‘Manoj Bajpayee is my enabler. Till Taandav nobody knew me, and for 10 years I was trying to make films. Manoj enters my life and suddenly, one after the other, I start getting opportunities.’
Key Points
- ‘Jaideep Sahni got me on board for Bunty Aur Babli. He spoke to Aditya Chopra and they me signed for a three-film deal at YRF.’
- ‘Abhishek Banerjee was almost like an extension of my mind; he really understood me. I cast him in Ajji and then said now you, being the villain, help me see the rest of the film.’
His cinema is like dark chocolate.
Not everyone has a taste for it, but once you acquire it, there is no going back.
That is perhaps what makes Devashish Makhija‘s filmmaking voice so distinctive.
Whether it is the brutal, unsettling Ajji, or the righteous anger of Bhonsle, or the haunting survival drama in Joram, or the seething anger in his latest Gandhari, Makhija has consistently chosen stories that can be bitter, unnerving and, at times, difficult to process.
Challenging The Status Quo
IMAGE: Devashish Makhija at the Rediff office. Photograph: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff
Behind the filmmaker who makes such uncompromising cinema is a man who has had to deal with rejection, uncertainty, financial setbacks and, as he tells us in this conversation, even a health hazard.
“As filmmakers, our expectations have hit so rock bottom that we don’t expect support. When it comes, it is like a shock to us. I expect to be told, “What are you thinking? Who is going to watch your film?”,’he tells us.
There have been plenty of reasons to stop.
And yet, he keeps going.
Devashish Makhija opens up in this new episode of The Rediff Podcast as he tells Mayur Sanap/Rediff about what keeps him going when the industry keeps saying no, what happens when you spend years fighting to simply get your film made, and his long-standing equation with Manoj Bajpayee.
Sample a few quotes from the Rediff Podcast:
“Jaideep Sahni got me on board for Bunty Aur Babli. He spoke to Aditya Chopra and they me signed for a three-film deal at YRF.”
“Abhishek Banerjee was almost like an extension of my mind; he really understood me. I cast him in Ajji and then said now you, being the villain, help me see the rest of the film.”
“Manoj Bajpayee is my enabler. Till Taandav nobody knew me, and for 10 years I was trying to make films. Manoj enters my life and suddenly, one after the other, I start getting opportunities.”
Please note this podcast was recorded before the Gandhari release.
Interview: Mayur Sanap/Rediff
Video Production: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff, Saahil Acharekar/Rediff, Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff
Editing: Saahil Acharekar/Rediff
