Director Srijit Mukherjee, talks with Subhash K Jh, about his debut film, Autograph, which released in 2010.
How do you recall your directorial debut in Autograph?
Oh, extremely fondly. I remember I had met Nandana Sen in Bangalore for a play and then we started chatting and she asked me about my favourite Satyajit Ray film and the conversation moved to Naayak and then I told her I have a script and then she wanted to hear it.
And then?
And then we spent almost the whole night sitting at the coffee shop of Leela in Bangalore discussing the script of Autograph and that that is how things started and obviously finally people came on board one by one and very very fondly. You know Autograph has taught me something .
What is that?
That irrespective of whatever the market wants or whatever the condition of the film industry is or whatever whatever your circumstances are , you should always listen to your heart and you should do things on your own terms and eventually everything will come together.
You recently had a health scare, are you fully recovered?
Yes, absolutely fully recovered.
How do you rate Autograph among your work?
Well, definitely I would keep it in my top 10 but possibly not in my top 5. Maybe I would have done something about the wig Nandana wears in the film within a film you know possibly give her a different wig.
The film is hugely influenced by Satyajit Ray’s Naayak?
Huge because Satyajit Ray… I mean if you’re growing up in Bengal and you’re interested in films there’s no way you can avoid his influence because he’s an institution. I mean if other filmmakers are textbook you know textbooks on filmmaking he’s an entire library you know there are sections and eyes dedicated to production design, costume design, handling of actors, dialogue writing, editing, use of music so incredible influence and of course there are other filmmakers who I look up to but too many to name.
Was it daunting directing Prosenjit in your first film?
Well, not really because you know I had written the script keeping Prosenjit in mind so it wasn’t daunting actually. I somehow approached him in a very matter-of-fact manner and he also could I guess sense that the script was different, something historic was beckoning so he also never made me feel intimidated or you know kind of he didn’t act like the superstar that he was.
Your next?
My next film is Lawho Gouraanger Naam Re, which is a kind of a biopic of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told through three stories one each from the 21st century, 19th century and the 15th century. Apart from that I have a political drama called Winkle Twinkle coming up and then of course there is another historical film which I’m prepping called Emperor Vs Sarachandra on the occasion of Sarachandra Chattopadhyay’s 150th birth anniversary and his iconic novel Pothir Dabi’s centenary.
