Anurag Basu on Jagga Jasoos delays and his lead pair’s improved professionalism since their split
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; September 12, 2016)


Did the much-delayed release of Jagga Jasoos (it’s out next year) affect you?
It was my decision to delay the film. If I would have been helpless and the film got delayed without any reason, I would have been upset. But I didn’t shoot for all of 2015. I had shot only 10 days of Jagga.

Why is that?
I have been working in the industry since 1996 — first I was directing daily soaps and later, films. I wanted to take a break. Barfi! had done really well, and for the first time, I earned a lot of money. I wanted to enjoy that and spend time with my family. That’s probably a typical middle-class mentality. In any case, I realised that my film would release only after Karan Johar’s film (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil), so I thought, ‘Why rush? Let’s take a break’. Both my actors (Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif) were very sweet, they gave me dates in May, I said no. Then they gave me another chunk of dates in August. Again, I said no.

When you started the film, Ranbir and Katrina were in a relationship, but by the time it ended, the two had broken up. Were you worried about the shoot, post that?
Like everybody else, even I didn’t know (how it would be). But when we resumed the shoot, and the first shot happened, everything was okay. Both actors became more conscious and more professional. I think they gave more to the film, post their break-up than before!

How will you go about the promotions considering the changed equation between the lead actors?
I am not thinking about it at all. There is no strategy. It’s releasing next April — there is a lot of time. But I wish people would only talk about our movie and nothing else while promoting.

Is Jagga Jasoos inspired by The Singing Detective?
Just because Jagga is a musical, people are comparing it to The Singing Detective. I would tell such people to first watch the film. I have seen people often comparing films, out of the blue, without watching them. I haven’t seen the Hollywood film, but I saw the trailer and can tell you it’s different.

You start your next, the sequel to Life In A...Metro soon. Will you repeat the cast?
It is too early for that. But the format of the film will be on similar lines — urban stories of different people interlinked to one another. But the situations and crises in this will be different. Changes have taken place and urban cities have moved on since LIAM.