All of us have grey shades and I find that aspect in people’s personalities very interesting: Sujoy Ghosh
In a chat with Bombay Times, Sujoy Ghosh talks about movies, his passion for capturing intense conversations between his characters on camera, his comfort with rejection, ideas of revenge and his upcoming film, Badla.
Sujoy, you take your own sweet time to make movies. How do you keep away from the rat race which comes with the territory?
I come from an average middle class family. Mine is not a sob story, but everything in my life has been a struggle and is still a struggle. I don’t expect anything on a platter. I have had to work hard for everything in my life and I am okay with it. I am used to rejection. In fact, I am very good with rejection as I have not tasted success at every step in my life. I had to give tons of interviews before I landed my first job. I wanted to do Computer Science from Manchester University, but I got rejected. But then, I worked hard and got in.
Taapsee Pannu and Amitabh Bachchan in a still from Badla
Sujoy Ghosh
I have always been around capable and strong women, so I feel I know where they are coming from: Sujoy Ghosh
I know this process and I am cool with it so I think that helps me stay sane. I could write a script and I am aware that it may not get made into a film because it could also be a shitty script.
Your films are led by strong female characters. Vidya Balan in Kahaani for instance or Taapsee Pannu in Badla...
I have grown up around strong women. I don’t know if strong is the right adjective, but I have seen my grandmother, then mother controlling and taking charge of our family. Even now my wife takes care of us in a way. I have always been around capable and strong women so I feel I know where they are coming from. Be it Ahalya (his Bengali short film starring Radhika Apte) or Durga (Vidya Balan in Kahaani 2), I have seen such strong women who have influenced me. Even as an individual, I get to learn a lot from Taapsee or a Vidya as people.
As a filmmaker you tend to be intrigued by capturing conversations on camera.
It’s interesting. Why are we talking for the past 10 minutes? There has to be something about this conversation. How do I present this to the audience, who would then be equally interested in knowing what you and I are talking about. That’s the challenge I like. That’s making a thriller out of a normal conversation. I enjoy that and the master of this was Satyajit Ray and Rituparno Ghosh. Their films were about conversations.
Many believe that the best form of revenge is no revenge, instead you just move on. If you were to keep the film aside for a while, what’s your take on revenge?
Interesting question. I live by the Mahabharata. I am not willing to let go of anything without putting up a fight. That’s me. I don’t know if that translates into revenge or confrontation. If somebody has wronged me in life, I will fight back but it also depends on the situation. The question determines the answer. If someone punches me in the face, I will punch him back but it all differs from situation to situation.
Badla is a Hindi adaptation of Spanish film The Invisible Guest. What made you choose this film in particular for a remake?
Initially, I didn’t want to do it. It is Taapsee’s fault (smiles). She kept telling me that it’s interesting. I finally read what was written and felt that I can contribute to it. As a director, I need to know if I can contribute to a certain story. The challenge was to tell something that was already told in a fantastic manner (Spanish original), so how do you top that?
You seem to have a special connect with Mr Bachchan. Is it intimidating to tell him what you (as a director) think he needs to or doesn’t need to do for a particular shot? What’s the process like when you work with him?
I will always draw a line, but he expects you to say what you feel, else you are doing a disservice to your film. If there is anything I don’t agree with, I will always discuss it with sir. That discussion is of utmost importance. I will always voice my concerns or interests to him and sir is very clever. He does control checks to see whether we are sleeping on the set or not (laughs!). He knows exactly what you want to say even when you don’t say it. He has this process of understanding the script over and over again. Once he studies that, he does what he thinks is correct and if that’s okay with me, we go ahead. If not, I explain to him my point of view and if he agrees, we change it. It’s very organic, we discuss and improvise.
You are particularly drawn to layered thrillers, isn’t it?
It’s a coincidence but I do feel I am attracted to stories which are of this nature. Given another story or genre, I think I will be able to tell that too. I started my career with Jhankaar Beats after all. I don’t care about genres as long as it’s exciting enough for me to give nine months of my life to that film. As far as layering is concerned, when I was growing up, everything was very black and white. Hero, heroine, villain... it was all very compartmentalised but as we go through life, you see things about yourself which you didn’t know existed. The good and the bad side. You evolve. When I fight with my wife and think about it later, I feel I am a very bad person but in my head I was right in doing what I did. It all exists within us and that’s how the layering comes. We have different sides to our personality, all of us have grey shades and I find that aspect in people very interesting.
