From stories that emerge from the depths of reality to characters that are drawn from life, Shoojit Sircar’s films depict everyday life like none other
Shoojit Sircar is riding high on the critical and commercial success of his latest venture, October, a film that revolves around the life of a hotel-management intern, who takes care of his comatose colleague unconditionally. The film, made on a modest budget, not only managed to recover its production costs, but was also able to garner high praise for its sensitive subject, from both critics and audiences alike. With this film, Sircar has completed his trilogy on bodily functions and their relationship with life’s purpose. In Vicky Donor, he dealt with the hush-hush issue of sperm donation and how it affects the lives of a young couple. Piku delves deep into a father-daughter relationship, peppered with a liberal dose of toilet humour and jokes about bowel movements. Sicar is also known to throw his weight behind independent films like Pink – a taut courtroom-drama-cum-social-thriller, which prised open prejudices against women in India. The film met with widespread critical acclaim and started a veritable social revolution in the country about women’s safety and rights. His intimate, slice-of-life kind of cinema has been appreciated by both critics and audiences who have showered him with praise, soaring box-office numbers, and a variety of accolades. Today’s Traveller Coffee Table Book 2018 caught up with the exceptional film-maker for valuable insights about his inspiration behind film-making, the nitty-gritty of his craft and his future plans.
The Filmmaker’s Muse When asked about his passion for film-making, Sircar waxed eloquent on the films of Satyajit Ray – the doyen of Bengali cinema, who won global acclaim for his ‘Rare mastery over the art of motion pictures’ and his ‘profound humanism.’ Apart from Ray, documentary films and theatre were the necessary foundation for Sircar, whose films often have a realistic undertone and are shorn of the melodrama for which Bollywood is notorious. “My core training took place not in a film school, but in a theatre group. Act One, a Delhi-based theatre company, taught me about my social surroundings, responsibilities and ethics,” informs Sircar. But since theatre was not a commercially viable option, he turned his attention to documentary film-making. In the 1990s, there were a lot of top-line documentary film-makers creating documentaries on current affairs and social issues, being liberally funded by Doordarshan, the ministry and UNICEF. Sircar reveals, “Because of working for documentaries, I acquired a deep sense of social awareness. I got really interested in telling stories on social taboos.” Sircar’s travel experiences added grist to his mill – travelling the length and breadth of the country brought him closer to multitudes of people and their stories. It’s no wonder that his films derive inspiration from all these aspects. Intimate storylines, realistic treatment, issue-based films are just some of the highlight of his cinema. “Even today,” claims Sircar, “Newcomers who want to work with me are advised to travel all around India, and get inspired by real-life stories.”
Unforgettable Characters When queried about the secret behind his riveting reel characters, whether it’s the lovable neighbourhood boy, Vicky Arora, in Vicky Donor, or the feisty Minal in Pink, all his characters are extremely relatable. Sircar says that he gets inspired from people around him. “Seeing your own family, seeing your friends, seeing the people working around us, and the people who get associated with you in everyday life inspires you to come up with real-life stories. These are the human characters you actually live with. You don’t need anything miraculous,” says Sircar. All his films, says Sircar, are rooted in real life – experiences he has had, people he has met or encounters he has faced. “All these stories are inspired by real life – all that we have seen and felt and lived with.” Continuing, the maverick filmmaker says, “If you see Pink, the three girls are actually representative of any girl in Delhi who can walk out of office and can get into a situation like the one shown in the film. Piku and Vicky Donor are also very real. They give you glimpses of the city of Delhi – areas such as Lajpat Nagar or Darya Gunj are rendered as they actually are. Madras Café is about power politics and its impact on human life. We have shown, in realistic terms, the long-drawn civil strife and the chaos in Jaffna. Finally, October too, was a very personal film. I have worked in a hotel industry, and my mother was also comatose for almost two months. So, I can deeply relate to what Varun Dhawan’s character goes through.”
Life outside Films Despite his passion for film-making, Sircar says he has a life outside celluloid. From sports to spirituality, he straddles the worlds of physical fitness and inner rejuvenation with equal ease. “My entire day is spent in a lot of sports activities. Even my Twitter handle says that I am basically a sports person. I don’t live in Bombay. I live in Kolkata with my family, and I travel and shuttle between the two cities. I have a very close-knit group of friends, with whom I spend time,” says Sircar.
Future Plans Sircar is upbeat about his future plans for making adventure films and political thrillers. We have already seen his mettle in deftly handling political subjects. But, ancient texts such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana inspire him as well. “I want to do an adventure story, but it would be a more realistic kind of adventure. Scrutinising the Mahabharata or the Ramayana or even the Vedas can be well worth the effort. There is also a lot of adventure there, you see. Mahabharata is a story we all have heard, but there can be multiple interpretations of the same story. I would certainly want to try my hands on that at some point,” concludes Sircar.
