Even Jayanth Seege did not anticipate the kind of attention his new year plan would get on social media. The 38-year-old filmmaker from Bengaluru decided to camp outside the home of actor Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai in a bid to get the star to listen to his pitch for a film 'Project X'.
His plea, complete with a poster of the film, caught the attention of social media users but he is yet to achieve his aim of meeting the Bollywood star. "Everybody had a Goa plan, but this was my new year's plan. It was actually heartwarming. The number of strangers who wished me luck...the whole trip was worth it just for that. There was no trolling. I was a bit sceptical of the reaction this would bring but people have been very encouraging," Jayanth tells TNM.
Friends: New year plans?
— Jayanth Seege (@JayanthSeege) December 31, 2020
Me: I am pitching my script to @iamsrk.
How?#SRK #PROJECTX #MakeItCount pic.twitter.com/g1EBYmZu2K
"I probably wouldn't have done it if not for the mask situation. Wearing one gave me a sense of anonymity which made me feel shielded from ridicule," he adds. \
He says that he is just like hundreds of filmmakers trying to catch the attention of an actor like Shah Rukh Khan. "I am a nobody, and I am like hundreds of filmmakers. I am last in line and I am trying to skip the line to catch Shah Rukh Khan’s attention about a film idea. I did not see any other way than to do something magnanimous," Jayanth explains.
He is quick to point out that he is also not looking for a fleeting fan moment with SRK. He has written for Kannada films earlier – he wrote Girgitle, starring Kannada actor Raj B Shetty in the 2019 anthology film Katha Sangama. He is also the director of an upcoming Kannada thriller 96 (not to be confused with the Tamil romantic drama film). "I have been part of interesting projects. I was involved in the production of Ulidavaru Kandanthe to learn the scale of how feature films work," Jayanth says.
Day 2: Thank you for all the tweets. Overwhelmed! A lil trivia about the poster. I made it overnight more than an year ago; on seeing @iamsrk 's interview! #SRK #PROJECTX #MakeItHappen https://t.co/OL19dAvvg6 pic.twitter.com/AHblMuZVVS
— Jayanth Seege (@JayanthSeege) January 1, 2021
It was in 2019 when Jayanth watched an interview of Shah Rukh Khan by film critic Rajeev Masand that he decided to turn his attention to making a film starring the actor. "I am not a mad fan of SRK, but a lot of things he said (in the interview) resonated with me," Jayanth says.
He recalls that in the interview, Shah Rukh encouraged filmmakers to reach out to him with interesting ideas. That was when he came up with the poster and script for Project X. But when his tweets and social media posts did not catch the actor's attention, he decided to camp outside his house on New Year's Eve. He stayed in Mumbai until January 4 before returning to Bengaluru. "A lot of reports are suggesting I am still camping in Mumbai which is not the case!" he exclaims, laughing.
When asked what he would say to Shah Rukh if he does meet him, Jayanth says he hasn't thought about that yet. "It is like Will Ferrell says in Stranger Than Fiction: I really don't know, I only thought about this much. I am taking this one step at a time," Jayanth adds.