Dubbing Srijit Mukerji’s Begum Jaan a “masterpiece,” film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, who has been in the Indian film industry for 47 years, believes the project is a “homecoming” for him; a reminder of the cinema that was once his hallmark.
A Hindi adaptation of National Award-winner Srijit’s critically-acclaimed Bengali outing Rajkahini, the upcoming film sees Vidya Balan play a brothel owner in a story of survival set against the backdrop of Partition. Begum Jaan film releases on April 14 and is produced by Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films.
“This is Renaissance for Vishesh Films. It’s a new homecoming for me. This is the kind of cinema which I was known for in my formative years,” said Mahesh at a recent event. “It’s one of the movies which will be there in my obituary and I am privileged to have a film-maker like Srijit who came as a gift to me.”
The Arth maker said screenings of Rajkahini, as well as Begum Jaan had “stirred” and “overwhelmed” him. “I found that my entire being kind of stirred by the images and the content. After 47 years, I find this medium of cinema still has the kind of power to physically stir you and that comes from the impulse from which this film was created. What is amazing that from the first time I laid my eyes on Rajkahini, I was overwhelmed and stirred, to the final viewing of Begum Jaan. What remained was the same feeling. It was consistent. It didn’t evaporate,” Mahesh added.
Heaping praise on Srijit, the producer lamented the fact that talents from different regions of India are not considered. “Mumbai is very inward-looking and very insulated. It’s a tragedy we do not look within our own country and the enormous talents that exist within our own country,” he stated.
Recounting his meeting with Srijit after 32 days of exhaustive filming in trying conditions in Jharkhand for Begum Jaan, the veteran said the director looked as if he had survived a shipwreck. “I walked up to him and he looked like a man who had survived a shipwreck. The experience was etched on his body. I told Srijit ‘I have a certain feeling that we have a masterpiece at hand.’ He took a pause and a smile erupted on his face and he said ‘I suspect you may not be totally wrong’,” recalled Mahesh.
Consider this, it’s no wonder that Vidya has been working so hard to get into character for Begum Jaan. “Before we started shooting, we organised two workshops: One with Vidya, another with girls because Vidya being a jovial, down-to-earth person easily mingles with everybody on set and I didn’t want that. I wanted a certain kind of distance between the girls and Vidya, said Srijit.
“Vidya used to ask many questions during the workshop, like what the memories of Begum Jaan were when she was three, when she was first exploited or what happened when she got married. So at the end of the workshop, I had already completed writing four scripts: one Begum Jaan and the prequels and sequels. I had to keep ready all the backstories and the girls,” added the Zulfiqar helmer.
“After the workshop when Vidya entered the set, I saw a Begum Jaan who is a fierce, manipulative no-nonsense kind of woman, walking in. There was no trace of Vidya Balan,” he told the media.