Celebrated filmmaker Shoojit Sircar known for his poignant narratives like Piku and October, delves yet again into the dynamics of father-daughter relationship in his new film I Want to Talk with Abhishek Bachchan in the lead. Like his other films, Sircar says, this is also a documentation of real situations that we may come across in our everyday life, however, inspired by his friend Arjun Sen's memoir, Raising A Father. The film chronicles the inspiring journey of Sen, a United States-based marketing virtuoso-turned-motivational speaker from fatal diagnosis to surviving all odds. "This is one of my friend's stories, again a very slice-of-life situation where relationship matters, where sometimes we regret that we couldn't communicate, we regret we didn’t talk our heart out. It is all these moments of our entire life stitched together and that is documented in the film," says Sircar.
Elaborating further, he says, "Arjun Sen [played by Abhishek] is a very dear friend of mine I have known for about five years. He lives in Houston, he is an NRI, an IIT-ian living in the US for 30 to 35 years. When he told me about his journey some time in 2020, what he has gone through in his relationships, about his wife, his daughter, it triggered me that this kind of survival story where we get demoralized with small things in our life, needs to be addressed. It is a story of resilience and tenacity; it is like a daughter raising a father. I smiled at his courage; I laughed at some of the medical incidents that had happened in his life. I was also in a bit of wonder and it made me think about my relationship with my daughter and also the fact that we as men are a little less expressive than women. All that played in my head and I wanted to put it out."
For Sircar, this was not just a film about illness, but one about living life fully, even in the face of hardship. "I laughed every day and with every scene because of the way Abhishek brought this character to life. The character has a good sense of humour and so does Abhishek. So that wittiness, a bit of silliness, foolishness, talking bull-shit ..all that Abhishek did matched well with my friend and the character," says the director. Abhishek’s role, according to Sircar, is a tribute to human spirit and the way we can find strength even in the most difficult circumstances. Speaking about the film, Shoojit revealed a conversation he had with Abhishek during the shoot, where the actor, in character as Arjun Sen, shared a deeply poignant line: "I am now married to cancer, so now I have to take it with me." This raw, yet uplifting, perspective encapsulated the essence of Sen's journey—one of acceptance, strength, and resilience in the face of an inevitable fate.
Sircar shared a deep bond with his Piku actor Irrfan Khan and he often speaks about his sense of loss and grief with Khan's death. "Whenever I'm writing a script I remember Irrfan, he is always there in my thoughts. I told Abhishek that it would have been Irrfan [in the lead] otherwise and that he was in Irrfan's shoes. On this Abhishek told me not to threaten him or put pressure on him, instead I told him I wasn't threatening but was giving him a lot of inspiration," says Sircar who constantly discussed junior Bachchan with the film's writer Ritesh Shah at the time of scripting. “We started writing the film sometime in 2021 and we always had Abhishek in mind and when I offered him the role Abhishek was in awe, he was absolutely grateful for that. There are also many factors that worked in my favour casting him because he, too, is a father of a daughter, he is an experienced family man and he can play 40–45-year-old character. He also wanted to play his age. Thirdly, he has studied in the US where the film is placed, so the mannerisms, the people, the language worked with him," adds the director.
So, what were the instructions given to Abhishek to play the part? "I just told him to inhale and exhale, there were not many preparations required and we just had conversations. There was no workshop or script reading. He is very good at remembering his lines like his father [Sircar has directed senior Bachchan in Piku, Gulabo Sitabo, and Shoebite which never got released]. But I felt very clearly while shooting with him that he is so much like his mother Jaya. He has got a lot of her in him - his stare, his looks, his eyes are so much like Jaya-ji. Whenever he was comfortable, I shot that scene in that zone," he says, further adding, "More than an actor for me I want a good person to be with and I found him to be an extremely warm human being. He also related his relationship with his daughter and that helped me a lot because the scenes were built around daughter and father in such a way where we all face similar kinds of situations and we don’t know how. That played a very strong role and, in that sense, naturalism came out of him, it looks very realistic."
This brings us to the controversy surrounding junior Bachchan's marital life. Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai have been making news of late due to rumours about their separation. While neither has spoken about it, it is believed that they might have parted ways. When asked what was the actor’s state of mind while working in the film, Sircar says, “All that never affected him. Rumour is always a rumour and all that never affected our work, or on sets. Abhishek is very fond of his family, his wife and daughter. People can talk about anything; they are always interested in other people's lives."
Sircar is back with a release on the big screen after almost six years, his last theatrical release was the Varun Dhawan-starrer October. Later, two of his films, Gulabo Sitabo and Sardar Udham Singh were released on OTT platform. "I wanted to release Gulabo Sitabo and Sardar Udham Singh on the big screen but it was an unfortunate situation then. But I am excited that I could make I Want to Talk the way I visualized it. I am not nervous about releasing my film in theatres in these big blockbuster times. Yes, there was a gap, I try sometimes but things don't work out. Also, I slowed down a little during covid though a lot of people continued working in those times. I will see now if I can work on scripts quickly," says the filmmaker. "For me it is very difficult to combine commerce and my kind of films. I make films at a certain cost where I don’t have to worry too much about the commerce part. My films have a certain kind of commercial value and business that pushes me to do the next film," he further adds.
Going by the current trend of churning out sequels and franchises, Sircar says it doesn't excite him much. "Well, it is a choice of filmmakers. Lot of people have asked me why I can't make sequels of Piku and Vicky Donor but I said, 'No I can't' Once I have made a film on a certain subject, I can't make another one, I don't want to get into that zone again,” he says. Sircar is currently working on a few scripts in the genre of romance, mythology and period drama. "All these films will be talking about strong issues, that is certain," saying so he signs off.
I Want to Talk released in theatres on November 22, 2024. The film also stars Ahilya Bamroo, Jayant Kripalani, Johnny Lever, Naivedhi Pearle Dey and Kristin Goddard and is produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Shoojit Sircar under Rising Sun Films.
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