Sujoy Ghosh’s directorial debut, Jhankaar Beats, a tribute to the legendary R.D. Burman, itself proved that this man has the skills to last long and undeniably create a confabulous impact. With no looking back since then, the renowned filmmaker has made some exceptionally worthy films like Kahaani, Bang Bang, Badla, Lust Stories 2, Blind, and the most recent Jaane Jaan, to name a few, which are way more than just a one-time watch.
Not just these, but his short films like Ahalya and Anukul have also equally enraptured hearts with their filmmaking prowess. As we talk of short films, he was recently a part of Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, discussing cinema. The Pioneer got an opportunity to interact with the adept filmmaker, who feels it’s the content that they advocate, which made him get on board for the initiative. Sujoy, who is very grateful for the journey that he has had, begins, “I remember when I first did my first film with them; there were no restrictions, no requests, no guidelines, no parameters, or any fence. It was just that they wanted to do a short film to promote the format. I think it’s the intention that makes the difference. They intend to create that industry. They intend to promote and invest in that industry. Because it’s a very difficult thing to do, it’s like when you make a short film, it’s out of passion; there is no return from a short film, and you are not getting any money back from a short film. It’s just that passion, which somebody has to say, ‘Okay, here is some money; go and make a short film.’ Good, bad, or ugly—it doesn’t matter. It’s the encouragement; it’s the intent, I think.” He certainly gives us an allusion to his art.
Basically, it depends on the story that he’d be keen to work on. He reads the story, and if that excites the Kahaani filmmaker to invest a year of his life, that is when you have ‘Sujoy Ghosh’ onboard. But there’s something that intrigued us to know: what takes him back to thrillers time and again. Well, again, it’s the story. However, “it doesn’t necessarily have to be a thriller, but coincidentally, there have been a lot of thrillers. For example, the last film that I made was Jaane Jaan. For me, it was a love story. It wasn’t a thriller, despite the fact that people keep telling me it’s a thriller. For me, it never was a thriller.”
He goes on to take us in-depth into his art: “If you are a director, you are more or less led by the script. You have to add a little bit of your vision to the script, but the story is there, the screenplay is there, and the basic roadmap is there. Especially if you have written it yourself, it’s even better, but if somebody else has written it, even then it works because half the work is done, and then it’s just your vision and your thinking about it.”
Well, it’s not just the actors who get affected while playing a dark character, but also the director. At least that’s what we understood during our chitter-chatter. He further enunciates, “Some characters do impact my psyche, while others don’t. I remember we were doing this film called Durga Rani Singh, and it was about a lady who was abused when she was young, and she is still suffering from it. Because one cannot be insensitive to that subject, we did a lot of reading up on victims, and when you read up on it, it affects you. Sometimes things do affect you. It stays inside your head. Sometimes when you write some characters, they tend to—because when you write, you have to get into people’s heads. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get out of that character.”
Again, with narratives or actors like those of Badlapur and Kahaani, he says, “I have written something that looks like the person who is enacting it is very important to me. That’s one—you were asking about my filmmaking process. When I write, I write a character; for me, I need to see at least some of that character in the actor that I am casting. It helps me. When I wrote Badlapur, there was nobody else but Sir (Amitabh Bachchan) in that character. But Kahaani was different. Kahaani was written for Vidya.”
Then there is again how, interestingly, he has essayed the power-play of characters through body language and levels. While it is intriguing for the audience, it’s equally fun to him as well because, he says, “It’s so much more powerful when you actually say something without saying anything. And I try to do it; sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t, but it’s not premeditated. I try as much as possible, but wherever it happens, I fly with it.”
The murder mystery and psychological thriller genres are not explored as much in Bollywood. Here’s a busting of the myth: “I think there is this myth attached to thrillers and these kinds of subjects that purely stems from commerce. People say things like no one will watch such films, or if they watch it once, they won’t watch it again, and it’s a little dark, so it might get an A-certificate. So, a lot of this thinking, which has existed, is due to the commerce of filmmaking. They want a film that people will keep seeing over and over again, but I think that can be achieved with thrillers as well. But I think that mindset is changing now.”
Beyond any doubt, his films do revive genres in Indian cinema. And he agrees too. “If people watch and I manage to make my investors happy, they will be happier to invest in other people’s films. Like, when we first did Kahaani despite many warnings, it opened up to a lot of female-led features, which earlier were a little difficult with a female protagonist. I mean, when I did Ahalya after that, boom, a lot of other people also started doing short films.”
Be it Ahalya, Badla, Kahani, or Jaane Jaa, apart from being a thriller, these films have strong female characters too. Sujoy Ghosh, who slots himself as a commercial filmmaker, and with no two ways about it, signs off the chat by saying, “People keep asking me that, but I honestly don’t know what women they have been with. No, because I have been surrounded by very strong women all my life. I have two mothers, one wife, and one daughter, and they are all very strong, as is my grandmother. I mean, no disrespect to anybody, but these are the women I have been around; I have seen them taking control of life, fighting life, surviving life, and making a life for me. I just emulate that on screen.”
