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| "You can fight critics but not the audience" - Sujoy Ghosh |
| By Joginder Tuteja, December 19, 2005 - 04:26 IST |
| Harsh as it may sound but Bollywood has traditionally been notorious for changing fortunes every Friday. Sujoy Ghosh was the hottest discovery post 'Jhankaar Beats' when multiplex boom had just begun, but post 'Home Delivery' things have taken a different turn. IndiaFM gets into a heart-to-heart conversation with the young director to know more about what went wrong. What was in your mind when you went ahead with Home Delivery? I attempted doing something different in the realms of commercial cinema but the outcome didn't turn out to be as expected. But it's OK, after all you need to put your neck on the block as a film maker. With Jhankaar Beats also it was the same thing. I tried creating a commercial product on a new format. But with Home Delivery it didn't work. The best way is to move ahead and learn from your mistakes else there is no excitement left. I am not going to give it up. See, there is no magic formula that can guarantee a box office success. Always make a film in which you believe in and you think is right. Clichd as it may sound, but what went wrong with Home Delivery? I believe that format-wise and technically the movie was quite superior. Unfortunately the movie turned out to be complicated as an end product. But I still feel that it was better than Jhankaar Beats! Are you serious? Yes, I am! And I know that many may not agree with it. See, it was tough to make something like Home Delivery. In fact every step was a challenge. Here we were trying to do everything different from Jhankaar Beats and trying to make a conscious effort at that. We didn't want anything to be similar, be it editing, cinematography, acting, music, just about everything. We were constantly setting benchmarks and now we are proud of the fact that Home Delivery had an original screenplay. After all we brought in Santa Claus in Diwali! When I look back, everything fitted in well individually but the final product didn't turn out to be the way it should have. Having said that I enjoyed every minute of making the film and everyone worked hard on it. What could have worked better? Maybe the story could have been simplified as it was complicated. [Says in a lighter tone] Maybe add some English in the narrative! You come across as quite brave when it comes to accepting facts about your movie's result at the box office. You can fight critics but not the audience. No matter how intelligent or clever you are, ultimately its the audience which is the decisive factor. The last thing that I can do is to cheat myself! One good thing that came out of the movie was a new look Mahima. Yes definitely. Before Home Delivery happened, no one believed that Mahima could do comedy but see now. And why just Mahima, all the actors in the movie have been mind-blowing, be it Ayesha, Boman, Tiku Talsania, Saurabh Shukla. I would want to work with them again. In fact Viveik was astoundingly good as the entire movie was riding on him. Was there any constructive review or comment that you truly appreciated? See a review just talks about good or bad, though I have been told that the story was a little too layered and I completely agree to that. When I go to a theatre as an audience, I want to enjoy rather than trying to be clever! Also, I believe length was an issue and things went wrong at the scripting stage. Quite true. Arif Zakaria's P3P character just didn't fit in with the story. Completely agree, and I am guilty of that. His character was supposed to be a catalyst who joins in the sequences together but that didn't come across on screen. Post Home Delivery, how does the industry perceive you? It is too early to say that. Nothing drastic has happened. Meanwhile I am gearing up for my next outing that is going to be a children's film. |
Bhabhi Ji Ghar Pe Hain?
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