NEW DELHI: For a filmmaker whose movies are a peek into life as it is, Shoojit Sircar says he finds the diversity of the ordinary in India fascinating.
It is this inclination towards the everyday life which makes Sircar return to stories like “Vicky Donor”, “Piku”, “October” or the upcoming “Gulabo Sitabo”, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana as Mirza and Banke.
“I am really influenced by normal, simple, everyday life and people, like the Biji and Dolly in ‘Vicky Donor’, who used to drink and say whatever they felt like. These characters were so lively. I have seen these people around me.
“I feel I am like them, even in my social media posts. I observe them, pick up notes and moments to make a film out of it,” the director said in an interview over phone from Kolkata.
“Gulabo Sitabo”, about a landlord and tenant set in old Lucknow, follows these two characters, living a hand-to-mouth existence while trying to outfox each other.
The film, Sircar said, is populated by many outstanding characters, played by Vijay Raaz, Brijendra Kala, veteran actor Farukh Jaffer and Shrishti Srivastava.
“I call it an ensemble cast or the world of ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ which is about the lifestyle of my characters. I just go and sit there in a corner and observe these characters through my camera. That’s how I shot the film. These actors feel like people picked up from real life,” he said.
The uncomplicated way of looking at people appears even in the main story of Mirza and Banke whose conflict has no religious angle though they come from different faiths as, according to the filmmaker, most of the people in India coexist peacefully. (AGENCIES)
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