As a producer, Shoojit Sircar believes in giving chance to young directors with fresh ideas. His forthcoming film is Running Shaadi.Com, directed by Amit Roy. He chats with Divya Kaushik
As is said that only you know where exactly the shoe bites, likewise, only a director who has gone through the grilling procedure of filmmaking in shoestring budget would know how important it is to understand the nuances of production. Shoojit Sircar has been co-producing films with Ronnie lahiri under the banner Rising Sun Films and in 2012 he produced a Bengali film called Aprajita Tumi. After his last directorial venture Madras Café, the filmmaker again took over the role of producer for Amit Roy’s film Running Shaadi.Com. The director says that it is very important for a director to understand the process of filmmaking from scratch and to know the details on the budget that you will be working on, the restrictions and liberties that come with it, being a producer helps. “It has been happening in our industry and it happens in Hollywood too. Controlling cost of production is the key to the success of any film. So involving yourself with the details related to budget helps the director plan his film well. In short, the experience of being a producer is surely required in our industry. Moreover, our industry is going through a change, there are so many young directors coming up with different stories so we need producers to help them convert those interesting ideas and concepts into films. The audience choice has evolved manifold and thanks to that, filmmakers have an option to make every kind of film. For example, when I used to earlier think of making the films I used to get jittery thinking that for how long will I be able to make similar kind of hero-villain stories. But times changed and today there is scope for every kind of story in Bollywood. So we should have more producers for producing that variety,” he said.
Shoojit added that he still is learning the intricacies of the filmmaking business and is more involved as a creative producer. “Ronnie is more concerned with the marketing and business side of it. I am involved at the scripting and casting level and often share my experiences with the directors but it is up to them how much they want to take it. I feel Ronnie and I are like a perfect team and we have not done any disaster so far, so I assume we are doing okay,” he smiled.
Running Shaadi.Com is a rom-com set in Punjab. Amit is a cinematographer-turned director, who has worked with Shoojit on many ad films. He has also worked as a cinematographer for Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar and Rohan Sippy’s Dum Maaro Dum. “He came up with this story and I was interested in this sweet, small-town love story. I am more comfortable working with friends and people I know. In a creative space it is also important that you understand each other’s mindsets. I knew Amit and his work since long and thought we can together come up with a good film,” shared Shoojit about the film, which has Amit Sadh and Taapsee Pannu in the lead roles. There were rumours that Shoojit’s film Hamara Bajaj has been renamed as Running Shaadi.Com, so the director and producer clarified that “the title of Hamara Bajaj will change but Running Shaadi.Com is a different film.”
Shoojit feels that as a producer he prefers stories that are out-of-the-box. He considers a director’s devotion towards the film and keeps in mind that “it is not a big budget film but a project where there is sure shot recovery of the production cost.” On his fascination with simple stories he said, “I have grown up watching Bengali films and movies by Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee have been my favourite. So I like making the kind of movies that I would like to watch. Vicky Donor was a high concept story but the treatment was simple, it was about common people. I belong to small town, relate to those stories and therefore enjoys making and being associated with them.”
The director will announce his next directorial venture early next year.