In a chat with Bombay Times, Sujoy Ghosh talks about movies, his passion for capturing intense conversations between his characters on camera, his comfort with rejection, ideas of revenge and his upcoming film, Badla.
Sujoy, you take your own sweet time to make movies. How do you keep away from the rat race which comes with the territory?
I come from an average middle class family. Mine is not a sob story, but everything in my life has been a struggle and is still a struggle. I don’t expect anything on a platter. I have had to work hard for everything in my life and I am okay with it. I am used to rejection. In fact, I am very good with rejection as I have not tasted success at every step in my life. I had to give tons of interviews before I landed my first job. I wanted to do Computer Science from Manchester University, but I got rejected. But then, I worked hard and got in.
Taapsee Pannu and Amitabh Bachchan in a still from Badla
Sujoy Ghosh
I have always been around capable and strong women, so I feel I know where they are coming from: Sujoy Ghosh
I know this process and I am cool with it so I think that helps me stay sane. I could write a script and I am aware that it may not get made into a film because it could also be a shitty script.
Your films are led by strong female characters. Vidya Balan in Kahaani for instance or Taapsee Pannu in Badla...
I have grown up around strong women. I don’t know if strong is the right adjective, but I have seen my grandmother, then mother controlling and taking charge of our family. Even now my wife takes care of us in a way. I have always been around capable and strong women so I feel I know where they are coming from. Be it Ahalya (his Bengali short film starring Radhika Apte) or Durga (Vidya Balan in Kahaani 2), I have seen such strong women who have influenced me. Even as an individual, I get to learn a lot from Taapsee or a Vidya as people.
As a filmmaker you tend to be intrigued by capturing conversations on camera.
It’s interesting. Why are we talking for the past 10 minutes? There has to be something about this conversation. How do I present this to the audience, who would then be equally interested in knowing what you and I are talking about. That’s the challenge I like. That’s making a thriller out of a normal conversation. I enjoy that and the master of this was Satyajit Ray and Rituparno Ghosh. Their films were about conversations.
Many believe that the best form of revenge is no revenge, instead you just move on. If you were to keep the film aside for a while, what’s your take on revenge?
Interesting question. I live by the Mahabharata. I am not willing to let go of anything without putting up a fight. That’s me. I don’t know if that translates into revenge or confrontation. If somebody has wronged me in life, I will fight back but it also depends on the situation. The question determines the answer. If someone punches me in the face, I will punch him back but it all differs from situation to situation.
Badla is a Hindi adaptation of Spanish film The Invisible Guest. What made you choose this film in particular for a remake?
Initially, I didn’t want to do it. It is Taapsee’s fault (smiles). She kept telling me that it’s interesting. I finally read what was written and felt that I can contribute to it. As a director, I need to know if I can contribute to a certain story. The challenge was to tell something that was already told in a fantastic manner (Spanish original), so how do you top that?
You seem to have a special connect with Mr Bachchan. Is it intimidating to tell him what you (as a director) think he needs to or doesn’t need to do for a particular shot? What’s the process like when you work with him?
I will always draw a line, but he expects you to say what you feel, else you are doing a disservice to your film. If there is anything I don’t agree with, I will always discuss it with sir. That discussion is of utmost importance. I will always voice my concerns or interests to him and sir is very clever. He does control checks to see whether we are sleeping on the set or not (laughs!). He knows exactly what you want to say even when you don’t say it. He has this process of understanding the script over and over again. Once he studies that, he does what he thinks is correct and if that’s okay with me, we go ahead. If not, I explain to him my point of view and if he agrees, we change it. It’s very organic, we discuss and improvise.
You are particularly drawn to layered thrillers, isn’t it?
It’s a coincidence but I do feel I am attracted to stories which are of this nature. Given another story or genre, I think I will be able to tell that too. I started my career with Jhankaar Beats after all. I don’t care about genres as long as it’s exciting enough for me to give nine months of my life to that film. As far as layering is concerned, when I was growing up, everything was very black and white. Hero, heroine, villain... it was all very compartmentalised but as we go through life, you see things about yourself which you didn’t know existed. The good and the bad side. You evolve. When I fight with my wife and think about it later, I feel I am a very bad person but in my head I was right in doing what I did. It all exists within us and that’s how the layering comes. We have different sides to our personality, all of us have grey shades and I find that aspect in people very interesting.
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