Couldn’t Make ‘Yeh Ballet’ With a Star: Sooni Taraporevala

Sooni Taraporevala has directed ‘Yeh Ballet’.

Sooni Taraporevala on her writing process, working with Netflix.

(Photo: The Quint)

Netflix’s Yeh Ballet is about two boys Nishu (Manish Chauhan) and Asif (Achintya Bose), who are from humble backgrounds and are discovered by a ballet teacher (Julian Sands). As the film streams currently on Netflix, on our latest episode of ‘OffScreen’ we spoke to the director of the film, Sooni Taraporevala, about the filmmaking process, the challenge of creating smaller films, and why Netflix is a boon.

When asked about how she cast the film, Sooni said, “Where could I find a star who could dance and do ballet and be authentic? I needed someone who could do ballet and also act, and not the other way round.” The film stars Manish Chauhan, whose life actually inspired the film, and Achintya Bose, who seems completely at ease while doing ballet.

“When I saw these two boys, I had tears in my eyes, because it was such an unusual and amazing achievement on their part and their teacher’s part. Because you know most ballet dancers start learning ballet when they are three, four, five years old. These kids started so late in life, they had never heard classical music in their lives and to be so good at something that is so out of their comfort zone was an achievement I wanted to celebrate,” she said on why she wanted to make the film.

She also spoke about how she couldn’t have made the film without Netflix for the kind of budget she required, which would require her to cast stars.

In ‘OffScreen’, we recount stories from the world of movies and web series, mostly featuring people who toil behind the scenes, people who basically work off-screen to create magic on screen. We also bring to you fascinating stories of actors that you might not have been privy to.

Producer: Nandakumar Rammohan
Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan