{"id":62387,"date":"2026-11-10T08:10:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T08:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/john-doe-why-director-madhumita-wanted-to-move-beyond-feel-good-films\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T08:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T08:10:56","slug":"john-doe-why-director-madhumita-wanted-to-move-beyond-feel-good-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/john-doe-why-director-madhumita-wanted-to-move-beyond-feel-good-films\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018John Doe\u2019: Why director Madhumita wanted to move beyond feel-good films"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"Arjun<\/picture><\/div>\n

\n Arjun Das and director Madhumita on the sets of \u2018John Doe\u2019
\n | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There was a time in director Madhumita\u2019s life when she felt she didn\u2019t have it in her to succeed in cinema. It happened sometime in 2015, a few weeks after the release of her Moone Moonu Varthai,\u00a0<\/i>which did not click at the box office. Disheartened, Madhumita packed her bags and went to Mumbai to join a corporate company, bidding goodbye to directorial dreams.<\/p>\n

Even as she worked the corporate ladder, she wrote a village-based slice-of-life story of an old man\u2019s friendship with a young boy.<\/p>\n

Titled KD Engira Karuppudurai<\/i><\/a>and released in 2019, <\/i>the comedy drama changed her life overnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was magic. So many people thought that it was my first film; I had to remind them that I had done films before that too,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n

Offers poured in to make \u2018similar films\u2019 \u2014 she, in fact, subsequently took up the opportunity to remake the film in Hindi with Abhisekh Bachchan (Kaalidhar Kaapata<\/i><\/a>) \u2014 but Madhumita wanted to move beyond that comfort zone. \u201cIt is a stereotype that women only make good rom-coms and feel-good films. Producers would specifically ask me for such subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the script for John Doe, <\/i>initially titled Sleep Tight<\/i>, came to mind. She wrote the psychological thriller during the COVID-19 lockdown along with co-writer Nicholas Chevaillier. \u201cThe fun in filmmaking is to challenge yourself by taking on different genres,\u201d adds the director, who was also behind recent romance series, Love Always<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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\"Arjun<\/div>\n

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Arjun Das in \u2018John Doe\u2019\n <\/p>\n

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The anonymous person<\/b><\/p>\n

Her John Doe<\/i>, which hits screens on November 13, features Arjun Das<\/a> and Sanchana Natarajan in lead roles and tells the story of how cops crack the case of a missing child. Set in hill stations on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border, it is \u201cmore than a whodunit\u201d, says Madhumita, who grew up reading Agatha Christie and Harlan Coben novels. \u201cWhile John Doe <\/i>is a whodunit, it will delve into the why <\/i>of the crime. I feel cinema sometimes glorifies crimes. It is made to look cool and fascinating, but at the end of the day, any crime hurts a bunch of people. For John Doe<\/i>, instead of using crime as a tool, I have tried to weave it into an important story that can happen to anyone. I believe that the emotional core is the most important aspect of all films, which will help us understand the characters and the subject better,\u201d states Madhumita.<\/p>\n

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On set, Madhumita is a bit of a workaholic, something that all actors vouch for. Mention that to her, and she says, \u201cMy editor once told me that I stress too much on the final product rather than the journey of making the film. That advice was life-changing. Since the filming of KD, <\/i>I have started enjoying the process \u2014 of waking up early, going to sets and working on the scenes for the day. When you enjoy going to set as a director, positivity rubs off on the cast and crew as well. This makes every single day of shoot enjoyable,\u201d says the filmmaker, who is currently working on the post-production of the Hindi adaptation of the Malayalam hit Angamaly Diaries<\/i> and will start filming her next, a hostage drama, in early 2027.<\/p>\n

John Doe<\/i>\u2019s recent promotional meet grabbed attention when the makers gave the team an unusual gift: a red teddy bear. \u201cIf you looked closely, the bear is imperfect; it has a few strings hanging loose,\u201d she explains, citing that the gift actually symbolises a song in the film \u2014 \u2018Naan Podhuma\u2019 by The Artist 404. \u201cThis existential question \u2014 \u2018Naan Podhuma\u2019 (Am I enough?) \u2014 is something everyone keeps asking themselves, irrespective of who they are. I keep asking myself this. The teddy bear is a way of telling yourself that you are absolutely good enough, beyond all your flaws.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published – November 10, 2026 01:19 pm IST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arjun Das and director Madhumita on the sets of \u2018John Doe\u2019 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement There was a time in director Madhumita\u2019s life when she felt she didn\u2019t have it in her to succeed in cinema. It happened sometime in 2015, a few weeks after the release of her Moone Moonu Varthai,\u00a0which did not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}