For Shoojit Sircar, the re-release of Vicky Donor is not just a moment of nostalgia - it’s an emotional ride. "I can't control my excitement as a director, that the film is re-releasing," he says with disbelief and joy. "This thought itself is addictive to me because aisa hua nahi hai. I’m in awe. Aise hota nahi hai normally that a film is re-releasing. For a director and a technician, and for everybody associated with the film, the film coming on the big screen is like a boon. I'm over-excited, not excited. I'm over-excited," he says.

Thirteen years later, the humour in Vicky Donor still lands, the warmth is still felt - but what remains for him as a director when he returns to it now? He says, "Somehow, it doesn’t feel like a 13-year-old film. It just feels like - Abhi yaar, kuch saal pehle hi banaya hai. It doesn’t feel 13–14 years have gone by."

In conversation, he walked us back through the film - what it was, what it became, and the nostalgia of seeing it again.

Shoojit Sircar watched the film again while preparing for the re-release, and says it stirred more than just excitement. He says, "I was just watching the film and I was thinking - did I make this film? Am I the same person I made this film? I was really amazed." he says.

Talking about the cast, he says, "Such an amazing cast, such amazing performances, such exuberance in their performances. There's so much joy," he says, crediting the film’s energy to the team behind it.

"The way Juhi wrote the film, the way Ayushmann came and the way my friend Ronnie came to produce the film, the way Annu Kapoor came, Yami was cast, Dolly ji and Biji came, and the songs. The entire thing - I think ho gaya hoga. Ho jata hai na kabhi kabhi," he adds.

Shoojit Sircar shares that he hadn’t anticipated the film’s success. He says,"Three things happened. The film became quite a talk of the town, which I didn't expect. I was really scared when the film was released because I thought this film is not a regular subject to deal with."

The film on sperm donation, touched on a taboo subject. He adds, "Second, a lot of conversations came up tha - are you a Punjabi? That question came up - 'how do you know Punjabi, how do you know Punjabi culture so well?"

He reveals, "Then I tell people that I have spent time in Delhi, I have so many Punjabi friends. Somewhere I'm a ghost Sardar. Even after being a Bengali, somewhere there is a lot of punjabiyat in me."

The cultural richness of Delhi - particularly the Punjabiyat of Lajpat Nagar - flowed into the film naturally. “Those little things that we picked up in the Punjabiyat of Delhi, especially among Delhi Punjabis and Lajpat Nagar. All my friends are from there. And they actually got married to a girl from CR Park, so that has happened. If we actually start showing culture clashes (in movies), it can be much bizarre than this. We have shown it in a very conservative way (in Vicky Donor), but actually mein toh abuses aa jayenge, gaali-galauj aa jayega.”

He says, "Third was Dolly ji and Biji drinking together. That one scene was talked about a lot - how beautifully Juhi had written it, and what the two of them brought to it. I often look back at that scene - Will I be able to pull off that scene today or not? I think we all go through everyday drills. But at the end of the day there is some kind of warmth in relationships that also exists."

That cultural clash in Vicky Donor - between the Punjabi and Bengali families, especially the wedding scene really stuck with people. The ‘Rum rum whiskey’ has become a go-to track on reels.

Talking about the scene where the families meet, he says, "What Jayanto Da (who played Yami Gautam's character's father) has done – and between him and Dolly ji and Ayushmann and Pishi (Swaroopa Das) - she is too good. I think what happened there in that room that day was amazing. Jayanto Da has actually lived in CR Park in Delhi. He knew that elite Bengali – talking about culture."

He says that the cultural contrast between Biji (Kamlesh Gill) and Dolly Ahluwalia on one side, and the Bengali family on the other, required no forced staging. "It was naturally flowing because Dolly ji and Biji were as frivolous as they could be. They were just talking. When we were writing the character of Dolly ji, we told her – we are writing you. I think that cultural clash, we live with that. Even in Bengal, and when I talk about Punjabi, there is an understanding, love, criticism – everything. You can understand when a Bengali girl is married to a Punjabi, and in this kind of marriage discussion, this is just evident," he says.