Not just these, but his short films like Ahalya and Anukul have also equally enraptured hearts with their filmmaking prowess. As we talk of short films, he was recently a part of Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, discussing cinema. The Pioneer got an opportunity to interact with the adept filmmaker, who feels it’s the content that they advocate, which made him get on board for the initiative. Sujoy, who is very grateful for the journey that he has had, begins, “I remember when I first did my first film with them; there were no restrictions, no requests, no guidelines, no parameters, or any fence. It was just that they wanted to do a short film to promote the format. I think it’s the intention that makes the difference. They intend to create that industry. They intend to promote and invest in that industry. Because it’s a very difficult thing to do, it’s like when you make a short film, it’s out of passion; there is no return from a short film, and you are not getting any money back from a short film. It’s just that passion, which somebody has to say, ‘Okay, here is some money; go and make a short film.’ Good, bad, or ugly—it doesn’t matter. It’s the encouragement; it’s the intent, I think.” He certainly gives us an allusion to his art.
Basically, it depends on the story that he’d be keen to work on. He reads the story, and if that excites the Kahaani filmmaker to invest a year of his life, that is when you have ‘Sujoy Ghosh’ onboard. But there’s something that intrigued us to know: what takes him back to thrillers time and again. Well, again, it’s the story. However, “it doesn’t necessarily have to be a thriller, but coincidentally, there have been a lot of thrillers. For example, the last film that I made was Jaane Jaan. For me, it was a love story. It wasn’t a thriller, despite the fact that people keep telling me it’s a thriller. For me, it never was a thriller.”
He goes on to take us in-depth into his art: “If you are a director, you are more or less led by the script. You have to add a little bit of your vision to the script, but the story is there, the screenplay is there, and the basic roadmap is there. Especially if you have written it yourself, it’s even better, but if somebody else has written it, even then it works because half the work is done, and then it’s just your vision and your thinking about it.”
Well, it’s not just the actors who get affected while playing a dark character, but also the director. At least that’s what we understood during our chitter-chatter. He further enunciates, “Some characters do impact my psyche, while others don’t. I remember we were doing this film called Durga Rani Singh, and it was about a lady who was abused when she was young, and she is still suffering from it. Because one cannot be insensitive to that subject, we did a lot of reading up on victims, and when you read up on it, it affects you. Sometimes things do affect you. It stays inside your head. Sometimes when you write some characters, they tend to—because when you write, you have to get into people’s heads. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get out of that character.”
Again, with narratives or actors like those of Badlapur and Kahaani, he says, “I have written something that looks like the person who is enacting it is very important to me. That’s one—you were asking about my filmmaking process. When I write, I write a character; for me, I need to see at least some of that character in the actor that I am casting. It helps me. When I wrote Badlapur, there was nobody else but Sir (Amitabh Bachchan) in that character. But Kahaani was different. Kahaani was written for Vidya.”
Then there is again how, interestingly, he has essayed the power-play of characters through body language and levels. While it is intriguing for the audience, it’s equally fun to him as well because, he says, “It’s so much more powerful when you actually say something without saying anything. And I try to do it; sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t, but it’s not premeditated. I try as much as possible, but wherever it happens, I fly with it.”
The murder mystery and psychological thriller genres are not explored as much in Bollywood. Here’s a busting of the myth: “I think there is this myth attached to thrillers and these kinds of subjects that purely stems from commerce. People say things like no one will watch such films, or if they watch it once, they won’t watch it again, and it’s a little dark, so it might get an A-certificate. So, a lot of this thinking, which has existed, is due to the commerce of filmmaking. They want a film that people will keep seeing over and over again, but I think that can be achieved with thrillers as well. But I think that mindset is changing now.”
Beyond any doubt, his films do revive genres in Indian cinema. And he agrees too. “If people watch and I manage to make my investors happy, they will be happier to invest in other people’s films. Like, when we first did Kahaani despite many warnings, it opened up to a lot of female-led features, which earlier were a little difficult with a female protagonist. I mean, when I did Ahalya after that, boom, a lot of other people also started doing short films.”
Be it Ahalya, Badla, Kahani, or Jaane Jaa, apart from being a thriller, these films have strong female characters too. Sujoy Ghosh, who slots himself as a commercial filmmaker, and with no two ways about it, signs off the chat by saying, “People keep asking me that, but I honestly don’t know what women they have been with. No, because I have been surrounded by very strong women all my life. I have two mothers, one wife, and one daughter, and they are all very strong, as is my grandmother. I mean, no disrespect to anybody, but these are the women I have been around; I have seen them taking control of life, fighting life, surviving life, and making a life for me. I just emulate that on screen.”
