Shoojit Sircar’s Piku — the evergreen film about love, grief, undefined relationships and filial ties, punched with heart and humour — clocks a decade on May 8. The film, starring Amitabh Bachchan as a cantankerous septuagenarian whose daughter Piku (Deepika Padukone) is his caregiver, with their equation being tested on a road trip from Delhi to Calcutta in the company of a stranger (Rana, played by Irrfan), remains on the repeat-watch list of many. With Piku set for a re-release on May 9, The Telegraph engaged in a freewheeling chat with Sircar.

It is hard to believe that it has been a decade of Piku already! Does it feel surreal, especially given the re-release?

For me, it feels like it released just yesterday because I still get messages about Piku on a daily basis or someone somewhere posts about the film on social media every day. It still feels so relatable to many people. A lot of women write to me saying: ‘I am the Piku of my house’, in reference to being a caregiver to a parent or a loved one. There were many who found it relatable then as much as they do now. And there are newer audiences who have perhaps moved to roles of being caregivers and breadwinners and they feel the film more now. It has become a sort of truth in the life of many people.

That Piku is re-releasing is quite surreal for me. Even about a year-and-a-half ago, we rarely had re-releases. But now with this trend of re-releasing films almost every week, Piku will be seen on the big screen once more. It definitely brings a lot of joy to us, also because this release doesn’t bring the pressure of box-office with it (smiles). That is what cinema should anyway be about... just the pure joy of taking it all in without any external pressure.

Do you think the pandemic — which not only shifted priorities and perspectives for most of us and made family more important than ever before — has also played a role in making Piku a more relatable watch even a decade later?

Three things have definitely happened over the last 10 years. First is that Piku has matured from its comedic perception into a life lesson kind of a film. In the minds of a large section of the audience, it started off as a comedy about constipation. But slowly, the reality of the depth of relationships became the all-encompassing thing about the film. This is specially with regard to Piku (Deepika Padukone) and what she goes through.

The second aspect is, of course, the geriatric aspect, that is the caregiving side of it. In the last few years — as you rightly pointed out, more so after the pandemic — the geriatric members of the family have become very important in our lives. Not that they weren’t earlier but something in terms of our perspective towards them after Covid has definitely shifted.

The third is the loneliness aspect, an integral part of modern life for all ages. We may have everything, or so we feel, but modern life is steeped in a sort of hollow loneliness which is difficult to escape from. All of these things were wrapped up and shown beautifully in Piku. And that is what keeps it relevant, now more than ever before, maybe.

Also, during Covid, a lot of people watched and rewatched Piku and it struck a chord with them as far as relationships are concerned, the reality of ageing parents... it came in with a lot of life lessons for viewers going through a vulnerable time in life.

Piku’s loneliness, as she assumed the all-consuming role of being a caregiver to her father, resonates with almost everyone...

Yes. Piku always had that dilemma — here she was caring for her father (Bhaskor Banerjee, played by Amitabh Bachchan), with almost no other life of her own. It was annoying and frustrating for her, but she did it with all her heart for her father. Sometimes she had to leave her job, sometimes she had to leave her friends... but she would never leave her father.

I don’t know whether I would call it loneliness, but there was definitely a certain dilemma raging within her. She wanted her own life, but then her life was, ultimately, about caring for her father. Many of us have gone through that. Even otherwise, there is no absolute freedom for us to do anything. In family life, these kinds of ups and downs and these dilemmas are always there.

In the end, the film sums it up beautifully when Rana (Irrfan) asks Piku: ‘He (Bhaskor) is gone now. What will you do? How will you manage?’ And she says: ‘Maybe he was preparing me all these years about how to deal with the world.’ But yes, as you said, loneliness in these times is another pandemic the world is dealing with.

The comedy and the drama in Piku are never in-your-face. They seem organically woven into the daily lives of the characters. How did you achieve that and yet keep it cinematically engaging?

Almost all the moments that you see in Piku came from our own lives, our relationships, our dining-table conversations... whether it was me or Juhi (Chaturvedi, the film’s writer). Yes, putting in that cinematic drama element sometimes became a challenge in something which was so organic. But we decided to plunge deep into it and not restrict ourselves. We told ourselves: ‘If we are taking the plunge, we will do so completely.’

There is an inherent organised chaos in Piku which is very well done...

That was the most challenging bit. We were aware that it could sometimes become monotonous and frustrating for the audience, so even within the organised framework of Piku, we had to insert a sort of controlled chaos. Thankfully, that worked, for which I would give a lot of credit to my three champion actors — Mr Bachchan, Irrfan and Deepika. What they brought to those scenes, the lines and their characters itself is astounding. I witnessed pure magic unfolding in front of me.

The interval point, after Bhaskor gets worked up with the knife in Rana’s car, throws it away and you pan to the three characters just sitting on the highway silently, is basically nothing, right? It goes against the very grain of the so-called idea of the interval breaking off at a high point/ cliffhanger in a story. What made you want to go with that?

In Indian cinema, there is always the pressure of where is the interval going to be. But we didn’t write Piku keeping an interval in mind. In fact, we had even requested if the film could be played without an interval, but the distribution and exhibition system in our country demands an interval. One can’t do anything about it.But since during the writing there was no plan for an interval, we had to later decide where to bring it in. It was finally the film’s editor, Shekhar Prajapati, who decided that this should be the interval point and we all agreed with it. It seemed like a tense, yet humourous, point at which to break the film midway.

In hindsight, are there any aspects of the film that you didn’t think viewers would notice as much as they have?

Some people have noticed the infatuation that Bengalis have with homeopathy! (Laughs) Bhaskor was obsessed with his medicines and even Piku is seen being very meticulous in measuring the correct dosage before giving it to him. Then how fish is cooked in that home, nothing elaborate, very little spices because Bhaskor can’t digest heavy food... that is how fish is made in a lot of our homes.

One of the most discussed parts over the years has been the climax. Many wondered how did the film just end with Piku and Rana playing badminton, with the status of their relationship going forward remaining unclear. But that is exactly how I wanted the ending to be.

You have said that if you could make Piku again today, you would make it slower...

Yes. When we wrote the script, we had a lot of lengthy conversations. The dining table scene itself was a 12-15 minute scene. A lot was chopped off on the editing table because we were going overboard with the runtime. Someday, I wish to release a BTS video with all of it.

A decade later, where do you think Rana and Piku are in their lives?

Piku has adopted a child, possibly. I am not sure whether she and Rana have got married... I feel that their relationship remains undefined. I am sure Piku leans on Rana a lot, especially in bringing up her child. They are still very good friends and they look forward to each others’ company.

Are you planning a cast and crew reunion for the re-release?

Yes. We are all going to watch the film again together. I have asked Babil (Khan) and Sutapa (Sikdar) to join us. Irrfan will be sorely missed, as he is every day.