Exclusive: Vidhu Vinod Chopra to direct film on Kashmiri Pandits this year

The heat hits one like a furnace as you enter the Biennale venue in Kochi. The benches placed under trees offer little respite from the scorching sun. So when acclaimed director/ producer/editor Vidhu Vinod Chopra walks in to Aspinwall House accompanied by his movie critic wife Anupama Chopra, he first comments on the heat, while blotting beads of perspiration from his face. That discomfort is forgotten and replaced by a child-like enthusiasm and glee as he walks around taking in the exhibits and listening attentively to his guide. This is his first visit to the Biennale and he looks at this tour as a complete break from thinking and obsessing about cinema which is a gargantuan task for the successful filmmaker who is known to live, sleep and breathe films.

Talking about the various exhibits, he states, “I am so obsessed with cinema that I am constantly watching, writing, directing and creating music for movies. So it is cinema, cinema and cinema for me! This tour of the Biennale is like liberating myself from that. I get to see art outside the movie theatre and find it fascinating because I am so obsessed with films. All this is very inspiring.” Vidhu had been to Kochi once before, but this is his first trip to the biannual event and he is extremely thrilled about it.

Kerala has been an influence on Vidhu as he reveals, “I am building a farmhouse near Mumbai on the lakeside and I want to make a house based on the Kerala architectural style. I have called an architect specifically for this because I find the Kerala style very alluring and different.” It is not only the architecture that has caught Vidhu’s eye— a particular young actor’s talent too has not gone unnoticed by the ace filmmaker who reveals the name. “I  spoke to Dulquer Salmaan after I saw his work and I found his film to be absolutely fascinating. I hope to work with him one day— he is that good.           

What is funny is that I am here in Kochi and he is in Mumbai so I haven’t met him even once but I would like to work with him! He is one amongst the best actors we have today.” The filmmaker, who has helmed and produced successful films like Parinda, 1942 A Love Story, Munnabhai MBBS, 3 Idiots and PK, is not in a hurry to add numbers to his filmography and he comes out with a film every three years. Asked about the much-discussed Sunjay Dutt biopic with Ranbir Kapoor in the lead produced by him, Vidhu laughs and asks to talk about something other than films. After a moment’s thought, Vidhu says, “Cinema is an art. What is sad is that people are not striving in the genre of popular cinema which is what I make.”

Explaining his thoughts on the mad rat race in Bollywood, he opines, “There is an old saying that even if you win a rat race, you still remain a rat! I come from a small village in Kashmir and the rat race does not interest nor involve me. I don’t want to be on top of the heap because frankly speaking, it is a heap of shit and I don’t want to be there!” Vidhu expresses his thoughts on the kind of cinema he likes to do, “I am going to direct a movie this year hopefully, which is about 30 years of Kashmir and the Kashmiri Pandit exodus which started in 1987. It took me a long while to write this and while writing it, I was not planning to make a movie out of it.” Vidhu wrote the story because he loved the whole process of writing and putting his thoughts on paper, but it reached a stage where he felt it had to be made into a movie. He reveals, “Even on the flight to Kochi, I was writing a few scenes, so I am totally obsessed with that.”

The long gaps between Vidhu’s films is also deliberate as he explains, “It takes me time— like this movie has taken me four-five years and when you see the film, you will understand why!” He gives shape to his  thoughts by saying, “When you are striving for perfection, you may reach it or you may fail, but it will take time. I make one film in four years instead of four films in a year but I enjoy the process and put my life and soul into it. That may not be everyone’s cup of tea nor am I saying I am a genius. But this is what I do.” Anupama has been his soul mate and he fondly looks at her and says, “She is a fine woman! We do not discuss professional matters, but she is an inspiring woman. My 15-year-old daughter Zuni has just written a book and she has been an inspiration there too.” Ending on that note, he goes on to take in the rest of the tour.