for directing and writing his last film Vadh starring Sanjay Mishra and Neena Gupta, Rajeev's career graph is at an all-time high. With Sudhir Mishra as the showrunner, the Jehanabad stars Harshita Gaur, Ritwik Bhowmik, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Rajat Kapoor and others.

In a chat with International Business Times, India, Jehanabad director Rajeev gets candid about what inspired him to make this show and his experience directing it.

How did you conceive the idea?

In 2005 while working on a non-fiction show for Sony, I was stationed at Rajnandgaon where we extensively shot for Jehanabad also. I happened to meet with some people, particularly a girl whose past story actually intrigued me a lot. There was a love angle associated with her story. It was around the same time, when I was there, that this jailbreak happened.

It was all over the news and it attracted me as I was curious to know how it happened and how these many prisoners kind of managed to escape. But I wanted to tell that story in my own version. So that girl's love story and the jailbreak incident inspired me to create Jehanabad- Of Love and War. I amalgamated both stories and that's how it came into existence. Sony immensely liked the story and later on things fell in place. And it wasn't long before it was turned into a show.

Jehanabad is gaining applause from all sections. What do you think has clicked with the audience?

I think it is the purest form of love story amid all the war and action and drama that has clicked with the audience. I wanted to give out a message that love has so much power it can actually stop conflicts. While pitching to Sony as well, my partner Simrat believed in this story and even they liked it after which Jehanabad happened.

What has been your working experience with the star cast?

All of these actors are so good at what they do and so easy to work with. They adapt the script and milieu very well. So whatever I'd visualize they brought them alive. It was really easy working with them, the environment was really lively and bursting with good energy. It was a learning experience for me as well because the way they've emoted between the lines and dialogues is something magical to watch out for.