Shoojit Sircar Saw ‘Vulnerable’ Abhishek Bachchan On I Want To Talk Set, Compares His ‘Warmth’ To Jaya Bachchan’s | Exclusive – News18

Last Updated:November 21, 2024, 08:15 IST

Shoojit Sircar says Abhishek Bachchan felt no pressure to play a part that was supposed to be played by Irrfan in I Want To Talk.

I Want To Talk marks Shoojit Sircar’s first collaboration with Abhishek Bachchan. The director recently revealed on Cyrus Broacha’s podcast that Abhishek was, in fact, not his first choice and that it was Irrfan’s name that came to his mind initially when the idea of the film came to him. In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Shoojit says that even after his death, he’s often the first actor he thinks of whenever he reads a script.

He tells us, “While I’m scripting, he’s always in my head. Whenever I get a script, my immediate thought is, what if Irrfan could’ve done it and how he would do it. He passed away in April 2020 and we started conceiving the idea of the film and working on it from August onwards. But Irrfan hasn’t left and that’s why I said that what I did (smiles).”

In fact, Shoojit didn’t shy away from telling Abhishek about who his first choice for I Want To Talk was. But he’s quick to add that Bachchan Junior took it to his stride. “I, in fact, told Abhishek that you’re actually playing a character that was supposed to be played by Irrfan. He didn’t take it as pressure. He told me that he would give it his all and he did,” states the Piku and October director.

He goes on to laud Abhishek and compares his eyes to that of his mother, Jaya Bachchan, and this is something that Shoojit discovered after I Want To Talk went on floors. “Abhishek talks a lot. And when he’s quiet, his eyes speak like Jaya di’s and you’ll understand it if you see her in Dhanyee Meye, Guddi and Koshish with Sanjeev Kumar. She has a lot of beauty and warmth in her. I’ve been a fan of Jaya di. When we started shooting and I looked at the camera, I thought Abhishek has a lot of things about her in him. In the same way, when you go back and watch Jaya di’s films, you’ll find Abhishek,” he points out.

The process of filming also gave Shoojit the chance to unravel a side to Abhishek he didn’t know earlier. “After meeting him, we started doing a lot of prep work and rehearsals together. And through that process, I started getting to know Abhishek, the person. I tried probing him. I used to ask him questions and he would react and over time, I got to see the softer side of him. He’s very vulnerable and charming,” he remarks.

Interestingly, I Want To Talk is a real-life story of one of Shoojit’s friends, Arjun Sen, who survived against all odds through his battle with multi-organ cancer. “Sometimes, you talk to a person everyday but don’t realise that their story can also be interesting. Sometimes, ordinary people can also make a very good film. I saw humour in his survival story. So, I look at I Want To Talk as a funny film. That’s the core essence of this film and that’s why I made it,” he says.