Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Piku’ marks its 10th anniversary today. Not just this, tomorrow it will be re-released in the theatres, and the director is more than elated about the same. During his exclusive conversation with us, he shared the joy of the movie being loved to date and discussed the key players without whom ‘Piku’ would not have been possible.
The joy of ‘Piku’ turning 10 and re-releasing
“Piku’s re-release is an absolute joy. A joy for one reason, that it’s re-releasing, which I never expected. And secondly, of course, I don’t have any kind of pressure about how many screens or what I have to promote or anything. So I think that it’s such a relaxed, that I’m not really worried or bothered about any commercial technicalities. So that’s giving me more joy. And that’s how the films should be. You should not have any pressure,” said Shoojit Sircar.
The cast that made it all happen
Speaking of a cast that brought sheer talent on the big screen, Shoojit said, “I was really fortunate that I was able to work with such a varied cast, from Mr. Bachchan to Deepika to Irrfan, then Balindra who played Mr Bachchan’s man-Friday, then Moshumiji. I mean, everyone. I didn’t think it was easy for me to think that, you know, I would be able to manage with these varied actors from different genres and different kinds of talent. With their individual excellent craftsmanship.”
I can’t imagine ‘Piku’ without Amitji’Further, discussing each actor in detail, Shoojit Sircar started with Amitabh Bachchan, “He was remarkable in performing and getting it so right. We had done a film together earlier (Shoebite), which unfortunately didn’t release. I can’t imagine ‘Piku’ without Amitji.”
He continued, “I think because of his understanding of the big bulging body of the character, his family, culture, he caught it from the word go. He was like running that show. The way he was performing, the way his nature was, everything was centered around him. So he was the center of attention. He was, you know, his character was the person who was going through all kinds of chaos.”
He added that other actors were simply reacting to Amitabh Bachchan’s performance. “Even Deepika was reacting to him. So it was important for him to give that kind of a brilliant performance so that everybody around him also ingests his performance and character,” he said.
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Speaking of Deepika, he said, the actress was “outstanding.”