Ashutosh Gowariker: Making 'Mohenjo Daro' was more challenging since it is prehistory

It takes lot of courage and conviction for a filmmaker to take up a subject which has a historical context and reference. When Ashutosh Gowariker decided to make a film based on Indus Valley civilization, the first thing that came to his mind was how to make it interesting for the audience, and secondly, how the audience can relate with it. It goes without saying that Ashutosh is arguably the first filmmaker who has sought to create cinema based on the historic sites of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro.
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'We have to make history interesting and absorbing. You really cannot pick up anything from history just because you want to recreate something. Make sure you present it in an entertaining manner,' says Ashutosh. When asked how he decided to create a story out of several theories on Mohenjo Daro since nothing is known for sure, the director says that he went by the interpretation made by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer who is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. According to Ashutosh, historians come up with different theories on the same subject and the same is with Indus Valley civilization.
Ashutosh spent two years doing research on this subject. He also invited Jonathan Mark Kenoyer to Mumbai. He also invited five other archaeologists from India that included RS Bisht, former director general of the Archaeological Survey of India and Vasant Shinde, professor of South Asian Archaeology. 'They all guided me in my efforts to spin a story out of this subject,' the director was quoted as saying.
When asked what he finds most fascinating about the history of Mohenjo Daro, Ashutosh says that it is interesting to find the way trade was carried out with places as far as Mesopotamia and Egypt. Dholavira was a port where the ships would be docked and the traders moved from there. The director would have us believe that we were, in fact, more advanced than other civilisations.
By his own admission, Ashutosh realised that making Mohenjo Daro was a much bigger challenge than his two previous ventures --- Lagaan and Jhodhaa Akbar --- since it is prehistory.