Even though Dibakar Banerjee has been a part of the Indian film industry for just about eight, the filmmaker has most certainly carved a niche for himself courtesy some highly relatale films such as ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’, ‘LSD’, ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla and ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’.
In this exclusive interaction, he talks to IBNLive about his latest production venture ‘Titli’, highlighting the relevance of its title. Furthermore, he opens up about the challenges faced by him in his career.
What encouraged you to produce ‘Titli’?
I felt that the script of ‘Titli’ was absolutely brilliant. In a way, I just fell in love with it and wanted to direct the film. However, as Kanu( Behl) was directing it the next best thing I could do was produce it. Moreover, Kanu is someone I know pretty well. He had assisted me on ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ and written ‘LSD’. This was another behind my association with ‘Titli’.
What is the reason behind choosing ‘Titli’ as the film’s title?
Titli is the name of the protagonist. Moreover, it also highlights a crucial aspect of the film’s narrative. The protagonist was given a feminine name by his grandmother as the family already had two sons at the time of his birth and was keen to have a female child.
As such, the title ‘Titli’ refers to how parents often impose their unfulfilled dreams and expectations on their children.
‘
Titli’ does not have a big name in the cast. Will this affect its commercial prospects?
We are very well aware of these limitations. And ‘Titli’ has been made keeping them in mind. The film’s production cost is extremely low. And moreover, the marketing budget has been kept to a bare minimum. Instead of doing any extensive marketing, we have carefully used the digital media to create an awareness about ‘Titli’. In fact in terms of marketing costs, this could be one of the most economical films in the country.
Is the ‘100 crore club’ a viable yardstick for judging a film’s success?
There are two important parameters to determining a film’s success—the quality and the amount of money earned. Everybody wants his/her film to earn money. If a movie finds financial success then it is a winner and nobody can deny that. However, the overall budget of the film must also be taken into consideration while using this yardstick.
How did your tryst with filmmaking begin?
I don’t think there was any turning point or anything of that sort. I was interested in films and filmmaking right from a very young age. Moreover, I was also quite fond of films made by the likes of Satyajit Ray and Sekhar Kapur. This fuelled my interest in cinema even further.
What has been the most difficult phase of career till now?
The most difficult phase of my career was the wait before the Khosla Ka Ghosla’s release. Everything was uncertain at that time. Interestingly, Kanu too went through the same phase with his film. One can survive/overcome this phase only if he has faith in his film and the people associated with it.
Did your experience in makings ad-films come in handy when you made the switch to feature films?
Making ad-films helped me understand the technical aspects of the craft such as storyboard a lot better. This is something that has come in handy over the years.
If given an opportunity, which is the one film you would want to remake?
The one film that I want to remake is ‘Raging Bull’. I simply love its artistry and intensity.
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