Shoojit Sircar’s recent film, I Want To Talk, is the true story of US-based marketing whiz Arjun Sen who was given just 100 days to live, but 21 life-altering surgeries and 10,000-plus days later, the cancer survivor is still inspiring many with his wise speak, “Cancer can impact my body, but never my mind.” The director is quick to point out that while the story is Sen’s, his film is from the point of view of his daughter, Reya, who since she was five-and-a-half, has been raising her father.
Was Shoojit raised by his two daughters too? “No, I was raised by my wife Jhuma,” he laughs, but admits daughters grow up to become referees who comment on and judge you. “Mine have always had strong voices and opinions. You can’t manipulate them with words, they won’t listen beyond a point.”
Koyna, 22, is studying design and music. Her interest in music developed soon after she shifted to Kolkata, but it was only during the Covid-19 pandemic, when they were home for months together, that Shoojit suggested his daughter who had accompanied him on the Sardar Udham shoot, try her hand at composing. She went on to do the background score of I Want to Talk with George Joseph. His younger daughter, Anannya, 18, is studying sociology, but also doing workshops on her own. Ask him if either will follow in his footsteps and he exclaims, “I have no idea!”
However, both grew up watching films, from the animated Moana and Inside Out to Little Women, Ray and some Bengali films. “Koyna was once entranced by Satyajit Ray’s musical fantasy Goopy Gyne Bagha. Of late, it’s Oppenheimer and other (Christopher) Nolan films,” he informs. Amongst his films, they are only now watching and relating to the earlier ones, like Yahaan and Madras Café. “But both loved Sardar Udham and Anannya also likes October.”
Since they were home during the pandemic and heard him talk to Arjun Sen all the time, he shared the I Want to Talk script with them. “They offered their inputs, some of which I incorporated, and laughed at me for making another father-daughter film to ‘talk’ to them,” he chuckles, admitting that during the lockdown, he realised the biggest mistake parents make is lecturing their children, constantly repeating themselves and reminding them of something they told them just the previous day. “I keep making the mistake, but try to correct myself now.”
Still from I Want To Talk |
Shoojit was working a lot when his daughters were growing up and missed out on some of their landmark moments. Now, he senses some resentment which has percolated down from Koyna to Anannya. “They are not as vocal as Reya who tells Arjun he doesn’t know her at all, but it comes through occasionally in conversations,” he shares.
It was tougher for Arjun, he acknowledges, since he was co-parenting Reya and she had to shuttle between two homes. While she resented this, she also knew if her parents stayed under one roof, it would be a nightmare. Divorce is hard on children, Shoojit concedes, remembering the many questions he had to answer from both Pearle Dey and Ahilya Bamroo, who play the younger and the older Reya in the film, since they hadn’t faced such a situation personally and didn’t understand the emotions it evokes.
He points to an emotional scene where Reya, overhearing some people say her father was doing drama, stomps home and asks Arjun if he has been lying about his surgery and to show her his scars. “The scene portrays the changing dynamics in their relationship, but when I discussed the scene with Pearle, she couldn’t understand why Reya was so angry and insulted, pointing out she had never asked her father if he had lied to her,” reminisces Shoojit, who did some Zoom sessions with the little girl and his assistant some workshops, finally getting her to act hard and strong in that moment by telling her since she’s the only woman in the house and so has to be both mother and father to her baba. “And with that we got a killing look from those expressive eyes,” chuckles the director who’s faced his share of uncomfortable questions from his daughters, but never shied away from answering them straight.
Shoojit with Anannya and Koyna |
Both Koyna and Anannya love Abhishek Bachchan as Arjun Sen, and approved of Shoojit opting for new faces to play Reya, after giving a break to Minissha Lamba, Ayushmann Khurrana, Yami Gautam, Raashi Khanna and Banita Sandhu in Yahaan, Vicky Donor, Madras Café and October. “They were really excited about Ahilya who’s a social media star with her funny reels and insta posts. Pearle too they liked, but wondered if she was always so stern. I had to remind them that they are stern with me too, all the time,” he guffaws.
One of his most acclaimed films is the 2016 legal thriller Pink, which made “no means no” the catchphrase of the nation. Shoojit, the creative producer and presenter, who also wrote the story with director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and Ritesh Shah, recalls sitting the across the table from the latter while penning the courtroom scenes, the two of them constantly probing and questioning each other, the way the three girls are in court while facing charges of prostitution and attempted murder.
“Today, when I look back, I’m glad I didn’t show what happened inside the room at the beginning of the film. As a result, everyone, even women, doubted the girls, right up to the end when the truth was finally out. Pink empowered young girls to fight back and opened the minds of parents to their daughters’ right to live their lives their way. Of course, we will always worry about them, that’s lifelong, like the transition from a lecturing parent to an accepting friend,” he concludes with a smile.
