It took me 12 years to complete the film: Sandeep Kumar on 'Happy'

New Delhi, Oct 31 (PTI) Indian-Austrian filmmaker Sandeep Kumar says his film "Happy", which revolves around an illegal Indian immigrant in Austria, has been a dream project that took more than 12 years to make.

The film, which released in 2024, showcases the life of a struggling immigrant who wants to provide for his little daughter while grappling with the repercussions of a deportation notice.

"It was a dream project. I worked on it for almost 12 years. I kept working on it. I was looking for something special to narrate. Eventually, we shot it in 2022, we completed it in 2024," Kumar told PTI in an interview.

The filmmaker, who was born in Delhi and later moved to Germany before settling in Austria, is known for introducing "Austro-Bollywood", a hybrid genre blending elements of mainstream Indian cinema with the social realism typical of Austrian films.

Kumar said his first two films "Kesariya Balam" and "Servus Ishq" were a part of the genre, which came from his understanding of mixing two cinematic cultures.

"I just wanted to see what comes out of it. And when you combine that, when you intermix both cultures, not just both cultures, but also both cinematic cultures... I did the first one in 2010, which came across very well. We also won a national award here for that," he said.

"Happy" is set to be screened at the European Union Film Festival, which begins on Friday and conclude on November 9. The filmmaker said his film is breaking grounds.

"I think it's for the first time that an Indian-born director is getting an Austrian film to the European Film Festival as a representation from Austria And, of course, with an Indian lead... It's breaking ground as well that for the first time an Indian actor from India learned German for months to do the lead role in an Austrian film in German language... That never happened before. So I think it's quite an interesting mix for the audiences who will be coming for this screening," he added.

Asked about his upcoming projects, Kumar said he has shot a film which revolves around "the nothingness of life." "I shot one film last year in New York, it's an American drama film about the nothingness of life. It's between an older gentleman and a younger man and how they discover life after meeting each other. I explored the kind of a theme, which I think is global," he said. PTI ATR BK RB RB