Want to popularise Meerut: 'Meeruthiya Gangsters' director

"Meeruthiya Gangsters" director Zeishan Quadri, who considers Meerut as his "karmabhoomi" (workplace), says he chose this name for the upcoming film because he wanted to popularise the Uttar Pradesh city.

"The media proofs that I incorporated in the film were all from Meerut. I named my earlier film 'Gangs Of Wasseypur' as it was my 'janmabhoomi' (birthplace). As a result of the film, just typing Wasseypur on Google shows information about it," Quadri said at a promotional event of the film here.

"Then I wondered what should I do for my 'karmabhoomi' (workplace) Meerut as I had graduated from Meerut and the land has given me numerous other things. That's why I decided to name it 'Meeruthiya Gangsters' so that Meerut gets popularised and people know about this place," he added.

Quadri co-wrote the script of "Gangs Of Wasseypur" and played the role of Definite in Anurag Kashayap's two-part directorial.

Talking about "Meeruthiya Gangsters", which is slated to release on September 18, he said: "Most of the incidents are taken from newspaper cuttings and other numerous real-life incidents.

"With 'Gangs Of Wasseypur', I attempted to showcase a new world and surprised Anurag sir, while he surprised the audience by making the film. So this time, I've again tried to surprise the audience by writing and directing this film. I can assure the audiences will be fascinated with this new world of quirky characters," Quadri added.

"Meeruthiya Gangsters" is his debut film as a director, but neither the casting process nor the shooting was a challenge for him.

"Casting for characters is not difficult when you have skilled actors with you. The job of the actor is to get into the character. During casting, gradually I got the suitable actors according to script needs," Quadri said.

"The most exciting part is that there were no difficulties while shooting for the film. All the actors were already friends... when Sanjay Mishra sir comes on set, a different kind of energy comes up.

"Generally with actors like Sanjay Mishra, Brijendra Kala and Mukul Dev, a director might get tense about handling them, but nothing of that sort happened with me. In fact, when they came on set, they were very normal and it was an enjoyable shoot," he added.

"Meeruthiya Gangsters", produced by Prateek Entertainment, also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Nushrat Bharucha among others.