Exclusive: Jagga Jasoos is a full-on musical, says Anurag Basu

Anurag Basu’s magnum opus, Jagga Jasoos, finally has an official release date. After much ado, the Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif starrer is all set to release on July 14 and the duo has started the promotions for the flick as well.  What surprised many was the lack of dialogues even as the trailer of the film was released and director Anurag Basu confirms that everything in the film is expressed in a lyrical form. So has Anurag done away with the dialogues completely, we ask.

“Yes, Jagga Jasoos is a full-on musical and everything in the film is said in a musical form.” There were rumours initially that the musical format had been scrapped. But, Anurag  denies any such change of plans. “We never deviated from that format, although people wrote that we had changed our mind and were making the film in a different format but that wasn’t the case,” he explains.

The film was postponed multiple times and took over three years to hit the screen. However, the director never bothered to clear the air and correct the misconceptions about his film. “I never bothered to correct the errors being spread about the film. Why should I? I was too busy trying to make the film that I wanted to. Also, I feel there is no point in explaining what your film is about. Let it be seen. The film will speak for itself,” Anurag asserts.

Is it a full-blown Broadway-styled musical in Hindi, we ask.  “I wouldn’t say it’s a Broadway-styled musical. It is far more Indian in tone and treatment,” says Anurag. As for the difficulties in tackling the novel format of storytelling the director shrugs, “It wasn’t difficult for me to do the musical format on the screen.

I’ve done the format in theatre. So it was only a matter of translocating the format,” he shares matter-of-factly.  Anurag gives his music composer  Pritam Chakraborty credit for the musical wholeness of his film. “My long-term musical collaborator Pritam, is the real power behind  Jagga  Jasoos. He has given me all the songs and music that I wanted. Without  Pritamda Jagga  Jasoos wouldn’t have been possible,” he says.