By a strange coincidence, two of Shoojit Sircar’s finest works were released on the same date. While Vicky Donor was released on April 20, 2012, Shoojit’s October was released five years later on the same date.
Says Shoojit, “Yes, a very happy coincidence. I am happy that I could tell both these stories. I didn’t think that film would get so much love. During the pandemic, October actually got a huge surprise among film lovers. I never got so many beautiful messages before. In Vicky Donor, I am glad that I could stick to the essence of the narrative and didn’t get lost with just a comedic gimmick. It was a difficult taboo subject to handle then. But now it’s a more comfortable theme to tackle.”
Vicky Donor and October are poles apart in theme and treatment. Vicky Donor is original and thoroughly engaging. It makes you feel blessed and blissed. How good it feels to watch a director pick up a pertinent issue and convert it into a perky, precocious, and endearing rom-com which is less rom and, ahem, a whole lot of cum. Indeed, Vicky Donor is suffused with delectable plus points, not the least of them being debutant Ayushmann Khurrana, who seems to be born to play Vicky the sperm donor. He has formidable competition in the acting department from Kamlesh Gill and Dolly Ahluwalia, who play his grandmom and mom, and from the redoubtable Anu Kapoor, who, as the sperm doctor, adds so much to his role and to the film; you wonder why he isn’t seen more often in our films. Each character is written with a keen eye for details that go a long way in giving them a life beyond the camera.
In October, too, Shoojit Sircar understands and empathizes with the pulse of the working class, their fears and anxieties. It could be an abundant sperm count (Vicky Donor) or constipation (Piku). The anxiety never ceases. In October, it is death and mortality that binds the characters in a clasp of compassion, not in any obvious way. But in the way the plot is about an obdurate, seemingly obnoxious hotel-management trainee, played with wilful gusto by Varun Dhawan, who decides that the quiet, shy colleague Shiuli (debutante Banita Sandhu), who has gone into a coma, has some kind of a bonding with him.
Unsure of that thing we call love, Varun Dhawan’s Dan simply lives on the IDEA of love, extolling its idealism to a point where his existence is defined by one casual 3-worded question that Shiuli asked her colleagues before she slipped into a long coma.
Says Shoojit, “I am glad I got the chance of exploring different genres… and most importantly exploring lives of ordinary people. I love the pace of October… that’s my pace… peaceful.”
Shoojit is in touch with all actors from both films, Ayushmann Khurrana, Yami Gautam, Varun Dhawan, and Banita Sandhu. “All the actors are still in touch with me… I repeated my collaboration with many actors from both the films in later films.”
Speaking of his biggest takeaway, both the films, Shoojit says, “The biggest takeaway was, sticking to the core of the story, and not deviating, and that your integrity in the storytelling will find an audience. There are many things that I would want to change in Vicky Donor. But not much in October… film after film, I am learning and trying not to repeat those mistakes.”
