Director Shoojit Sircar and his producing partner Ronnie Lahiri are confident that the story of "Piku", starring Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan and Deepika Padukone, will connect with the audience through its "endearing" portrayal of a family.
"It is a very simple father-daughter drama. Nothing is overdone in the film. It is a new genre for us. I told Juhi (Chaturvedi) that I should take the audience into the middle of a family. You feel like you are in the drawing room of this family. You follow some four or five beautiful characters," Shoojit told PTI in an interview. "There is nothing definite about the story. It is just about a working girl (Piku) and her father in Delhi. How they deal with their everyday problems, forms the plot." The movie, slated to hit the screens on May 8, marks the coming together of Shoojit, Ronnie and scriptwriter Juhi Chaturvedi, the winning team behind "Vicky Donor".
It has been produced by MSM Motion Pictures, Saraswati Entertainment and Rising Sun Films. YRF is distributing it. Ronnie said he liked the quirkiness of the idea but also the fact that its heart was in the right place. "Comedy can't be just slapstick. Like 'Vicky', this one was a quirky idea but with a heart. This is why we decided to produce it and approached the actors. With Mr Bachchan we have a long standing relationship and we even did a film called 'Shoebite' together but unfortunately it did not release," Ronnie said.
The producer and director, who are behind Rising Sun Films, are happy with the response to the trailer, which shows Bachchan as an elderly man troubled with constipation problem. Shoojit jokingly refers to it as his "below the belt philosophies".
"Irrfan and Deepika's pairing is unusual. I am glad that all three agreed to work on the film. They are great in their field. Irrfan is the finest actor that we have, Mr Bachchan is a legend while Deepika is the number one heroine today and a great actor. You will see Mr Bachchan in a new avatar. I am honoured to work with them." The "Madras Cafe" helmer and Ronnie are also nurturing a number of other projects including "Running Shaadi.com" under the banner.
"It is directed by Amit Roy, who was the DoP on 'Sarkar' and also an old friend from Delhi. He narrated the idea and, after the success of 'Madras Cafe', we decided to also produce films with younger directors," said Ronnie, adding they want to leave behind a legacy of good films. The producer and director are confident that the recent box office luck of content-driven movies like "Badlapur" and "NH10" will rub off on "Piku". "This year the films that have done business are only the so called out-of-the-box movies. Even at National awards, 'Haider' and 'Queen', which are not traditionally mainstream, were recognised. Audience today don't want to leave their brain behind because movie watching is an expensive experience today," said Ronnie.
Shoojit pointed out that even big stars are hungry for roles in movies that are driven by a good story. "Even the big actors want to do unconventional movies. They are aware of the limitations of the mainstream spectacles. We experienced it with 'Vicky Donor' which competed with some of the biggest mainstream films that year."
