For anyone who asks, why do the Pataakha sisters fight so much, Vishal Bhardwaj has the question – ‘Why do India-Pakistan fight so much?’ He tells us about the deeper layer in his simple tale of two sisters, and then dives into a vivid recollection of the childhood that made him the filmmaker he is. The Meerut government school with the Rs 1.26 fee, spitting on stones for the deciding toss – all that and more gave him a treasure trove of characters and incidents he can never exhaust
Anshul Chaturvedi and Aarushi Nigam (BOMBAY TIMES; September 26, 2018)

When you adapt Hamlet, you set it in a turbulent Kashmir. When you plan an international film, it’s on Osama bin Laden. When you’re doing Pataakha, something as ostensibly simple as a story of two sisters, you’re giving it an undercurrent of Vajpayee and the Indo-Pak relationship. What is the inherent affinity towards Hindustan-Pakistan, geopolitics?
Because it is so relevant for the times we are living in. Hum logon ki kya, poore South-East Asia ki problem khatam ho jaye agar India-Pakistan ki problem khatam ho jaye. Aur usske jo side effects hain, woh personally humein bhi affect karte hain kahin aake. Aur India-Pakistan ka toh mujhe humesha se laga hai, maybe I was born in Pakistan in my past life (laughs). I feel that there’s no point of us fighting so much. Iss relationship ke upar maine aur kayi kahaani karne ki koshish ki. But when I was exploring this story, toh mujhe yeh andaza aaya... bahut hi khoobsurat kahaani hai, ki these two sisters can’t live with each other or without each other. So when I completed the script, Mira Nair asked me – I was writing this script when I was doing the Broadway musical of Monsoon Wedding with her, and she came and asked me – ‘what are you writing?’ I narrated it to her, and she said, ‘Such a beautiful story. But why do they fight so much?’ I said, I have no answer, because whatever I want to make the reason feels so superficial, aur do behenon ke ladne ka koi reason hi nahi hai. Aur yehi (original) short story mein bhi tha ki woh dono agar ladein na toh unka khana nahi hazam hota tha.

Aur bhi kai logon ne poochha ki bhai yeh ladti kyun hain itna? Toh maine ek din aise hi bola, India-Pakistan kyun ladte hain? Hum log do behenon ki tarah hain, ya do bhaiyon ki tarah. Hum ek thay, ek din ek angrez ne humein kaat ke bol diya ki ab do desh ho gaye. Toh humko itna hate karne ki kya zaroorat hai? Theek hai, Partition mein itna kuch khoon kharaba hua, Hindus killed Muslims, Muslims killed Hindus, in equal measure. Today, even after 70 years, we have not been able to forget it.

Kya reason hai ki hum log itna hate karte hain – koi reason hi nahi hai! Aur hum hate kaise karte hain, we hate each other on the political level, but when we meet as people, we are different. London, Europe, America mein koi Pakistani taxi wala mil jaye, toh woh apne Lahore ki baatein bata deta hai, hum usse apne Bambai ki ghar ki baatein bata dete hain.

And then they don’t charge you money — ‘No, aap toh humare... aap Hindustan se hain, hum aapse paise kaise le sakte hain!’. Wohi aadmi 15 minute baad agar India-Pakistan ka match dekh raha hoga, toh woh bolega India ka harna sabse zyada zaroori hai (smiles). I felt the deeper level of our story, this layer, is the Indo-Pak relationship. And then I weaved that into the whole story.

The India-Pakistan atmosphere keeps changing. So when Pataakha is about to release, Sidhu is being called a Pakistani agent, a BSF jawan has been brutally killed on the border, SPOs have been abducted and killed in Kashmir, talks have been called off — how does a filmmaker balance the contrast between the current prevalent sentiment and his thought process?
India-Pakistan ki hawa toh har saat din mein badalti hai (smiles). Woh kab kahan se kuch ho jaye, pata nahi chalta. Aur humko film banane mein saalon lagte hain, so we can’t depend on ki jab film release hogi tab kya hawa hogi. Aur yeh film kisi ki side nahi le rahi hai. It’s talking about the enmity — the futile, needless, baseless and continuing enmity. Aur ussme kya aadat ho gayi hai — meri film ka character bolta hai, ‘70 saal se upar ho gaye hain, roz ladne ke naye bahaane dhoondh lete hain’. Toh mujhe lagta hai ki agar hum Kashmir resolve bhi kar lenge — jisko main mudda mana jaata hai — toh hum Jhumri Talaiyya pe ladne lagenge. Hum log chain se nahi baith payenge. So we really need to mature as people, because politics is going to remain the same. Politics is not going to change, that’s a given. No matter who comes. Hum log, as people, we can change. Through art we can change – ab usspe bhi asar hone laga hai. Pehle art ko chhora hua tha, ab yeh hai ki wahan ka artist ban kar do... and it’s so baseless. We should behave like mature people now.

Coming to the film, the teasers and especially the song Gali Gali give one the feeling that this has to be made by someone who’s very well acquainted with mud. How much of your own muds plattered childhood has gone into the film?
Dhool mein letne ka jo maza hai, marble pe woh maza nahi hai (laughs). And I think wohi hamara asli heartland, humara India toh wohi hai, ki jahan se hum hain. Aur jaise Gali Gali, jo Holi wala gana hai, kaun sa desh hai jahan iss tareeke se Holi kheli jati hai, ya iss tarah ka tyohar kahin hai? Aur itna khoobsurat tyohar hai, ki jis din aap bilkul kho jayiye, shakl aisi ho ki aapko koi pehchaan na sake. So yeh toh humare culture se hi hai.

The village rabble that you’ve created in Pataakha, or previously in films like Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola or Omkara – where does such bona fide ‘sadakchaap-pan’ come from? Abhishek Chaubey has earlier called you an expert of the Indian street...
(Laughs) Maine apna bachpan Meerut mein guzara hai, bachpan aur jawani dono. Main Delhi University mein aaya for college. Toh mere formative years – Class VI se XII tak – maine ek government inter-college mein padhai ki. Mere parents mujhe ek saal ke baad convent school mein shift karna chahte thay, aur poora hungama karke main ussme nahi gaya, kyunki mere uss waqt dost ban chuke thay. Halaanki usske baad kaafi time tak mujhe uss cheez ka complex raha, DU karne ke baad, that I should have shifted to a convent school. But when I became a filmmaker, I realised what God’s screenplay was for me. Langda Tyagi’s character, I saw because I was in that school. I saw so many gang wars. Government school mein uss waqt humari fees Rs 1 aur 26 paise thi, jabki convent school ki fees hogi kam se kam hazaar ya do hazaar. Toh wahan jo bhi students thay mere around, woh sab uss class se aate thay jo main kabhi apni zindagi mein experience nahi kar pata. I became friends with them, I used to go to their places. And my father was very evolved, he never made me realise that you should not go to ‘their’ houses or not mingle with ‘them’ – he let me be. Main toh Brahmin family se hoon, par main sportsman bana, aur cricket mein hum bahar khelne jaate thay, jab bahar baithte toh vegetarian daal aati thi Rs 10 ki aur unka chicken curry aata tha Rs 25 ka. Toh badi jealousy hoti thi ki yaar, issko pachchees rupaye ka chicken curry mil raha hai, aur mujhe dus rupaye ki daal. I became non-vegetarian for that.

Then I remember, mera ek Muslim dost tha... jahan se maine Muslim culture seekha itna, mere bahut Muslim friends thay, aur mujhe uss culture ka, uss zubaan ka bahut zyada shauk tha. Toh masjid ke saamne ek sheikh saab bahut hi badhiya haleem banate thay, aur wahan pe main ek din khada hoke haleem kha raha tha. Mere father se jaake kisi ne complaint kar di ki aapka beta masjid ke samne haleem kha raha tha (laughs)! When my father asked me, maine bola haan, toh kya burayi ho gayi? Main toh unke ghar roz jaake khata hoon... So wahan se main nikal ke aaya hoon. Aur abhi bhi, jitne characters maine use kar liye hain, usse hazaar-guna characters mere paas hain. Jab bhi main iss tarah ki film banane jaata hoon, mujhe itne incidents bachpan ke yaad aate hain. Jaise Pataakha mein ek sequence hai... bachpan mein jab hum cricket ya gulli danda ya kanche khelte thay, toh toss karne ke liye nahi hota tha, toh pathhar uthake uss par spit karte thay, aur ‘geel-sookh’ karte thay, instead of ‘heads or tails’. Iss poori film mein woh ‘geel-sookh toss’ ka itna bada event hai. This came from my childhood again. So itna sara kuch andar jama hua hai ki ussko jitna kharch karoon, kam hai. Aur isliye mera bada mann karta hai, ki main wapas jaake — although now it becomes very difficult to go and live like a common person, or the common boy I used to be in Meerut.

This is the second time that you have made a comedy, after Matru..., which had got mixed reviews. At that point, had you thought most people didn’t get your film because of its political satire? And had you thought you’d make a comedy again?
Actually woh satire tha, this is not a satire. This is a pure comedy. Aur issme ek layer doosri hai that makes it profound. But Matru... was different, it was against capitalism. Jo bhi capitalism ka haal hai India mein, usske against, land-grabbing ke against, itna zyada gussa tha, ki gusse ko nikaalne ka tareeka hans ke bolna tha. Toh isliye that was a totally different film for me. This is a pure relationship film of two girls, where I could find India-Pakistan.

You’ve also announced your trilogy based on Shakespeare’s comedies. After having done his trilogy of tragedies, do you think it takes a bigger genius to make a great comedy than a great tragedy?
To make a comedy is the most difficult thing. To do humour is a very difficult thing. It’s easy to make a tragedy. But even my tragedy films have a black humour, and I think even Shakespeare’s Macbeth didn’t have that kind of humour — whether it was Pandit-Purohit in Maqbool, or Salman and Salman in Haider, or Langda Tyagi (originally) was not as colourful and humourous as he was in Omkara. So that black humour, I can never leave, but yes, coming to your question, comedy is the most difficult thing to make. And I want to try these three comedies by Shakespeare, starting with Twelfth Night.

Upala KBR (DNA; December 14, 2015)


Maneesh Sharma
Band Baaja Baaraat (2010)
and Ladies vs Ricky Behl (2011)
Anushka has done not only my debut film Band Baaja Baaraat, but I was also very involved with the casting process of Adi’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. I was an associate director when Adi was looking for a new girl for the film. I was the one responsible for the casting and was meeting various girls. At that point, it was under wraps that it was for an Aditya Chopra film. We were casting it as a YRF film. During one of these screen tests, in comes this girl… I was playing table tennis and perspiring a bit. When Anushka saw me, she was initially a little disgusted seeing my sweaty self, but then as we got talking, we became comfortable. My first impression of her was — here’s this girl who has come to audition and there was a strange self-assuredness and confidence. I have met lots of young talent since then and most have been nervous, but Anushka was professional, practical and gave it her best shot. I have always found this self-assuredness of hers very non-filmi. This attitude she has carried in her personality and for me, that’s the best part. I told Adi, ‘I think we have found our Tani’. He asked me ‘Why do you say that?’ I said, ‘Because she’s such a natural.’ Anushka has such a baggage-less way of performing in front of the camera which is her USP. Adi told me that Anushka acchi hai, but we should not stop our hunt. I next met Anushka at one of the fashion weeks in Delhi. It was a good stop for fresh talent, so I got an all-access backstage pass. I asked her to give me a perspective on the other girls I was meeting there. She knew they were potential competitors, but yet she participated whole-heartedly and was very fair to all the girls I met, who’s good and what the model excelled at. I told her, ‘I hope you realise that I am still looking for a new girl to play the part,’ and Anushka looked at me and said simply, ‘That’s all about destiny.’ That had a lasting impression on me. Her mixture of innocence, confidence and integrity played on me in a big way. I came back to Mumbai, told Adi and as they say… the rest is history. Maybe because we almost started our careers together, I had that connect with Anushka. She sets herself apart as a presence. In the first couple of years of her starting out, she couldn’t communicate too well with the normal audience, but I had faith in her. When we started Band Baaja Baaraat, I was adamant that Anushka play Shruti Kakkar, we now just had to figure out our Bittu. There was never any doubt in terms of her integral talent and it just became better and better. She was doing a film with Aditya Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan at just 19. She could have been a precocious kid, but she came without any baggage. Maybe because I have grown up with Anushka with regard to our careers, I am a little biased towards her.

