MUMBAI: Rohit, a sycophantic, senior-management executive, has recently relocated from Gurgaon to Mumbai as a Vice President of a company. He gets invited to his Managing Director Akash's anniversary party. Eager to win over his new boss and score some brownie points, he takes his wife Priya along and urges her to be at her charming best. Priya on the other hand is anti social in nature, and finds putting up appearance in parties extremely tiresome. Priya as a person is blunt to the point of being rude and Rohit and his obsequious ways irritate her no end. To escape the humdrumness of her life, Priya often takes refuge in her cell phone and is a gaming addict. However this party turns out to be different for both of them as Rohit runs into Sonal, his boss Akash's wife, who he had once dated.
About the Director Samir Tewari - Samir Tewari Born in Asansol, West Bengal, Samir did his schooling from St. Patricks Asansol before completing his education from Fergusson College Pune, Maharashtra. He started his career as a copywriter in advertising agencies such as Lowe Lintas and Partners and FCB Ulka where he honed his screenplay writing skills writing television commercials. He then co-wrote and co-directed ‘Shanti,’ India’s first daily soap in 1993 which ran till ’97. He followed up his stint in television by returning to an advertising agency where he began directing ad films and next set up a production house making ad films in 1998. Ever since then, Advertising films have been his main line of work and he has been producing and directing advertising commercials for brands across different categories. In 2014, he directed a film called Mr. Joe B. Carvalho, a spoof on eighties style Bollywood movies that was panned for its illogical plot line but loved by families and more specifically children. It’s available today on Netflix, Hotstar and Spuul.
Samir Tewari said "Why do people outgrow each other? Why do some marriages fall apart, While others continue to stay rock solid? Is it because somewhere some couples get disillusioned with each other? Whereas some couples work hard to keep the interest level alive? Level 13 takes a detached yet wry look at two marriages. One, that’s held together by love and respect. And one, that’s held together by the comfort of familiarity that exists between two individuals who know each other inside out but tolerate each other only because they are too tired to separate. As the film progresses, we realise that this loveless marriage of convenience is probably stronger than the one based on love as there are no expectations here. The marriage based on love is frail and fragile and destroying it takes just one brief moment of indiscretion. As a sub text, Level 13 also deals with mobile addiction. And how the mobile that has become an emotional crutch for some people, while also ending up as the bane of modern relationships"
About Producer Muktal Tewari- Having grown up in Advertising as an art director, Muktal has a keen sense of design and art, and has brought this discipline into her company Working I Films that she runs along with her husband Samir Tewari. Thanks to her fastidious nature, Working I has an excellent reputation in the advertising Industry and has been associated with the best of brands in India and abroad. Muktal enjoys working on new projects and picking up challenges that she juggles despite being a wife, a busy producer and a mother of a 25 year old daughter, who is also a chef. She wears many hats and is also the financial brain behind the company that has a wonderful reputation for being a solid company that delivers, and a stickler for time bound job commitments.
Annup Sonii said "What attracted me towards Level 13 was its story - it was simple and every day, yet intense and funny in an uncanny way. It had an interesting take on marriage, relationships, human behavior and boredom. Also my character was very different from what I have ever done. My director Samir Tewari had also co-written the script so he exactly knew how he wanted to project each character"
Sandhya Mridul said "I found the scenario very real & possible and actually I’ve seen this happen once long ago .. I have always wondered what it would be like & was intrigued to put myself in that situation and see it what I feel as the character. Actors are lucky we can be anyone. Also I'm not a phone addict or ever plan to become one!! My phone is off 90% of the time. And silent. It was fun however to play someone whose only escape in life was the phone. I see people like that all the time. It sad, but it's the sign of our times that nobody looks up anymore. So I’m happy to make the darn statement. Get off the phone. Live.
Rajev Paul said "When I was offered Level 13 what I liked about the story was how a seemingly casual evening between colleagues and friends takes a turn and changes the lives of people involved forever. My character Aakash, had layers which you’d would want to see in every man and when an unforeseen situation arises we see how he reacts to it. In short, even though the film is less than 15 minutes, it's stays with you long after it gets over making you think about its characters. It has got its moments..and you hope something like this party never happens in your life.. whichever of these 4 you may be.. You'd never want this evening in your life"
Swati Semwal said "I have worked with Samir before in advertising and always wanted to work with him again as he has a very unique perspective...when I read the script I knew I had to grab this opportunity as it was a very upbeat take on the different shades of women. His characters are not suffocated in a box …they break all stereotypes and it reflects pretty well on screen"
Making Level 13- Sometime early last year, this plot struck me. Of a married cad who runs into his ex, now happily married to his new boss. The premise seemed interesting and I discussed it with my writer friend Manish Tiwari. Manish loved it too and wrote a draft. Over the next couple of days we fleshed it out further and rewrote it a couple of times. Over the next few months we developed a few more short stories and before we knew it we had a series of shorts, an anthology of moody dark tales set in a city exploring different facets of urban life. We started meeting people with these stories but made no headway. Annup and I had last worked on daily soap called Shanti many moons ago and we used to meet on and off and he would rib me on how we have never worked again. We also go to the same gym and one day I pitched one of the tales from this anthology to him and he was a little taken aback by its content. I then pitched Level 13 to him and he loved it from the word go. Annup was also excited at the thought of playing Rohit, a smooth talking glib cad, which is quite opposite to his serious nice guy image. Sandhya came in next. Again, a dear friend, she read it and discussed her character Priya, at length before giving it a nod. I started scouting for a producer as Level 13 was an expensive short to self-fund and I knew nothing on how to monetize it frankly. Spoke to many producers, did the rounds, but nothing came out of it. A couple showed interest but it fizzled out. I got busy with advertising again and the project went onto the back burner. Then I met Annup once again sometime this year and he chided me for not trying hard enough to make it. He said, just make it, we’ll all pitch in and help and make it happen. So that was that. It was decided. I spoke to Swati and Rajev, both friends, who read the script and came on board as Sonal and Akash, knowing the terms. All my leads did it for a token fee. I pulled favors left, right and center and we shot it over two days at a really nice location that worked well for the script. The night we were to shoot the outdoor sequence, it started raining cats and dogs and the weather report showed that it was going to rain non-stop for the next few days. So the next morning we shot the car sequence indoor on a green screen. Making Level 13 was great fun and it is gratifying that even as we go to press, we have to date, 12 Official Selection Nominations and 8 Winner Awards. I now feel I should have made it last year and not waited a year to go through this amazing experience of making your own film. In fact, I already know what I want to do next, my next set of stories from the Anthology.
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