The right direction

After two back-to-back hits "'Vicky Donor' and 'Madras Caf' " Shoojit Sircar has become one of the most popular directors in Bollywood. However, he reveals that being a director was never a part of his plan. He says, "Coming from Kolkata, I always dreamt of being a footballer when I was in school. It was only in college, when I was studying B.Com Honours, that I started assisting backstage in theatre. I began to enjoy watching stories unfold on stage. That somehow got me interested in filmmaking."

While Shoojit's dream of taking up football as a career may not have come true he reveals that he still keeps his passion for the game alive with buddy and producer of his films, John Abraham. He says, "John and I often catch up for a game and both of us are huge fans of football. I feel football is a creative game that requires a superb presence of mind."

His daughters too have taken after their father in their love for sports. Shoojit hopes that they take up sports as their choice of career. Speaking about his family, he says, "My wife and daughters are in Kolkata so I keep shuttling between Kolkata and Mumbai. My daughters, Koena and Ananya, are into tennis and badminton respectively. My wife is a housewife and she is my biggest critic. I definitely take her opinion for all my films." Initially, Shoojit had a hard time convincing his family of his career option. He says, "I gave up MBA to get into films. Coming from a middle class family, that was a big decision. In my growing up days, we didn't even have a TV, so my family was not convinced. I would do some odd jobs like assist on some documentary to earn money while hoping for the right break to come along." The big break happened with Yahaan. His other film Shoebite, unfortunately, is yet to see the light of day. He says, "Shoebite was my dream project. The film is almost ready and I hope UTV does something about it. For a complete outsider in the industry, I feel my journey has been quite interesting. My films are not the kind that one would see at festivals but neither are they fully commercial. I feel I'm somewhere in between but I am happy that the audience has evolved and is open to such kind of cinema."

With some big hits in his kitty the filmmaker has A- list actors wanting to work with him. But like his films, his casting too has been unconventional. In 'Madras Caf', he cast Siddhartha Basu and Piyush Pandey in important roles. He says, "Every Friday you have new films and I feel people want to see new faces. In 'Madras Caf' I needed actors who look convincing as local Tamilians and cabinet ministers," he explains. Ask him what inspires his films and he says, "India is such a diverse country with so many languages but people coexist. I find that fascinating and I like to bring that out in my films. I am also inspired by Satyajit Ray, Oliver Stone and a few European filmmakers."

Speaking about his upcoming films he says, "I'm scripting about three films now; I don't know which one will go on floors first. There's the tentatively titled Hamara Bajaj where I am working with Ayushmann again. Juhi Chaturvedi is also part of the project. So it's back to our 'Vicky Donor' team."