While making ‘Bombay Talkies’ with three other
directors, Dibakar Bannerjee has gone through the most fun experience of
his life. And he dreads leaving it behind.
Sighs the successful auteur, “When again would I get the chance to
work so closely with three of my friends Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar and
Karan Johar? We were constantly in each other’s space enjoying each
other’s works more than our own. Not only did we make these four films
together we also promoted and marketed the finished product together.
There was no sense of competition, only deep kinship.”
Tell him that his film has been most deeply appreciated of the
films comprising ‘Bombay Talkies’ and Dibakar brushes off the
compliment, “I am too close to my own work to judge its value. But my
favourite film of the omnibus is Karan Johar’s. Not only has he yanked
himself out of his comfort zone he has made sure that he hasn’t
compromised on the telling of his story. I’ve seen the response to the
gay kiss in his film. There’s pindrop silence. The audiences are
stunned.”
About the presence of an Emu as a pivotal character in his film
Dibakar laughs, “That was an idea given to me by two documentary
filmmakers who helped me with the film. You see, Emu farming was a major
enterprise in innumerable households across Maharashtra and other
states some 4-5 years ago. It ruined so many families. The emu in
Nawazuddin’s home is symbolical of his wasted life.”
Filled with praise for Nawazuddin’s performance Dibakar says, “I
wanted to work with him for the longest time. For many years he had made
a habit of doing brilliant cameos in film after film. For my film the
biggest compliment Nawaz got came from Anurag Kashyap. After seeing my
film Anurag said, ‘Yeh Nawaaz hai?’ He is just unrecognizable in every
character he plays.”
Dibakar urgently needed Ranbir to make a cameo appearance in
‘Bombay Talkies’. “I needed him for one shot. But it was impossible to
get his time. He was shooting far away for his film ‘Besharam’. Ranbir
and I both want to work together. And it will happen soon.”
At the moment Dibakar is a hands-on producer for his erstwhile
assistant Kanu Behl’s film ‘Titli’ which Dibakar and Yashraj films are
co-producing together.
“I am not thinking of directing another film at the moment. I just
want the out-of-the-box experience of ‘Bombay Talkies’ to get optimum
viewership,” says Dibakar hopefully.
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