Shoojit Sircar replies if the Piku of Deepika Padukone, Rana d'Irrfan, has never married; where they would be 10 years after the release: “his son would be constipated” | Bollywood News

It is on my platform, but half loaded. I watched half weeks at only three weeks. I'm still going to watch it in the rooms now.

Are you able to view it objectively now?

With Piku, I detached myself a little. There are little craft problems. There are places where I think now that I could have slowed down a little. Some conversations have been cut on the mounting table because you still have a duration problem. We have debated a lot if we have to go with the cup with an additional 15 minutes of sequences, where the conversations were a little more advanced. Given the love that the film has had, I now want to come back to this cup or release the cutting scenes.

The film has matured. Especially during Cavid, when there was a lot of solitude, Piku became a comfort film. The reactions have changed. He went from a comedy to a slice of life. The people who saw it then have 10 years older, so their prospects have also changed. It has therefore become more organic and real now than fiction. It's like everyone's story.

Irrfan Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone on the Piku sets.

It is logical that you say that he matured during the pandemic. Because we were dealing with many themes that you tackled in the film, like returning to the roots or care. The care of care was a crucial leitmotif in your filmography, from Piku, October (2018) to I Want to Talk (2024). Why do you think it is?

I never thought about it. But geriatrics has become a phenomenon in medical science now. People now know that there are geriatricians. Somewhere, care has become a necessity. With the children who leave the houses and that leading us ambitious lives, we must keep a balance between the roots and the ambition. This is also what Piku was trying. She also wanted to get out of it. She was also frustrated and in distress. But she chose this particular path to be with her father as much as she can. This is not what everyone does, but it is part of everyone's life.

Juhi Chaturvedi (screenwriter) told me that you also chose the path of care. Do you think it reflects in Piku?

When we wrote, we were both dealt with with our own problems. And it was definitely reflected in Piku. Sometimes, the service provision also comes from the guilt that we have not done enough.

Is guilt still there or are you at peace now?

No, I did my best, but guilt is still there. But you have to compromise for where you are in life now. You cannot come back to repair it, but you can make sure that it does not happen again.

Is Piku a way to tell us to do what you couldn't?

I think that's what the movies should do. I discover something new in the films of Satyajit Ray now that what I did when I watched them when I was 24 or 25 years old. Or when I watch Meghe Dhaka Tara of Ritvik Ghatak (1960), the family dynamic was so different in this film. The films affect you in different ways at different times.

The director of Piku Shoojit Sircar Director Deepika Padukone, Amicitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan.

You had already made Shoebit, a film with Amitabh Bachchan, which has never seen the light of the day. How much was you relieved when Piku came out in theaters?

When I had a moment, I said to God, “Thank you for realizing it.” I finally succeeded in a release with him. Because Shoebit was my first film. He also depended on me, trusted me. And then it's a complete turn. I am grateful to have managed to make three films with him (Piku, Pink and Gulabo Sitabo) and all have released.

You recently said that his character had been shaped on Utpal Dutt. But he already said that he had borrowed his mannerism from his stepfather, Jaya Bachchan's father. Did you know that?

When we wrote, Utpal Dutt was in our heads. But we didn't want it to be so strong. We wanted him to be grumpy because of his age and he is anal about little things. For example, the scene in which he fights unnecessarily with the help of the house. But Mr. Bachchan absolutely designed it by himself. There was no short for him.

Amitabh Bachchan as Bhasker Bannerjee in Piku.

Has Deepika always been the first choice for Piku?

I would always tell Juhi and Ronnie (Lahiri, producer) to write with Deepika in mind. But I did not know if she would work with me, and that too in a film on constipation. There were many other actors we are considering, but Deepika was stuck in my mind. So I said, let me take a chance on this subject. I gave him a five -minute narration, I interpreted the opening scene. She said, “I'm sure! What do you want me to do? ” I said when I read the whole script. She said, “No need, I'm sure!”

How did you visualize Deepika as Piku because she had not made films like that before?

I saw her sparks as a real normal girl from the girl. Of course, she was also this diva, but there were glimpse of Bengaluru. Even in her first film (Om Shanti OM), there was an organic innocence in her eyes, the way she looked, her facial structure. She looked like a bang! And then we gave him the Bindi.

Juhi told me that Deepika felt at home playing Piku. Have you also seen this?

She seemed very relaxed on the set. She did not have the pressure to wear clothes and makeup. There was no vanity as such. She came to me and said to myself, “Dada, should I say these lines? I react just.” We generally added lines, but she wanted us to cut her lines. Later, when she did interviews, she said that she was going through mental health problems, and this film came like beautiful medicine. Because she could be herself. So I imagine that somewhere deep, there is a little piku in her.

Deepika Padukone in and like Piku.

How did you build the romance of Piku and Rana, if I can call it so? Did you categorically tell you that they were or not romantically involved, or were they in the dark as much as we do?

I said Deepika only because Piku was already in a relationship with Jisshu Sengupta. But Irrfan would take a romantic turn, and I would stop it (laughs). When we wrote, Juhi and I were quite clear that there were relationships that are still there, but have no form or definition. I was very clear at the end of the film (Piku and Rana playing badminton). When I think now, where they would be now, I'm sure they wouldn't get married. Rana would be a call to Piku. She can go out with others, but I doubt that Rana with anyone. She would have adopted a son and hired Rana as a civil engineering coach. And the son would be constipated (laughs).

Where do you think Bhasker Banerjee would be now?

He just needs attention, like all the elderly. They fear Ki Ye Mujhe Chhod Ke Chali Jaegi. For my friends who have elderly people at home, YouTube is such a boon! They continue to look at the news and give the politicians in the politicians. I am sure that if Bhasker would be very active on Twitter, responding to each troll.

Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone in a calm of Piku.

Last month, on the occasion of the anniversary of Irrfan's death, you shared that you are missing conversations with him, on life and death. What have you learned about Irrfan's life and death?

His life herself is a lesson, what he experienced. He would be sitting here to talk to me. And in two to three years, he is no longer. It is himself a great lesson for me. We used to talk about Sufism, Rabindranath Tagore, Rumi, Shri Ramakrishna, Socrates and Charles Darwin. We didn't leave anything. He mixed science and spiritualism. He says: “Dada, we should also make Adda with scientists.” He speculated if he would go for regular treatment or another treatment. I never went to London during her treatment. But we spent hours and hours on zoom or phone calls. There was a few days when I had nothing to say, but he wanted to speak. So we talked.

Was he then a different irrfan?

From the irrfan that I knew of Piku, it was obviously much more broken.

Read also – Shoojit Sircar opens with work with Amicitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan in Piku: “ a repetition several times, other blackberries at each grip ''

How often do you remember him now?

His name develops in daily conversations. I say to Juhi and Ritesh (Shah, screenwriter), “Irrfan Nahi Hai Yar” every time we write something. I told Vicky Kaushal and Abhishek Bachchan how they made the roles of Irrfan (in Sardar Udham and I want to speak respectively). And they both played so beautifully. So I think Irfan always inspires us all.