In Lajpat Nagar, almost every house has a biji and Dolly ji - small houses, interconnected terraces. Vicky Donor took out Lajpat Nagar from Delhi and made it a city in itself in Hindi movies. How did he create that identity for Lajpat Nagar.

Shoojit Sircar recalls his good old Lajpat days, "Lajpat Nagar ke chhole kulche, chhole bhature and all the garment shops, all the ladies being there for that salwar and dupatta shopping. My school was KV, Andrews Ganj, a short walk away. From my school days, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday I used to spend in Lajpat Nagar."

During his theatre days, he would frequent the area with friends, jamming, writing at Piyush Mishra's place in Lajpat Nagar. “I'm a south Delhi boy. My upbringing was in CR Park and in other parts of Delhi, but Lajpat Nagar never left me. I knew every house there. 75 gaj wala ghar hota tha wahan pe – chhota se entrance, straight lamba sa. Then there was Nirula’s below the flyover – so Lajpat Nagar never left me. Lajpat Nagar is in my blood.” (laughs)

The writer of Vicky Donor, Juhi Chaturvedi, also lived there. “Lajpat Nagar and Connaught Place – I don't think I will ever forget Lajpat Nagar,” he says. Back then, many of his friends from Lajpat Nagar were just starting out. “Some have become actors, writers, directors, some big producers. Lajpat Nagar is a city in itself.”

The interiors for the film were shot in Rajouri Garden. “We actually shot in Rajouri Garden. We shot exteriors in Lajpat Nagar and we shot interiors somewhere in Rajouri Garden because there are many parts of the city that actually look like Lajpat Nagar.”

He says glimpses of Delhi can be found across his work - in Piku, October, and beyond. “You will get a reflection of Delhi in all my films.”

In an interview, Naveen Kasturia said that when Vicky Donor came out, he would tell people, ‘This is my story,’ because he identified so strongly with Ayushmann’s character as he is also from Lajpat Nagar. 

How did Shoojit Sircar create such a Lajpat Nagar boy? Shoojit Sircar says, "The character of Vicky that we created - he knows jugaad, he knows where to get his things done, but he is clueless about his life. Some kind of jugaad work he will do and he will manage."

And then there’s Ayushmann Khurrana - for whom Vicky Donor was a breakout. He says,“Ayushmann will always be known as Ayushmann for Vicky Donor. I had a very strong feeling about it.”

What stood out, Shoojit Sircar says, was the sensitivity of his performance. “It’s not just the loud Vicky that he played, but it's his delicate performance. Vicky of Vicky Donor is so much Ayushmann than Ayushmann being Ayushmann, I would say."

He remembers Ayushmann once telling him - ‘Dada, that will always be there. I’m also doing a lot of films that seem inspired from Vicky Donor.’

Renowned art director and production designer Nitin Chandrakant Desai died by suicide at his studio (N D Studios) in Karjat, 80 km from Mumbai, yesterday. As per reports, he was going through financial stress and speculation is that this could have been the reason for him to take this step.

In his career spanning 20 years, he worked with prominent filmmakers like Ashutosh Gowariker, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He was the brain behind the sets of Hindi films like 1942: A Love Story (1994), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India (2001), Devdas (2002), Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai (2010) to name a few.

His last venture as an art director was Panipat (2019). He had also created the sets for the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Desai won several awards throughout his career, including four National Awards.

In 2005, Desai established N D Studios in Karjat, which was spread over 52 acres. This studio has played host to many movies as well as the reality show Big Boss. He also tried his hand at acting and has been credited as an actor in Daud (1997) and the Marathi movie Hello Jai Hind! (2011), which he directed.

