‘Delhi is not just India Gate and Lal Qila, it’s way beyond that’
Delhiites who have watched the Varun Dhawan-starrer October, which released this April, would remember how filmmaker Shoojit Sircar romances Delhi on camera throughout the movie. We meet Sircar on yet another trip to the Capital, and he tells us with a big smile, “I love Delhi.”
An alumnus of Delhi University’s Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Sircar says that Delhi has been his muse in almost all the films he has directed. “My writer Juhi (Chaturvedi) has lived in Delhi [too]. So, we placed October in Delhi. My earlier films are also in Delhi, but a different kind of Delhi. Like Piku (2015) had a very CR Park kind of Delhi. Vicky Donor (2012) had CR Park and Lajpat Nagar — that’s another kind of Delhi. Pink (2016) had a very dark Delhi. So I thought I [need to show] this Delhi also, that’s very poetic... like the IIT, the gardens of Delhi. A lot of people don’t know [about it].”
From the city parks, where flowers flourish, to the solitary lanes of Delhi-NCR, including Gurugram, the director has shown various facets of the city. “Delhi is not just India Gate and Lal Qila, it’s way beyond that. There are a lot of things that’s Delhi, which only a Dilliwalla can understand,” he laughs. “That first shot [of October] in the mist and the train, the gardens... There are so many parks in Delhi, which the city is famous for; and they’re really beautiful. Every colony has parks, especially the south of Delhi. So I wanted to explore that poetry in the film. And I’m happy that I managed it. And this flower (shiuli) is very common in all the parks. In Kolkata also I used to collect it. Even Juhi had the plant in her house, when she was in Lucknow. This poetry I wanted people to feel…” says Sircar.
During his college days in the Capital, did he visit Delhi’s many parks? “Oh, yeah,” he says, “I had a close friend of mine from college and school (Kendriya Vidyalaya, Andrews Ganj). His name was Dheeraj Wadhwa. We didn’t have a place to sit quietly and study. So there were many days when he’d take me to Lodi Gardens, and we’d spread a chadar (bed sheet) and sit there, and we’d take out our tiffins and he’d teach me maths, accounts, and economics. The whole day, we’d lie around and study.”
There were other parks in student Shoojit’s life, too. He recalls, “I lived in the south, near Tughlaqabad. My father was in the Air Force station. I used to go to Tughlaqabad Fort, and there’s a huge city park there — a big city forest. They were so beautiful. So I’ve been to those parks.” But only for studying? Sircar pauses, smiles and adds, “Yes, only for studying. When I got to Mumbai, I missed the Delhi parks and grounds.”
That first shot [of October] in the mist and the train, the gardens... There are so many parks in Delhi, which the city is famous for; and they’re really beautiful... So I wanted to explore that poetry in the film.
SHOOJIT SIRCAR
FILMMAKER