She does films selectively and that’s a good thing. Anushka has achieved a position where she can choose to be selective. She is working with the best directors we have today and while she’s most passionate about her films, yet films are not the be-all and end-all for her. She loves to spend time with her family and friends and travel. Today, she can just take time and choose the scripts she wants to do and believes in. Anushka has an admirable integrity. The film she chose to produce first, shows that. Strangely, Anushka never surprises me that much while performing a scene. Her high degree of performance is a layered craft. As an actress and a director, we have an equation — we don’t talk much while shooting. I have to just say one line and she understands what I am trying to convey. We kind of know what’s expected, our connection is so strong. She stems from a place so honest and from the gut and heart, that individually, she strikes the right chord.

Zoya Akhtar
Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)
I met Anushka at Shah Rukh’s home at a party thrown by Gauri on their terrace. She and I hung out and spoke for some time and I found her refreshingly unaffected and unassuming after Band Baaja Baaraat’s success. I just liked her and connected with her energy and knew that at some point that I wanted to work with her. Anushka is a delight to work with — very easy and relatable. She’s into what she does and really cares about your film. There’s a mutual respect between us. Dealing with her was very simple. During the shooting of DDD, we would often dock at a town or city for a day, when we were not shooting. People would go out. Once in Rome, she was out for the day and it started raining. I called and told her that we can’t shoot the scene and if she could come back and shoot on board. Anushka came back and was ready in just half an hour! I think Anushka is doing very well in her career and making the right choices. I really look forward to working with her again.

Vishal Bhardwaj
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013)
Though I loved Anushka right from Band Baaja Baaraat, I can’t forget her very impressive debut in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. She is one of the finest actresses among the new lot and always the first choice for Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola. Anushka is a very professional actor. She did a very difficult ‘drunk’ scene opposite Pankaj Kapur in a completely sober state. Anushka not only stood her ground against an experienced actor like Pankaj Kapur but also delivered a layered, finely-nuanced performance way beyond her age and experience in the film.

Rajkumar Hirani
PK (2014)
My first encounter with Anushka was when she messaged me during Band Baaja Baaraat asking me when I would like to watch the film. I had to politely decline saying I wasn’t in town. Later, when I heard that the film was very good I went one night to the theatre to watch it, I came back completely blown by it. I called her after that saying how much I loved it. Then, when I was writing for PK, I decided that Anushka was the right girl to play Jagat Janani Sahni or Jaggu. I bumped into her at a trial of Rockstar. After the trial, I went to her and told her that I had written a script and would like to meet and talk to her about it. She didn’t reply, but kept on talking about some scene in Rockstar and how it made her cry. I was like ‘Oh, she’s not responding!’ but she continued talking and not once mentioned my script. I thought, maybe she wasn’t interested. When I got a call from her the next day asking, ‘Did you offer me a film? I am sorry I was completely ignoring what you were saying as I was into this and that.’ She was surprised that I didn’t want to do an audition or even do a reading with her, but I was very sure that only she could do it. Anushka is a wonderful actress to work with. It took us some time to complete the film but she was there everyday, sitting and reading. She is involved in everything, from the way she would do her look to her character. We made her change her hairstyle and she was so excited that she wanted to cut it short but because she was doing Bombay Velvet, she couldn’t as there would be continuity problems. Every person has a different way of working, Aamir and Boman love rehearsals and with Anushka, we did lots of rehearsals and she was always there. I knew what path she was taking. She would be sitting and rehearsing quietly in a corner and doing her bit. She is very dedicated. If she has an issue about something, she will call and ask me ‘Can we do it like this?’ She’s involved and yet, not pushy. Anushka has a very interesting voice and she uses that well. I saw NH10 and think it’s her finest work till date, PK included. I loved her in BBB, it’s what made me take her in PK, but I was blown by her performance in it. She made you scared, especially in the last scene. To do a manly scene like that for a girl is very tough and yet, because you believe in what she’s doing, you are rooting for her. Anushka is still a middle-class girl from a small town. She still hasn’t got so used to all the glamour and fame. I wish she stays like that forever.

