'That day, I remember I said, can I hug you?'
'And I gave him a big, tight hug.'
Shoojit Sircar has a clear reason why he asked Abhishek Bachchan to star in his heart-warming film, I Want To Talk.
"It all happened in one evening in Melbourne. We were at a film festival together and he (Abhishek) invited me for dinner. During that dinner, something happened between us. He just poured out his heart and I saw something very beautiful in him," Shootjit tells Subhash K Jha.
Why have you named your film I Want To Talk?
We want to talk and say things which we keep internally. The title conveys a sense of urgency to talk.
When did you first think of making this film?
I have been working on this idea since 2020.
My stories are inspired from real situations and people, what I see around me in everyday life.
It's shot completely in the USA. It is the simple journey of a man.
Why Abhishek Bachchan?
I have always wanted to cast Abhishek. I know him well enough.
We play (football) together.
I met him quite a few times when I was working with Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan.
He would just walk into the set and say, 'Let's have lunch;'.
He would come and meet Mr Bachchan and they would have their own time. So I have interacted with Abhishek and have found him very gentle and a nice human being. Well behaved too.
I was looking someone who could play a working father and bare himself completely.
He agreed to surrender unconditionally. I thought he would be the right cast, and I was right.
How different is it working with Abhishek after working with his father?
Both have quite a few similarities.
One of the similarities is that both are best in sticking to the original script.
The Big B can remember his lines with absolute precision.
Abhishek too surrenders completely to the director, and is very disciplined like Mr Bachchan.
How did you manage to avert morbidity and actually find funny moments in the protagonist's medical condition?
I think that's what slowly I have realised -- if I don't embrace the way I embrace life, I must embrace death and morbidity too. Looking at life's adversities or ups and downs becomes easier to face.
Also, when time passes, you actually forget whatever you were stressing in the past.
For example, whatever that I was struggling with yesterday, today I can look back and smile and laugh at it.
So it's very important to embrace death so that you can be fear-free.
I wouldn't say fearless, I'm fear-free.
How did I Want To Talk happen?
It all happened in one evening in Melbourne. We were at a film festival together and he invited me for dinner.
During that dinner, something happened between us.
He just poured out his heart and I saw something very beautiful in him that I was looking for in Arjun.
What were you looking for?
A kind of vulnerability, a kind of warmth.
That day, I remember I said, can I hug you?
And I gave him a big, tight, hug.
He said he just wanted to move on.
Then I understood his intelligence, his intellect, his soft side.
So a lot of things attracted me.
Another thing I noticed was of course, he has a lot of things of Mr Bachchan. I also found his eyes like Jayadi's (Bachchan).
We are all Jayadi's fans, since Mahanagar, Guddi, Mili, Abhimaan...
Very few people remember that she's a brilliant actress.
So when I saw Arjun Sen in Abhishek, there was no looking back.
He was also ready to surrender.
After that, it was more like us bonding together. Our bonding became so beautiful.
Abhishek delivered what he is, what is deep inside.
