The director shooting his latest film in the freezing winter of Delhi took time off to speak exclusively to BT.
"Suddenly the news of my film being downloaded has become bigger than the film itself. This, I must admit comes as as a rude reminder of what lies ahead for our fim industry. It's not just piracy. The net is where we need to look for trouble sources now. "
Sudhir was busy shooting on Tuesday. "When I finally heard about my film being on the net I checked it out. This is not the full and final version of Tera Kya Hoga Johnny. It's a very rough cut. I'd advice all netizens to avoid watching the illegal download because that's not my film. "
Trying hard to keep the annoyance and anger out of his voice Sudhir refuses to play the blame game with the film's co- producer Tutu Sharma.
"All I'll say, " says the tightlipped critically acclaimed, "is that the film did not get leaked out of my office. What has happened, must be avoided in the future. But we aren't letting this go. Complaints have been filed in two police stations of Mumbai and with the Google authorities. This must not happen again. "
Sudhir however is confident that the unfinished version on the net won't jeopardize the film's prospects. "After Slumdog Millionaire the West is looking with much curiosity at the slum culture of Mumbai.
I had no plans of doing an English version of Tera Kya Hoga Johnny. But everyone who saw it in New York suggested I do it. Every frame in my film has been shot in the slums, lanes and gullies of South Mumbai in Colaba. "
Tera Kya Hoga Johnny is an episodic story of a street -child name Johnny. Mishra got an actual boy from the streets of Kolkata to play the lead and even unofficially adopted the boy who now lives with the director.
Neil Nitin Mukesh who features in one of the episedes was blamed for the film's two-year delay in release. It was said Neil didn't want the film to release because of his minuscule role.
"Now at least everyone should stop blaming me, " smirks Neil. "It was said I delayed the film by refusing to dub for it. Arrey, the film was in sync sound, so there's no question of not dubbing. I'm very proud of Tera Kya Hoga Johnny. "