Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Dibakar Banerjee describes himself as a loner who was never part of any club and thanks “Bombay Talkies” for helping him enter an exclusive club. He says the film is a “tribute” to Indian cinema as it is today.
A compilation of four short films celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema, “Bombay Talkies” has three more segments by Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar.
The director of hits like “Khosla Ka Ghosla”, “Lucky Oye!Oye Lucky” admits working on the project was a “very good experience”.
“I feel that I have been given entry into an exclusive club. I always had a lonely existence…was never part of any club. My films did my work for me,” Banerjee told IANS in an interview.
“But this invitation to do a film with Anurag, Zoya and Karan gave me the satisfaction of that nice exclusive club. I feel privileged and kicked about it,” he said.
However, the director hasn’t tried to pay a tribute to the 100 years of cinema. Instead, he has captured the essence of current filmmaking scenario for future generations.
“I didn’t even try to pay a tribute. I made a film that I wanted to do…If someone sees this film 10 years from now, it will show how cinema is today. I think that is the best way of paying tribute,” he said.
His segment is not a tearjerker, Banerjee clarified, adding: “It’s an emotional film. It’s about a common man who has been a failure, gets one chance to succeed and how he succeeds. You want him to succeed, and when he succeeds, you are surprised.”
The filmmaker, who has managed to carve a niche for himself with experimental movies like “Love Sex Aur Dhokha”, feels his films have “stood apart” not because “I wanted to stand apart…It is because I have been myself”.
“I have made films, which I wanted to make. I wanted to reach out to the Indians and talk to them about our culture, society and problems,” he explained.
While making his segment for “Bombay Talkies”, he was not trying to compete with anyone.
“How will you compete with Zoya, Anurag and Karan? They are so good at what they are doing. The best way to stand with them is to be yourself,” Banerjee said.
The short films are their own creative endeavours, and no one influenced them to make these movies, he said.
“If I had been influenced, I would have been influenced much earlier. For this film, we were making our own films. If we are ourselves, we knew that was the best way to make the film,” he said.
(Anjuri Nayar can be contacted at [email protected])
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