Pic by Gajanan Dudhalkar

Director-producer Shoojit Sircar believes that just about any story can be turned into a movie. In his first film Yahaan, a love story set in Kashmir starring Jimmy Shergill and Minissha Lamba, he trained his camera on the brutal realities of life there. Now, after a gap of seven years, he has chosen the issue of sperm donation as the subject for his next venture Vicky Donor, a comedy being produced by actor John Abraham.

Inevitably everyone’s been asking why he has made a film on sperm donation. And he has a serious answer: “The issue of infertility is a serious problem in urban India and has not been tackled much in Indian cinema.” The medium-budget film which stars newcomers Ayushmann Khurana, Annu Kapoor and Yami Gautam will release on April 20.

The biggest challenge for Sircar was how to sell his story to the public. But the way forward became clear once he started research on the subject. He says: “I talked to a lot of doctors and visited many infertility clinics. The stories that came out of our research were hilarious and that’s when we wanted to make the film a comedy. But I didn’t want to exploit the subject as adult humour but presented it more as a satire.”

Sircar, 43, has returned to directing movies after a long gap, though, in between, he also directed a movie named Johnny Mastana starring Amitabh Bachchan — which is yet to see the light of the day. The film is a remake of Labour of Love, a movie which Hollywood director Manoj Night Shyamalan wanted to make. Unfortunately, Fox Star has said that Sircar’s movie can’t be released until Shyamalan’s film comes out.

As a director, Sircar is keen to experiment with various genres of filmmaking. Up next is a political thriller Jaffna set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka. “It’s going to be another relationship-based film. We are giving final touches to the script and John will produce and act in the film,” he says. After that he hopes to make a movie tentatively called Hamara Bajaj, which will revolve around the subject of struggling actors.

Shoojit Sircar made his debut as a director with Yahaan, starring Jimmy Shergill and Minissha Lamba

Sircar, who set up his production company Rising Sun Films in Mumbai in 2008 with his co-partner Ronnie Lahiri, also has ambitious plans to make Bengali films in the coming months. Recently, he was the producer of Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s film Aparajita Tumi. He’s now thinking of directing a Bengali film next year. He says: “Aparajita Tumi was a stepping stone to test the Bengali film market. It’s a good time to make Bengali films with so many talented young directors working on many experimental subjects.”

Chowdhury, the director, who’s in talks with Sircar for his next Bengali production, says: “As a producer he understands the technicalities of filmmaking. And as a director his skill lies in the sensitive portrayal of subjects within mainstream commercial cinema.”

Sircar reckons his forté is making relationship-based topical films. “I am testing which genre I fit into. I am not a director who loves making potboilers. My films are all about hope because I am an optimistic person,” says Sircar.

Produced by actor John Abraham and directed by Sircar, Vicky Donor was shot in just 45 days

His advertising background also helps him to finish his films way ahead of schedule. He says, “I am very clear about what I want to do and don’t like to delay projects unnecessarily. I shot Vicky Donor in 45 days flat in Delhi.”

Sircar is still first and foremost an ad filmmaker and has made memorable ads for products like Liril, Titan and Airtel. But his most high-profile ad recently has been Gujarat Tourism’s blockbuster with Amitabh Bachchan.

In fact, in the coming months, Sircar has plans to string together some of the footage he captured while directing the commercial. “I want to make a documentary on his various moods while shooting this ad,” says Sircar who’s also talking to Bachchan about a film.

The director developed his passion for making films while growing up in Delhi. He was an active member of Act 1, a Delhi theatre group. He shifted to Mumbai in 2005 while making Yahaan. Today, Sircar shuttles between Mumbai and Calcutta, where his family lives.

For now, he is keeping his fingers crossed for Vicky Donor. But his great ambition is to make a period film. He says: “I want to make a Hindi film on the historical Jalianwala Bagh massacre. I’ve already done my research and very soon, will start work on it.” u