Film maker Shekhar Kapur He is returning to one of his most famous stories with ‘Masoom: The Next Generation’, but the upcoming film is not designed as a nostalgia-driven revision. Instead, Kapur is trying to build a deeply emotional story about migration, family breakdown, identity and the quest to engage in an ever-changing world. Now the project has gained another important creative collaborator. Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has officially come on board to not only compose the music but also co-produce the film.
AR Rahman on co-producing the classic
According to Variety India, Shekhar Kapur revealed that Rahman’s involvement evolved unexpectedly after the music legend heard the script and instantly connected with the story. “I’m going to shoot it this year. I’ve shot it, I’ve written it. AR Rahman is producing the film along with me. He heard the script and asked me: ‘Can I co-produce?’ and we said: “Let’s do it.” So we have already recorded one song, we have started the second one”, says Kapur.Rahman’s association immediately elevates the project given his legacy of creating unforgettable music for films like ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’, ‘Lagaan’, ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.For Kapur, the partnership became much more meaningful when Rahman decided to invest creatively beyond music. “When Rahman said he was going to produce it, I thought it was fantastic. To have a producer who is one of the greatest musicians of our time,” he said.
Why music continues to feature in Shekhar Kapur’s storytelling
The director also opened up about the emotional role music plays in his films, admitting that songs and scores are often what draw him to filmmaking in the first place. “I love music. I think one of the reasons I love filmmaking is because I love not only the songs, but also the background score,” explains Kapur.
‘Masoom’ returns, but with a different emotional approach
Released in the 1980s, ‘Masoom’ became one of the most beloved family dramas in Indian cinema. The film was adapted from Erich Segal’s ‘Man, Woman and Child’ Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi and explored how a family reacts when a man brings his son from an extramarital affair into their life. The film’s emotional honesty, combined with memorable songs like “Tujhse Naraz Nahi Zindagi”, made it an all-time classic. The new film is expected to reunite Shah and Azmi when it launches Manoj Bajpayee, Nithya Menenand Kaveri Kapur in important roles.Kapur clarified that ‘Masoom: The Next Generation’ is not a regular sequel, but an extension of emotional themes that remain relevant today. “My next film is more or less a sequel to what I call a sequel to ‘Masoom’. But for every film, I have to find my source,” he said.According to the filmmaker, he was inspired by seeing how migration has shaped many Indian families for generations. “Ninety percent of India has moved; we’re largely immigrants in one way or another. My parents are migrants. They were uprooted during Partition. They’ve all moved from here to there,” reflects Kapur. He compared this emotional displacement to images of turtles that carry their houses wherever they go.“So the question is: have we become like turtles? Some went from a rural landscape to an urban configuration. Some from urban cities went overseas. Then we go into our shell and make it a home,” he added. As the filmmaker explains, the heart of the story lies in exploring what people really mean when they talk about “home.” The emotional conflict, Kapur believes, grows out of the way families slowly disconnect as they struggle with ownership, inheritance, and identity.“When does your house become a home? And when does your home become property and when does that property become real estate? It’s a story of home and what it means,” he said. Kapur also connected these themes to classics like “Deewar,” highlighting how uprooted lives often shape the most powerful emotional narratives. “In a way, even Salim-Javed explored it in ‘Deewar’. Who are you when you are uprooted?” he stated
Shekhar Kapur’s innocence as a filmmaker
While there is hope in reimagining a beloved classic, Kapur admitted that his real struggle has been reconnecting with the innocence he had when making the original film decades ago. “It’s the same actor and I’m the same, but how can I become naive again in writing my struggle? Again naive to rediscover this story without Shekhar Kapur, this popular director. I had no idea that ‘Masoom’ would be this big,” he admitted.He concluded by talking about the director’s deep emotional connection with the actors and how that connection shapes his story-telling process. “I think my ability is to be able to love actors. I think it’s my love for my actors that makes my films. That’s why I fear working with actors who aren’t ready to fall in love with what they’re doing,” shared Kapur.With ‘Masoom: The Next Generation’, Shekhar Kapur is less interested in recreating a classic and more focused on revisiting the eternal questions of family, roots and emotional belonging.
