Herald Café: ‘Barfi’ had been delayed
because it was shot in the spaces provided during the shooting of Imtiaz Ali’s
Rockstar. Now, ‘Jagga Jasoos’ is being shot in-between the schedules for Bombay
Velvet. Is this a testament to your sheer patience or your affinity towards
Ranbir (Kapoor)?
Anurag Basu: It is just a natural process.
If the release of one film gets delayed, then the following film gets delayed.
Bombay Velvet was supposed to release by now but it has been delayed as well.
So I’m taking it easy. If my film is going to get released after three months
of Bombay Velvet, I’m taking it as it comes. Also, Ranbir is a friend and his
career is very important to me. There are actors who have cut their hair to
suit the look of their character and so on…so you cannot just switch from one
film to another in one day. It is all a chain reaction.
HC: In 2013, Bollywood produced multiple
movies on a similar topic. Now in 2014, most directors, including you, are
working on detective films. Is this a pattern that Bollywood is consciously
following?
AB: It is very uncanny, you know. Even now
when I’m thinking what to make next, I’m sure one or two more people will be
thinking on the same lines. It always happens. I don’t what the science is
behind it. It also happens with literature, multiple authors are writing
similar kind of stuff.
HC: Does that also carry the risk of
another filmmaker including the same aspects of the topic that you may want to
add in your film?
AB: When I sit back and think on what I
want to see as a part of the audience, that is what I make. Other filmmakers
may or may not come to the same conclusion as I do. It is a risk, but then,
‘detective films’ is not a topic, but a genre…one which has not been attempted.
And we all think that we should attempt it. When I started with Jagga Jasoos, I
knew Dibakar (Banerjee) was ready with his script (Byomkesh Bakshi). It did not
stop me from attempting it. Maybe each film will be different because we are
different filmmakers.
HC: You have expressed a strong desire to
make a film on Kishore Kumar with Ranbir. How are you preparing for the biopic?
AB: I cannot shoot the Kishore Kumar biopic
the way Jagga Jasoos is being shot; in-between the schedules of other movies.
That’s how Jagga Jasoos was produced first, else I would have been shooting
‘Kishore’ right now. ‘Kishore’ needs a dedicated time frame of 6-7 months with
the entire cast and crew. I am more prepared with the biopic than I am with Jagga.
I have done a lot of research on Kishore Kumar and I personally know the
family. We all knew him from his interviews, photographs, etc but I am trying
to understand the kind of person he was. Everybody had their own perception of
Kishore Kumar. So it was a little difficult.