Last month, Desai had performed a pooja at his studio in anticipation of the upcoming festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. He was working on the pandal decoration for Mumbai’s iconic Ganpati mandal Lalbaugcha Raja. He was also busy with an OTT show on Maharana Pratap.

Regarding his demise, Raigad Superintendent of Police (SP) Somnath Gharghe said, “Police were informed by a worker on the set. When the team reached the studio, we saw his body hanging. We are investigating further to ascertain all the aspects in this case.”

- With inputs from ANI

---------------------------------

There is a sense of magic as the lights in a theatre dim for we are often, within moments, transported into another world. And if we were lucky, we would be transported to a world created by art director Nitin Desai. From the earthy village of Lagaan (2001) to the vibrancy of Devdas (2002), from the 16th century palaces of Jodhaa Akbar (2008) to the ’70s Bombay in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai (OUATIM, 2010), there wasn’t a setting that the four-time National Award winner had not introduced us to.

OUATIM director Milan Luthria remembers how he began shooting the gangster film with Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi in real locations across Mumbai. Soon, crowd-management issues made him consider filming on sets. That’s when someone recommended the production designer to him.

“I told Nitin what I had in mind. He said, ‘Don’t worry, it will all happen in my studio [ND Studios, Karjat].’ He came back with a plan and sketches of how he was going to turn around various parts of his studio. He made a vintage café, made Sultan’s [Devgn’s character] house all white, and made the bustling streets where we shot the song, Pee Loon. His greatest quality was that he could adapt to the sensibility of the film. He realized that each movie had a different demand, which is why every film of his looks different,” he shares.

The director remembers that the climax where Devgn’s character is shot at while delivering a speech was the most challenging. But Desai, he says, came up with quick solutions.

“The studio originally didn’t look that way. There was chaos, but he quickly changed the colours of the backdrop, erected a wall on one side and removed certain fountains, saying that the style did not match the era we were depicting. He was hands-on. If you had an issue and needed a solution, Nitin was the man,” adds Luthria.

The studio originally didn’t look that way. There was chaos, but he quickly changed the colours of the backdrop, erected a wall on one side and removed certain fountains, saying that the style did not match the era we were depicting. He was hands-on. If you had an issue and needed a solution, Nitin was the man,” adds Luthria.

Desai had won National Awards for his work in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (1998), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Lagaan and Devdas. But to Bhandarkar, his work went beyond grandeur.

“Nitin was synonymous with [elaborate] set design after his brilliant work in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas. But he was equally a genius in creating realistic sets for films like Traffic Signal, Jail [2009] and Indu Sarkar [2017]. He visited Yerawada and Thane prisons to create a realistic set for Jail. When I asked him [to recreate] Connaught Place, he promised that it would be as real as Delhi’s landmark location. I was amazed at the transformation. I clicked some pictures and sent it to my friends in Delhi, who couldn’t believe it was a set.”

A trait of Desai that endeared him to the director was his ability to make good his promises. “He was always flexible with budgets and would say, ‘Main kar ke deta hoon.’”

Director Ketan Mehta shares that the Aamir Khan-led Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) was the first endeavour to be shot in ND Studios that opened in 2005. “When he launched the studio, the qawwali song from Mangal Pandey was the first shoot on the location. Nitin was a disciplined and systematic designer. So, even before we began shooting, everything was pre-visualized and pre-decided with major contributions from the creative genius that Nitin was,” says Mehta, who worked with him over 28 years and several films.

Producer Ronnie Screwvala, who collaborated with Desai on several films, most notably Jodhaa Akbar and Fashion, remembers him as someone who thought big and created even bigger. “He always gave his all to whatever he did. He always thought big and then actually made it happen. I am very sad to hear the news, ” he says.

