Shoojit Sircar on how Amitabh Bachchan was transformed into a landlord in Lucknow for his upcoming quirky comedy
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 1, 2019)

Mirror was the first to report (May 15) that Shoojit Sircar has brought Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana together for his next directorial, a quirky comedy titled Gulabo Sitabo. The film kicked off in Lucknow on June 19 with a start-to-finish schedule, wrapping up in just 40 days on July 29. “We’d planned for a longer duration, taking monsoon into account, but we’ve finished earlier,” Shoojit exults.

Ask the filmmaker about bringing two of his former leads—Bachchan from Piku and Ayush from his acting debut Vicky Donor—together and he explains, “Juhi (Chaturvedi, writer) and I worked on this script for some time. Ronnie (Lahiri, who produces the film with Sheel Kumar), Juhi and I felt Mr Bachchan and Ayushmann would be ideal.”

Set in the City of Nawabs, it narrates the love-hate relationship between a tenant and his landlord. Shoojit admits it was fascinating to watch the two actors in action. “Mr Bachchan was like a curious child, while Ayush was in awe of him, like everyone else in the beginning,” he recounts.

Bachchan’s quirky look, complete with a beard, a prosthetic nose and a head scarf, has created quite the buzz and the director confides that they didn’t think they would be able to pull off the look. “The shoot was planned for summer and heavy prosthetics tend to get uncomfortable for an actor, especially for facial skin. It took two hours to create the look every day and getting it off was also tedious. But Mr Bachchan was always enthusiastic and believed in our vision,” he smiles.

Shoojit believes Gulabo Sitabo, will carry forward the tradition of humorous undertones in his stories. “Juhi has a knack for picking up on humour from real-life moments. We’ve tried to capture the essence of Lucknow and its people, who consider themselves to be different from residents of other cities,” he points out. He adds that locations have always been an integral part of his films, and this one was written keeping Lucknow in mind as the city is a part of Juhi’s childhood memories, and the city’s character drives the narrative.