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| Pankaj Kapur in Dharm |
Oscar or not, filmmaker Bhavna Talwar, who created ripples in festival circuits with her debut film Dharm, is raring to go again. She was in town for a weeklong music session with Debajyoti Mishra before they leave for Prague to record with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra next month. Bhavna spoke to t2 about her second film Happi, a “Chaplinesque comedy” about the extraordinary joys of an ordinary man.
Have you let go of the thoughts that troubled you when Dharm lost out as India’s official entry to the Oscars or do they still bother you?
There was a point when I was very bitter about it. Now I’ve let go of the bitterness completely but the fight to ensure that the system gets put into place is still on. The case is still in court. Don’t know how long it’ll take but we’re not giving up. We suggested a selection procedure to the court, which will be presented to them by our lawyer and advocate general and let’s hope things take shape.
So now you’re ready to go with your second film. Wasn’t it called Awasthi earlier?
That was the working title but as we went along we discovered that Happi was more apt. I’ve attempted a Chaplinesque comedy. Not the No Entry sort. Happi picks upon the average, everyday common man and puts him in a situation where the world is driven by having more and getting more which invariably creates a kind of unhappiness. So the film talks about the philosophy of being happy with what you have. An attitude that we need to look at in this day and age with the whole recession thing going and all the suffering. It’s about being able to live within it.
Is it true that Pankaj Kapur has written the story? What prompted you to take it up?
Yes, he’s a fantastic writer. He’s written many many scripts that are lying with him. It’s just that we’re like family. He happened to tell me the story once and I just loved it. I asked him for it and he was more than happy to give it to me. Apart from playing the title role of Happi, he’s also been actively involved in writing the screenplay for us. As a director what excited me was how the story flows like the pace of a man’s journey and the challenge of creating hyperboles out of a simple plot line. It’s a slice of life, very insightful that flows into a climax.
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| Bhavna Talwar at Taj Bengal. Picture by Aranya Sen |
But a lot of films have been made about the common man. How is Happi different?
It doesn’t push you or force you to look at the message. It allows you to stay with that joy this man has and you just go along. It’s not in your face. It’s about rising beyond the suffering.
Is it the same team you had on board for Dharm?
Well, more or less. There’s Pankajji who I’m working with for the second time. He plays Happi whose perspective of the world is colourful and light. I can’t imagine anyone else pulling this off. There’s Supriyaji (Pathak), who plays an arbit paanwali. There’s also Hrishitaa Bhatt, Manoj Pahwa, Nakul Vaid and a couple of theatre actors. There’s Debuda (Debajyoti Mishra) doing the music again. It also involves a little dog, which is Happi’s only friend in Mumbai. I’m a dog person and the relationship that develops between that dog and Happi is another thing that excited me. Martin Grosup, the camera operator for Hell Boy and Shanghai Knights, has worked as the cinematographer.
Given that Mumbai is the hub of Bollywood music, why do you choose to work with a Calcuttan every time?
It’s really unfortunate that Debuda is not in Mumbai. I don’t think I’d be able to work with anyone other than Debuda because of the kind of dedication he brings to a project. If it takes two months to sit through each frame of a film he will do it to get the music right. He will patiently listen to every little detail I want and ensure it happens. Music in Dharm was fantastic and there’s been no looking back ever since. Debuda and I have developed a rapport that’s like magic. There are a few notes that he will sing and I’ll automatically sing out the next few notes. Creating this music together is an absolute joy and I don’t even know if I ever want to explore anyone else.
Why record the music in Prague?
It’s really unfortunate that most of our music is relegated out of keyboards because of which musicians who would play acoustic instruments aren’t there anymore. There are hardly any great cellists or accordian, horn and trumpet players in Mumbai. It doesn’t make sense recording the strings in Chennai and the rest abroad, so we decided to record the entire background score with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
Dharm didn’t do too well at the box office. Are you being a little more mindful, the second time around?
Dharm was our first film and we learnt our lessons. It’s very important to get the right shows. In Mumbai I got shows really badly timed at nine and eleven in the morning. The programmers want big studio films at prime time. So we need to work towards tracking those things beforehand. We focussed on television promos but didn’t do much with hoardings which was a mistake. No one seemed interested in Pankaj Kapur dressed as a saint, instead of big flashy faces. We were hoping to release Happi around July or August but now I guess we’ll have to first wait for our producers and multiplex owners to sort out their issues.
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DEBUSPEAK
On Bhavna: After Ray, I haven’t come across a film director who is musically, aesthetically and technically this strong. Bhavna is aware of all the different musical forms. She allows me complete freedom and also helps encourage my ideas. It’s easy to pin down compositions together.
On Happi: Happi’s music encompasses very basic human emotions. There’s a lot of joy in the songs in keeping with the soul of Happi’s character. Dharm was rooted in earthy sounds of the soil whereas Happi is poles apart. It has a retro feel with elements of jazz and blues, new-age pop sounds and a rock ’n’ roll flavour. There are 10 songs in the film and I’m looking forward to working with Nic Raine, music conductor of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