The particular permanent set in ND Studios, Karjat, where Desai was found dead on Wednesday

Set pieces used for the filming of Lagaan. Pics/Nimesh Dave

Last month, when Delhi recorded consecutive days of cold wave and smog, several film shoots were impacted and line producers told us that production houses had to do a lot of changes in shoot schedules. While Delhi’s infamous winter may have put a temporary pause on shoots, from this month, several series and movies from across the world are lined up for shoot in Delhi, say line producers.

Recently, Animal starring Ranbir Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna was filmed at Miranda House and at a few locations in Old Delhi, which were off-limits in January because of Republic Day preps. Rahul Singh, a line producer, adds, “Last month, due to Republic Day, several areas were blocked and it is indeed difficult to get permission for shoots in those areas in January, so we do not even attempt it. Right now, it is the ideal time for film shoots in Delhi, and that’s why we are witnessing this rush.”

Line producers say that they had expected shoots to show a strong recovery in February given how several projects were in the pipeline. Javed, a line producer, says, “February is the month when Delhi’s shooting season officially begins. Until now shoots were mostly done indoors, as outdoor locations were covered in smog. But Feb shoot numbers seem to have exceeded even our expectations.”

Agrees Sumit Tyagi, a line producer, who shares, “From now until the monsoon hits, it is indeed going to be hectic. Besides, it is not just films, so many web series also have Delhi-centric plots.”

Multiple international productions are expected to be shot at various locations in the capital, including the markets of Connaught Place and Old Delhi. Rahul adds, “In fact, the next couple of months are going to be really busy. We also have enquiries from international filmmakers for which final dates are yet to be confirmed. ”

- Scam (second season)

- Murder Mubarak

- R Madhavan’s film Hisaab Barabar

- Anubhav Sinha’s next project

- Nikkhil Advani’s Freedom At Midnight

Apart from these, three web series and major Hollywood projects will also be shot

The government-imposed Coronavirus-related restrictions on gatherings had also brought shoots to a halt in Delhi. However, despite the capital’s ongoing night and weekend curfew, filmmakers have now started rolling cameras again, sans permission. Sources say that they are opting to shoot during early mornings with a smaller crew, while ensuring they wrap up within one-and-a-half hours.

Several projects in Delhi have now restarted their shoots. These include ads, web series, and films. A source associated with one such project informs, “A couple of projects are currently being shot in Delhi, even though restrictions haven’t been eased yet. Filmmakers waited for almost 15 days initially, but due to deadline and budget concerns, they had no choice but to resort to guerrilla shooting methods.”

Javed, a line producer, says, “Authorities in Noida are giving productions permission to shoot till 8 pm, but the scenario is different in Delhi. And while bigger projects can afford the delay, the rest don’t have the budget, and have to shoot within dates given to them by the lead artistes.”

He elaborates, “Usually, guerrilla shooting methods are adopted by documentary filmmakers when getting permission to shoot is impossible. Others are adopting the same method now because they need to shoot at some key locations in the city, and it’s more convenient to do so guerrilla style, than delay the project indefinitely.”

When it comes to shooting at locations in Delhi, what makers look for is that ‘Delhi-wali feel’ and hence, easily identifiable locations such as Connaught Place, or those with monuments like Qutub Minar and Red Fort in the backdrop are preferred. Many are choosing to shoot before 10 am in areas like CP, till 12 am at monuments, and at parks and nurseries in the evening.

Filmmakers are now wrapping up a 10 day-shoot schedule within four to five days. A source, who worked on one such project last week, says, “We don’t go together as a crew to these locations. We reach in group of two to three, with minimum equipment. We try to wrap up the shoot with a maximum of 10-15 crew members, within one-and-a-half hours. The director gives limited on-set directions, and we try to keep the number of takes to a minimum. Every member is briefed in advance, so we can get there and get done quickly.”

A crew member of one such project adds that many often try to pass off the shoot as a wedding shoot, as they face less objections from locals. “When we go for guerrilla shoots and someone asks what are we shooting for, we say that we are doing a wedding shoot or we are shooting with an influencer for Instagram reels,” adds the insider.