Nikhil Advani
Patiala House (2011)
Anushka is an anomaly. She’s extremely headstrong. She came to my office when she was signed by YRF for a three-film deal, so I thought she wasn’t doing films outside. I felt I had to speak to Adi. She called me up and asked me why I did that? Her whole point was – ‘Why do people assume I cannot make decisions by myself?’ I thought I was making the right moves from one producer to another and not offending anybody, but she was like, ‘Pick up the phone and speak to me! You don’t have to go through layers to contact me.’ Even now, when I want to pitch stuff to her, I just send her a message and she messages back. I find that a very endearing quality in her. She keeps in touch with the people that she’s worked with. What struck me about her, is her approach to their work. Anushka becomes like an AD on the set, thinking not only what’s best for her own characters, but things which contribute to the film as a whole. Yet, she is very caring about her films and character and the people she loves. She’s extremely bindaas about whatever she does. She says that her private life is nobody’s business and sticks to that. She may be called an ice maiden because of that, but she is ‘take it or leave it’. Certain things are off-limits and she’s very clear about her boundaries which few are allowed to transgress.

Parmeet Sethi
Badmaash Company (2010)
"I had seen Rab Ne… and seen this very Indian girl (Anushka Sharma) when Adi suggested her name for my film. I was unsure as I didn’t know how she would perform. Her Badmaash Company character Bulbul Singh was very bold, outspoken and sexy and the complete opposite of the image she had in RNBDJ. But then, the actor in me, questioned me and pointed out that people did the same thing with me and typecast me. When I met Anushka for the first time in the YRF office, she was very talkative. She started chattering and I realised that this is exactly the character that I wanted. I don’t have to direct her — she was such a motormouth! I was like wow! That was my first impression of her. Through the making of the film, I discovered that Anushka has so many layers to her. According to me, she is the best actress in Bollywood today. She hasn’t got her due yet though she’s doing great in her career. The beauty of Anushka is that she understands what you want effortlessly. Just a nudge and in the next shot, she will give you exactly that. She is spontaneous and natural as an actor. she has just gone from strength to strength in her career. Being selective is good for her as she wants to make the right choice in scripts. She carried NH10 on her shoulders, made the real moves and on a low budget.

Navdeep Singh
NH10 (2015)
I first bumped into Anushka at Anurag Kashyap’s office but I don’t think she remembers that meeting. I had sent across the NH10 script to her and while she had read the script earlier, she couldn’t do it as she was busy with Bombay Velvet. Then she contacted me and asked me to come over to her house for a meeting. I was very impressed and taken aback by how open and honest she was the first time I met her. She was not starry at all and easy to connect with. The other producer had asked me to give a particular pitch, but I gave her the real pitch and she was happy about that. Anushka said, ‘You have told me the truth, now I really want to do it.’ As a producer, she is totally supportive. She was the only producer on set and gave us whatever resources we needed. She’s totally supportive as a producer and very hands-off creatively. Best combo ever. Before the shoot, we had workshops for a month. We shot the film in Gurgaon near Haryana and parts of it, at a village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The locales were gritty and real and I was worried if she could handle it, being a star. But Anushka is very fit physically and zero-fuss and handled it all with aplomb. She is up for just about everything. Though we had a body double we didn’t end up using her as most of the stunts have been done by Anushka. Once while shooting in Haryana, a mob of 3000 men surrounded our car. It was on our fifth day of shoot and I was terrified for Anushka. I thought now we can’t shoot the film. There were just a few cops and couldn’t really do anything. We sat inside the car and just locked the door. Anushka was completely calm while I was panicking sitting in the backseat with the cameraman and looking out. Anushka just sat calmly and asked, ‘Itne saare log hamein dekhne aaye hain?’ As an actress, Anushka’s willing to go that extra distance and be vulnerable on screen. She let herself look dirty, muddied up and mascara running down her face which few actresses would do. Anushka is not afraid of showing her vulnerability on screen which is a great quality. She does not hide behind a shield or mask. So, I connect to the person as opposed to the star. She’s talented, dedicated and hard-working, combined with her ability to be vulnerable as an actor. The whole shoot was memorable! All I will tell Anushka is, “Stay real!”

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; April 2, 2014)

We reported a few days back how Vishal Bhardwaj has been invited to direct a play at Paris’s Chatelet theatre. We have now learnt that Vishal has also been invited to convert his film Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola into a Broadway-style musical at the same theatre. What’s interesting is that this musical will be in Hindi with English subtitles flashed on the screen. And while Vishal will be casting afresh for the musical, as he needs singers who can go live on stage, he plans to retain Pankaj Kapur from his original cast, as Pankajji, in addition to being a great actor, is also a great singer.