Tigmanshu Dhulia on K Asif Biopic
mumbai:Tigmanshu Dhulia says that the idea of a biopic on “Mughal-E-Azam” director K Asif first came up with the late Irrfan and even though the actor is no longer there, the producer was determined to realize the dream. Reflecting on their shared dreams on Irrfan’s fourth death anniversary on Wednesday, Tigmanshu said he felt the actor encouraged him to complete the project from beyond. Irrfan passed away on April 29, 2020, at the age of 54, after a battle with a rare neuroendocrine tumor.
“This is the film that I have been working on for a long time and it all started when I talked to Irrfan that one day we will work on this film and make this film, it was a biopic of K Asif, the director of ‘Mughal-E-Azam’.
“I wanted to make this film with Irrfan and I know Irrfan did not stop me and rather said, ‘Make this film’,” Dhulia said at the special screening of “A Story That Refuses to Die”, the documentary on “Paan Singh Tomar”.
The 2012 biographical drama chronicled the extraordinary life of Tomar, a national steeplechase champion who represented India at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, before he joined the army. He was forced to become a violent dacoit due to land dispute at home.
“Paan Singh Tomar” is also among the most acclaimed films in the careers of both Dhulia and Irrfan. The producer said that he met Irrfan at the National School of Drama in Delhi in the late 1980s and the two became friends.
Dhulia directed the actor in his directorial debut “Haasil” in 2003 and later worked in “Charas” (2004), “Paan Singh Tomar” (2012) and “Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns” (2013). The director-actor duo has redefined realistic storytelling in Indian cinema.
“We would often discuss a scene that forms the backbone of the film and sets the ‘wall’ of the film. I used to do this in every film I did with him,” Dhulia said at the event.
The filmmaker also talked about films that could not be made, such as period drama “Ghulami” starring Irrfan, Sunny Deol and Sameera Reddy. Work on the film was halted after three days due to budget problems.
Another such film was “The Killing of a Porn Filmmaker”, for which he shot for a week and even recorded songs with Sneha Khanwalkar, who would later produce “Gangs of Wasseypur”.
“For ‘Ghulami’, we had a huge set and started shooting. It was about 1857, which is my favorite period in history. We had bought weapons, costumes, actors, youth, artists, horses, etc. from London. After three days of shooting, the producer stopped the film due to financial reasons. It was an expensive film and our two years of hard work came to a halt,” the director recalls.
Dhulia said something similar happened in their debut film “Haasil”.
The film’s producers refused to submit the film for national award consideration following a dispute with them. Irrfan won the national film award for Best Actor for his performance in the movie “Paan Singh Tomar”.
“The film is usually sent for the National award along with the referral, but the producers had so much trouble with me that they did not send it. Actually, if it had been sent, Irrfan could have won the national award for ‘Haasil’, but he won Filmfare and similar awards.”
Interestingly, Dhulia said that Irrfan was chosen in the movie “Maqbool” because of his “Haasil”.
“Irrfan fooled me because no one was buying our film and he told me that he was talking to a distributor. We had trialled ‘Haasil’ at Dimple (theatre) and after some time he (Vishal Bhardwaj) came with 3 to 4 people, saw it (the film) and Irrfan bought ‘Maqbool’.”
According to Dhulia, during the shooting of their second film “Charas”, Irrfan refused to shave his beard due to his commitment to “Maqbool”.
Recalling that he shot an action scene for “Charas” in the crowded market of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, the filmmaker said, “I had a fight with Irrfan over his beard growth. He said, ‘I won’t cut my beard because I have to make Vishal’s film,’ and I said, ‘How will we shoot?’ I said.
“He did not shave his beard and shot the series by hiding his beard somehow. He was a ‘khatarnak’ actor and used to do such things. He has a beard in the movie, no one knows that he has a beard.”
Dhulia also shared that Irrfan did not like the ending of “Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns”, which was the last movie they acted in together.
“We never had any serious fights. We had multiple fights with him, misbehaved with each other but then the next moment we were okay with each other,” she said and added that Irrfan is her only friend in the film industry.
The filmmaker recalled his early days at NSD, where Irrfan was his senior.
“He was an introvert, he didn’t have many friends, the way he gave interviews in this documentary wasn’t that outspoken. He grew up and if he were there today, I wonder how much more he would have grown up. He wasn’t like he was 20 years ago and I didn’t see that quality in a lot of people,” Dhulia recalled.
