Exclusive! Dibakar Banerjee Has A Perfect Response For ‘Star Vs Non-Star Debate’: “Non-Stars Ki Nakamyabi Ka Jashn Vo Thoda Zor Se Manate Hai…”
The filmmaker's recently released, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar starring Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor, broke the glass ceiling by marrying commercial to parallel cinema.
Dibakar Banerjee Talks About The Star System & Casting Arjun Kapoor-Parineeti Chopra(Pic Credit: IMDb)
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The debate around star films and non-star films has been evident in Bollywood for eternity now. Dibakar Banerjee, for years, has been associated with unconventional films and labelled ‘arty’ more than once. The filmmaker’s recently released, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar starring Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor, broke the glass ceiling by marrying commercial to parallel cinema.
Dibakar Banerjee recently joined Koimoi for an exclusive conversation to discuss his film that released on Amazon Prime Video. The filmmaker shed light on the slow success of his movies and how they were discovered over years. He spoke about the ‘Star Vs Non-Star’ debate and how it impacts the films that are made with both of them. Read on to know everything that Dibakar has to say.
Dibakar Banerjee was asked about the slow boiling success of his films, including Sushant Singh Rajput starrer Byomkesh Bakshy and others. He said how he is the most powerful person on the set when the film is being made but loses all the strength when the film releases. “Kyuki us samay lagta hai me to alternative hoon, arty hoon, meri movies koi dekhta nahi hai, me fringe hoon. Me Bollywood hote hue bhi Bollywood nhi hoon. Ye sari chizen har films me hoti rehti hai. Mujhe bas kuch shubh chintak critics, journalist and thodese jo darshak hai unhone zinda rakha hua hai,” the Oye Lucky Lucky Oye director says.
He later addresses why he cast Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor. Dibakar Banerjee says it was to bring commercial elements, that draws the attention of the audience towards the film. While on that, he addressed how the ‘Star Vs Non-Star’ debate affects the films. He said, “Ab star system jo hota hai vo apne ko barkarar rakhne ke liye non-star system ke films ki na-kamyabi ka jashn thoda zor se manata hai. Aur star system ki films ki na-kamyabi ko hum lelete hai ki chalo ye to flop hogayi, aagey ek hit aaegi.”
Dibakar Banerjee added, “To in saare systems ke andar jo financers studios, producers hai vo sab hum sab apni jakad me jakde hue hai. Lekin humne socha hua tha ki commercials stars, jo young upcoming hai unke sath agar hum kuch kar paye, usi soch se Byomkesh banayi thi and usi soch se Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar bani.”
Dibakar Banerjee continued, “Meri dimaag me Parineeti Chopra shuru se hi thi pata nhi kyu. Then Adi (Aditya Chopra) told me that Arjun (Kapoor) apni comfort se nikal ke bohot age kuch alag karne ke liye bohot utawle hai. And me Arjun se mila and baat shuru hui. But plan yahi tha ki jo young stars hai, jo badi commercial films ki wajah se ek bade audience ke sath unka taluq hai aur jise normal Bollywood media star manta hai, unko lekar ek aisi film banaye jaha par star system ki gandh na ho. It wasn’t verbalised in these terms then, it was kind of an amorphous idea in our heads. It’s only in hindsight I am kind of putting coherent words to it. So it was something like this.”
