I feel claustrophobic at film parties: Tigmanshu Dhulia

"I feel claustrophobic at film parties - Tigmanshu Dhulia

Tigmanshu Dhulia is a maverick by default. He's so drunk on life, he can't walk a straight line. So he shuffles back and forth and sideways too, not caring for the yellow line, thank you very much, Mr Officer. He's perhaps jamming with Def Leppard inside his skull even as we speak. I can almost hear Photograph going full blast. There's a definite rocker look about him. The man does play the guitar for sure and maybe in an alternate lifeline he would have been a badass rock musician. Perhaps, he would have been happier living from gig to gig, making white hot music in front of a screaming audience. 

What he's right now is a reclusive actor and a reluctant filmmaker.  His last hit as director Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns was in 2013. Then, something made him change his low-budget-good story-reliable actors formula and aim for the big stars. The result was Bullett Raja, released the same year, starring Saif Ali Khan as the desi Butch Cassidy, with Tigmanshu's homie and lucky mascot Jimmy Shergill being the Sundance Kid. The curry Western bombed and perhaps something snapped in Tigmanshu, making him wary of signing something in a hurry. He bristles when you tell him that perhaps Saif wasn't the right choice. "I believed in Saif because he's a free and spontaneous actor. Perhaps, people were not expecting such a film from me. I'm a victim of my own intentions," he grimaces.

He's been lying in hibernation for long and now it surfaces that he's going to make a six-part TV series called Raag Desh on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army. He will release it in a feature format as well. He's currently researching for the subject and confirms the news. "It's a fascinating story on why the British were forced to leave India," he says. The project has been funded by Rajya Sabha TV and will go on floors soon. He also recently directed a short film, Barish Aur Chowmein, for Zee under the Zeal For Unity (ZFU) programme. Featuring Amit Sadh and Taapsee Pannu, it's about a Muslim boy pretending to be a Hindu to rent a house in Mumbai.

The talk veers to his much delayed pet project Yaara. Rumoured to be an adaptation of acclaimed French crime thriller Les Lyonnais (2011), he had first thought of casting his favourite actors, Manoj Bajpayee and Irrfan Khan. Tigmanshu clarifies that he wanted Manoj and Irrfan to play the older versions of Amit Saadh and Vidyut Jamwal. "But then I decided to go with Amit, Vidyut and Shruti (Haasan) to scale the entire age spectrum of 10 to 55 years, or else it would cause a disconnect with the audience." 

There is no denying the fact that like his friend Anurag Kashyap, Tigmanshu is fascinated by criminals and lowlifes. He tries to bring out their humanity through his films. Apart from Yaara, he's also working on Sultana Daaku, said to be based on the most notorious dacoit during the British Raj who was hanged in the 1920s. The director denies he's making a biopic and says he'd be giving the film a Robin Hood or a Indiana Jones kind of treatment. "I've fictionalised some parts. Sultana Daku is part of folklore in the North. A lot of nautankis and songs glorify him," says he. Action, he definitely digs but not morbid violence. "My films portray life realistically... They're not about blood and gore. I don't have a dark side either," he says. 

Perhaps to counter this view that he only makes violent films, he decided to make a romantic film called Milan Talkies. Said to be in the pipeline since 2011, a multitude of actors, ranging from Imran Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana to Kartik Aaryan were said to be part of the project. Producer Ekta Kapoor has now bowed out of the project and Tigmanshu will now produce it himself. There are also reports that a Dehradun-based industrialist is bankrolling the project. "It was the destiny of Milan Talkies that I produce it," Tigmanshu goes emotional as he says this. "How can you kill such a fabulous script? We've locked in newcomers for the film. A good script doesn't need a big star," he reiterates. "I've tried to bring a never-seen-before kind of conflict in love here. It also revolves around filmmaking, which is why it is called Milan Talkies. It's an ode to the old world of single theatres, a world fast fading away," he explains nostalgically. His cinematic domain is perpetually frozen in small towns. He can't perhaps make films set in Mumbai high rises, peopled with a jet-setting crowd, with a couple of songs picturised in Switzerland for good measure. Ask him that and he shrugs. "I need to set my films in a certain terrain... a certain culture; the characters should have a social identity. The tone of my story starts from there." 

Despite being in Mumbai for around 20 years now and being part of the film industry for that period, the small town persona hasn't deserted his blood. He still considers himself an outsider, never really comfortable with industry politics, never really part of the inner crowd. "I feel claustrophobic at film parties," he confesses. "Apart from Irrfan, I don't open up easily to others." 

Hailing from Allahabad, Tigmanshu wanted to be a director since he was six. Growing up in the culturally-rich Allahabad has influenced his personality and filmmaking. "I was fortunate to grow up in the secular and vibrant vibe of the city. Back then, there was no religious tension. It was an intellectual and political atmosphere buzzing with poets and writers," he rues. 

The National School of Drama (NSD) campus was his destination next. When he joined the campus at the age of 19, Irrfan was in his second year. "I saw Mita Vashisht and Irrfan perform in a play and I loved it. I also saw boys and girls walking hand in hand, smoking cigarettes, staying out at night...," a culture shock perhaps to his Allahabadi eyes. NSD shaped him as a person. "That's the first time I felt free. I analysed my surroundings and myself. As a sensitive boy, I absorbed it all." 

He married the love of his life, wife Tulika, right after NSD, when he was just 22. "Love means companionship," says he, ironically echoing Karan Johar. "She understands me completely... more than I understand myself. She's kind of coping with me and coping well," he laughs. In 1993, Ketan Mehta was making Sardar and NSD design teacher Robin Das was selected for the art department. Das asked Tigmanshu if he'd like to help in the research. He took it on for his love of history and art. But eventually, it was assisting on Shekhar Kapur's acclaimed Bandit Queen (1994) that inducted him into direction. 

It's strange that despite being a trained actor, he took so long to showcase his talent in films. His chilling portrayal of Ramadhir Singh in Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012) won him accolades. He hasn't got acting projects lined up despite his newfound popularity. "I don't take acting seriously. I take it up only when a friend asks me to act in his film or when someone offers me good money," he chuckles. 

The eccentric filmmaker started out doing television and returned to the small medium with the show Darr... Sabko Lagta Hai Season2. He explains TV and curated shows for Internet channels are the wave of the future. "The sole business of entertainment - be it cinema, TV or web, is going to go through a major overhaul. So people who are ready with interesting, new content will emerge as winners." 

He mentions that Iranian, Italian and Hollywood cinema have intricate detailing in their movies, but Indian films lag behind in that. And we will have to up the ante in order to survive. "The above 30 working couples who don't watch regular channels but sports, cookery shows and news... that's the audience that will be catered to now," he says. Along with the change in audience sensibilities, the stars will also have to start experimenting. "What happened in Hollywood will happen here too. Only big films will be screened in theatres, rest of the content will find an audience on alternate platforms. That's why American television has bloomed... so many technicians, artistes who didn't want to be part of big films like Avengers or Transformers are working in TV." 

Fingers crossed for the future then! Stay hungry Tigmanshu, stay mad...