Shoojit Sircar on B-town stars battling mental health: 'I can see that loneliness'

Abhishek Bachchan in a still from I Want to Talk

At the moment, Shoojit Sircar is all about observing and learning. Reason? His latest film, I Want to Talk, had a slow start at the box office. "The pre- and post-COVID releases are a different dynamic altogether. I'm getting beautiful reactions from whoever is walking into the theatres. But I would have expected a bit more footfall," the director tells us candidly over a phone call.

But that hasn't shaken his faith in the Abhishek Bachchan-starrer. Or in his brand of cinema. Over the years, the filmmaker has championed middle-of-the-road films - from Vicky Donor (2012) to October (2018) - in an industry that values mainstream entertainers and box-office numbers over all else. "That persistence is required, otherwise filmmakers like me will vanish. It's my job as a filmmaker to tell a different kind of story.

Pic/Sameer Markande

Somewhere, I need the support of the audience, too, to survive. Many recent films that fall in this category have slowly grown and I am expecting my film to grow in the coming weeks," he says optimistically. In I Want to Talk, Sircar tells the true story of a cancer patient, who was told he had 100 days to live, but went on to create a longer and beautiful life for himself. The film has themes that are recurring in the director's world - death, hope, and mental health.

"We are always fearful whenever the word death [comes up] or when we have to explain it to a child. I have embraced it in such a way that it makes me free of fear, and opens me up to live in joy, awe and wonder. In these times of mental issues, I want people to have hope, and maybe my device to make them more hopeful is death," he shares, adding that the movie is also inspired by his observation of the mental health challenges that his colleagues from the film industry face.

Abhishek in I Want to Talk

Sircar says, "I do a lot of healing. [Mental health issues] are so rampant in our industry, you can't imagine. With their make-up on, artistes can smile at you, laugh, hug you, and show off, but I have seen deep inside in their eyes a lot of insecurity and mental pressure; I can see that loneliness. Many times I have taken them to a corner, spoken to them and they have started crying. That has given me a lot of understanding."

As we talk about the film industry, it's impossible not to mention how his movies have almost always been led by top Bollywood stars, who turn up in non-glamorous avatars for the parts - be it Deepika Padukone in Piku (2015), Varun Dhawan in October (2018) and Vicky Kaushal in Sardar Udham (2021). The realisation has hit Sircar only now, with I Want to Talk. "If someone in front of you feels not so insecure and calms down, a lot of things can happen. The most important thing is to calm them down and get them out of their vanity. We call them stars, but at the end of the day, they are also normal people. Because of the pressure of vanity, they carry it to the set also. But if you calm their nerves down, they will understand the character more."

So, what is the filmmaker up to next? He laughs and replies, "I have nothing right now. I may work on a romantic or a mythological project. I'm working on a couple of subjects."