He picked up his camera to capture nitty-gritty of political issues with films like "Yahaan" and "Madras Cafe", traversing to slice-of-life canvas of Bollywood with "Vicky Donor" and "Piku". Shoojit Sircar's cinematic ideas have left film buffs asking for more. But the director says he is in no hurry to make movies, and is at present "working on a couple of ideas".
"I am not in a hurry to make a film. If my script is ready, then I am in a hurry to make a film. But generally speaking, I am not in a hurry to make a film. I would love to work with a lot of actors but if the script demands. It all depends on the script," Sircar told IANS on the sidelines of Film Bazaar here.
He added that he is "working on a couple of subjects, but I cannot share the ideas at the moment".
Sircar had a successful year at the box office as he framed some heart-warming moments of a father and daughter in "Piku" with stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone donning Bengali avatar for the roles. And Irrfan Khan fitting right in the plot with his flair for acting with a zing of liveliness.
Sircar asserts that he was skeptical about the genre before plunging into it, but now is in love with it and is looking forward to helming more such kind of films.
"I would love to make a film in the genre. I have started enjoying them. I never thought I can make a film like 'Piku'. But I was comfortable making it and now I will carry on making films in that genre," he said.
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Sircar ended up pocketing three National Awards, including the Best Film for his take on sperm donation through 2012 film "Vicky Donor". And the director notes that success for all of his films has come as a surprise package.
"Numbers at the box office don't bother me as I never thought that any of the films I had made will make money, but they did and that is why numbers don't bother me. They made money on their own."
"I just thought they will recover half the cost. All the film's success was by chance," said Sircar, who did his schooling from Kolkata and college in Delhi before heading to Mumbai for pursuing a career in filmmaking.
Sircar was attending Film Bazaar, held alongside International Film Festival of India, for the first time. And he says it was an experience of a lifetime, adding that now he knows where to head to pitch scripts.
"It was a beautiful experience. I met so many people from the industry and I have never been exposed to foreign sales people or technicians. And the festival circuit people are different. It was a good learning lesson.
"I met a lot of newcomers who are pitching their films. I had no idea that you have to pitch the films like this so, next time I will also pitch my film when I get stuck," he said.
There were many ideas that struck the right chord with Sircar as he noted that "some definitely were interesting and some brave ideas, but let's see at least it has initiated the discussion".
He shared his inclination towards treating his work as a mirror to reflect style, craft and depth of world cinema's greatest auteur Satyajit Ray's work at a session held in Film Bazaar.
But when asked if he will ever try to remake some of Ray's epic work, Sircar steered clear of the idea to save himself from looking dumb.
"I cannot touch Ray's films. I don't want to be spoilsport and make a dumb film. I think he was far ahead as a filmmaker and I think we can never go close to his craft, style and his depth. So I will never attempt a remake as I don't want to make fun of myself," he said.
Currently, other than "Agra Ka Daabra", which stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Taapsee Pannu, and "1911" with John Abraham as the lead actor, Sircar is churning out some "political thrillers" ideas.
He said that the film will not be based on the current scenario, but "past political things".
(The writer's trip was at the invitation of National Film Development Corporation of India. Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)