Amitabh Bachchan's character in ‘Piku' inspired by Utpal Dutt, says Shoojit Sircar

Hindustan Times

01-05-2025

Mumbai, Amitabh Bachchan's Bhaskor Banerjee in "Piku" had traces of Utpal Dutt's screen persona, says Shoojit Sircar who feels surprised that his attempt to capture the mundane everyday family life with humour continues to resonate with people.
'Piku' features Bachchan as a 70-year-old widowed father and Padukone as his headstrong daughter. They embark on a road trip from Delhi to Kolkata. Irrfan Khan played Rana Chaudhary, a taxi business owner, who reluctantly agrees to drive the father-daughter duo.
"A lot of people have told me that it has Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee type touch. There was no such influence while we were writing the film. We thought we were writing something original. The only inspiration that we possibly, after the film was written, took was that it was always like Utpal Dutt. "We wanted Bhaskor Banerjee not as a Utpal Dutt-ish character, but he has those character sketches of Utpal Dutt, who is always talking and has his own mind. So, that was purely for Bhaskor Banerjee,' Sircar told PTI.
Interestingly, Utpal Dutt was a regular in many of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee movies, which are also famous for capturing the everyday family life in their movies.
Looking back at his one of the most loved movies ahead of its 10th anniversary re-release in theatres, Sircar said he managed to make a simple movie with such stalwarts of acting.
"If I go back and think about it now, I'm surprised. How did I manage it with these three stalwarts, getting this kind of a very mundane everyday family life with that humorous touch.
"This film set up a trend in terms of how a simple family film can be told, without too much drama, and there were too many things happening around it. The simplicity of it, I think, is still the reason for its shelf life," he added.
Despite all the accolades, including three National awards, best actor for Bachchan, best original screenplay and dialogues for writer Juhi Chaturvedi, Sircar does not consider "Piku" to be a perfect film.
"If I go back and make this film, there will be a lot more, many things which I would like to correct a little bit. I might slow it down a little.'
The director said he is hoping to re-watch 'Piku', which is set to arrive on May 9, with his entire cast and crew, but said he will dearly miss the presence of Irrfan, who played a key role in the movie.
'I've spoken to Sutapa and Babil. I told them to keep themselves free so that everybody can go watch it. There's going to be a lot of reunions.' Sircar fondly reminisced about his collaboration with Irrfan and said that the bond they forged during the making of 'Piku' went beyond work.
'After 'Piku' for almost every film it was like, I'm going to work with him. It was like, I've a subject, I'll call him up and say, 'Irrfan, ready? We're just doing this film, this idea'. I know he'll say, 'Okay, Dada, when do you want to do it?' So, that's the relationship we had,' he said.
It was Irrfan who first approached Sircar with a desire to collaborate after he had seen 'Madras Café' and 'Vicky Donor'.
'He called and said, 'Whatever you're doing, Dada, I'm going to be a part of it'. So, I told him, 'I'm writing 'Piku', and gave him the idea',' the director recalled.
'He was so full of joy, warmth, and wanted to be part of something interesting and original. How and what, that was not the question. He just wanted to discuss, talk. Art is all about conversations. So, we should all keep doing art addas, cinema addas, talk about cinema, stories, talk about characters, everything,' he added.
Filming "Piku" turned out to be therapeutic for Padukone, who was then grappling with mental health issues, the director said.
'When I met Deepika's mother, she just thanked me. I thought she was thanking me for the film. She said, 'This film came into Deepika's life when she needed it the most'. Later, she also spoke about her low phase... So, this film came like a dose of fresh air to her,' he said.
Sircar was amazed by how Padkuone immersed herself into the role, bringing a sense of authenticity that blurred the line between the character and the actor.
'She said later, 'Dada, it changed the time we spent while shooting and we were together'. That itself was a big compliment for me,' he said, adding, 'I didn't feel it was Deepika, I thought it was Piku, I never saw Deepika in her.'
Sircar revealed that he is collaborating with 'Sardar Udham' actor Vicky Kaushal on an ad film and will also produce Irrfan's son Babil's upcoming romantic movie, which will be helmed by Hiraj Banerjee.