Director Shekhar Kapoor returns to one of his most famous stories with “Masoom: The Next Generation,” but the upcoming film isn’t designed to be a nostalgia-driven visit to the past. Instead, Kapoor attempts to build a deeply emotional story about migration, torn families, identity, and the search for belonging in an ever-changing world.
The project has now gained another major creative collaborator. Academy Award-winning composer AR Rahman has officially come on board to not only compose the music, but also co-produce the film.
AR Rahman takes part in the production of the classic film
According to Variety India, Shekhar Kapoor revealed that Rahman’s involvement developed unexpectedly after the music legend heard the script and instantly connected with the story. “I’m going to film it this year. I shot it and wrote it.
AR Rahman is co-producing the film with me. He heard the script and asked me: Can I participate in producing it? And we said, “Let’s do it.” We’ve already recorded one song, and now we’re on the second.
Rahman Society is immediately upgrading the project, keeping in mind his legacy of creating memorable music for films like ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’, ‘Lagaan’, ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.For Kapoor, the collaboration became much more meaningful when Rahman decided to invest creatively outside of music.
“When Rahman said he would produce it, I felt amazing. To have a producer who is one of the greatest musicians of our time,” he said.
Why does music remain central to Shekhar Kapur’s novel?
The director also spoke about the emotional role music plays in cinema, admitting that songs and musical scores often drew him towards filmmaking in the first place. “I love music. I think one of the reasons I love making films is because I not only love the songs, I love the background music as well,” Kapoor explained.
Masoum returns, but with a different emotional lens
Released in the 1980s, ‘Masoom’ has become one of the most loved family dramas in Indian cinema. Adapted from Eric Segal’s film Man, Woman and Child, the film featured Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi and explored how a family reacts when a man brings his son from an extramarital affair into their lives. The film’s emotional honesty, coupled with memorable songs like ‘Tujhse Naraz Nahi Zindagi’, made it a timeless classic. The new film is expected to bring Shah and Azmi together as they are introduced
Manoj Bajpayee
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Nithya Menen
And Kaveri Kapoor in important roles.Kapoor explained that “Masoom: The Next Generation” is not a traditional sequel, but rather an extension of the emotional themes that are still relevant today. “My next film is a sequel, more or less, to what I call a sequel to ‘Infallible.’ But for every film, I have to find my source.According to the director, the inspiration came from observing how migration has shaped countless Indian families over generations.
“Ninety percent of India’s population has moved; we are largely immigrants in one way or another. My parents are immigrants. They were uprooted during Partition. Everyone has moved from here to there,” Kapoor said. He compared this emotional displacement to images of turtles carrying their homes wherever they go.“So the question is: Have we become like turtles? Some have moved from rural landscapes into an urban environment. Others from urban cities have gone abroad. We have become like turtles.”
“Then we crawl into our shell and make it a home,” he added. The director explained that the crux of the story lies in examining what people really mean when they talk about “home.” The emotional conflict, according to Kapoor, arises from the way families slowly separate while fighting over property, inheritance and identity.He said: “When does your house become a home? When does your house become property, and when does this property become real estate? It is the story of the homeland and what it means.”
Kapoor also linked these themes to classics like Deewar, noting how uprooted lives often form the most powerful emotional narratives. “In a way, Salim-Javed also discovered this in Deewar. Who are you when you are uprooted?” He pointed out.
Shekhar Kapur’s innocence as a director
While revisiting a beloved classic comes with expectations, Kapoor admitted that his real struggle was reconnecting with the innocence he had while making the original film decades ago.
He admitted, “They are the same actors and I am the same, but my struggle in writing is how do I become naive again? It is naive again to rediscover this story without being Shekhar Kapoor, this well-known director. I had no idea that ‘Masoom’ would become this big.”The director concluded by talking about his deep emotional relationship with the actors and how this relationship shapes his storytelling process. “I think the ability I have is to be able to love actors. I think my love for actors is what makes my films. That’s why I’m afraid to work with actors who are not ready to fall in love with what they do,” Kapoor said.With “Masoom: The Next Generation,” Shekhar Kapoor seems less interested in recreating a classic film and more focused on revisiting timeless questions about family, roots, and emotional belonging.