Sujoy Ghosh on Kahaani completing 5 years, and working with Vidya Balan

As his film Kahaani completes five years, filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh talks about his journey of making the film and how it changed his life.

Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh’s mystery thriller film, Kahaani, has completed five years, and he says the film was and will always remain a turning point in his career. “I can’t believe it’s been five years. The film changed a lot on our career front. So many great things have happened since then,” he says.

Sujoy Ghosh says he really wanted to work with actor Vidya Balan. (Yogen Shah)

The story of the film revolves around the struggle of a pregnant woman, who is in search of her husband. Actor Vidya Balan received appreciation from both her fans and critics for portraying the lead character in the film. Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who played IB Officer A. Khan, became a household name after the film’s release. “Kahaani happened after 12 long years of struggle,” Nawazuddin was quoted as saying when asked about his journey in films.

Actor Vidya Balan in a still from the 2012 film, Kahaani.

However, the making of Kahaani was no less than a struggle, says Ghosh, while talking about the financial problems that the film faced. “We hardly had any money while making the film. But the team believed in the script, which is why we could go ahead and make it,” he says, adding, “Also, I was working with these people and the team for the first time. Even with Vidya, this was my first film. Everything was new on the set.”

Interesting trivia about the film

1. Saswata Chatterjee — who played Bob Biswas (a killer who’d receive pictures of his future victims on phone) — does not use a phone in real life.

2. Vidya took tips from her sister Priya, who was pregnant at the time, to prepare for her role. “Vidya was very keen to get all the nuances right and it was sheer coincidence that during the same time, her sister was also pregnant. So, whenever she would get time, Vidya talked to her and also observed her mannerisms, movements and mood during pregnancy,” a source close to Vidya was quoted as saying back then.

3. Director Sujoy Ghosh shot the entire film on the streets on Kolkata and this was suggested to him by Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee.

4. In the film, Nawazuddin’s character smokes the same brand of cigarettes that Nawaz used to smoke during his struggling days.

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