Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (HKA) is filmmaker Sudhir Mishra’s most complex, ambitious and politically driven movie to date. He minces no words while castigating the Nehruvian “ideal”, arguing that modern India adopted a model for governance that generated a social order that’s unjust and degenerative. Subsuming the murky and incoherent politics of Kolkata, Delhi and the Bhojpur district of Bihar between the decadent decade that falls between 1969 and 1977, HKA takes us on a strange, stirring and reverberant journey into the erosion of the collective conscience in modern India.Q. Sudhir, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi remains your most well-known work?A. There are some films that emerge out of a filmmaker’s head on account of who he is essentially. These are films only he can make. Hazaaron…was that film for me. I nurtured the script for many years before making it and now, it nurtures me.Q. Would you say it is your finest work?A. I am known as the director of Hazaaronwhich enhances my stature as a filmmaker but also limits it, because I have also made films such as Khoya Khoya Chand, Dharavi, Chameli and Serious Men,which are as just as good.Q. Was Shiney Ahuja your first choice for the male lead?A. For Shiney Ahuja’s role, I went through a very elaborate casting process and conducted auditions in four cities but found him literally next door. Initially, we tested him for Kay Kay Menon’s part but one look at the audition and I knew he was Vikram.Q. Shiney’s career was smothered by the MeToo movement?A. I just can’t believe that the Shiney is the same person I know. There were so many women on the sets. They never had any complaints about Shiney’s behaviour. In fact, Shiney did a film with my assistant Ruchi Narain called Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow. Shiney was always a thorough gentleman. Eventually, the woman who accused him of rape withdrew her case. But, it was too late. Our film industry ostracised him for something he had not done.Q. How do you look back on Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi?A. I was born to make Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. Every filmmaker is born to make just one or two films. The rest are all space fillers. K Asif and Mehboob Khan made films other than Mughal-e-Azam and Mother India. But they are known largely for these two films. I do hope I can make something that will take me beyond Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. I think it is one film when the right story found me. It’s right there at the top. Some films change a filmmaker and Hazaaron… changed me. I found a softer, more compassionate side of myself.Q. Are you still sore about the film not getting enough recognition?A. Back in 2005 after the UPA government had taken over, the was totally ignored at the national awards. Some of my best friends, filmmaker-colleagues were sitting in the jury. They chose to honour other films. But, does anyone even remember the films that won the national award that year? My Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, however, is discussed for its relevance even today. My point is, you can’tgag what is relevant. The voice will find a way. Watch out for what I am directing now. I am not allowed to speak about it.