Life has given me so much – I’ve travelled the world, been granted professional success, and have had a wonderful family and supportive family – that I felt that I should give something back. Hence, I thought I would start with a tribute to my father by bringing his story, “Joseph”, to the silver screen. He was the one who had encouraged me to have the kind of life I have reached for.
Making this film had been on my mind for a while, but the planning itself started in 2011. I had the story translated to English, and with the help of my son Ishan, reached out to directors and writers in India when I could. However, as I was stationed in London and Ishan was working for corporates, the project wasn’t destined to set sail and didn’t launch until I returned to India after my retirement. This mirrored the story itself, which wasn’t penned until after my father retired from his service to the Government of India.
When I wrote about how Victor Banerjee (IMDB) joined our production of “Josef – Born in Grace”, I talked about the leaps of faith many people took in order to bring this film to life. Before Victorda joined us, I first had to get our director to take a leap of faith.
Right from the beginning, I had no doubt that Lulu (Susant Misra – IMDB) would direct my maiden film production venture. His documentaries are phenomenal, but his fiction work, and his command of cinematic language are exemplary. He was also very familiar with my father and his work. They used to have long discussions on cinema and stories, and both of their work. In fact, my father has a cameo in Lulu’s Cannes selected film, Indradhanura Chhai (IMDB).
What can I say about Lulu that hasn’t been said already? His films have been feted at festivals around the world like Oberhausen, Cannes (Un Certain Regard section), Sochi, and IFFI. He teaches cinema, runs the Bring Your Own Film Festival (BYOFF), and sits on festival juries. This is all public information.
Privately, this first cousin of mine is a bit of a recluse. He had given up making feature films for almost fifteen years and was reluctant to return to fiction filmmaking. He was constantly avoiding giving me a positive answer.
Finally, I went to his place where he was sitting with another documentary film producer. The other producer also wanted to get Lulu for his own film. In front of him, I asked Lulu when we would be starting production. And with that, Lulu took his leap of faith. He told the other producer, “This is my brother, and I can’t say no to him. I’m sorry I won’t be able to do your film.”
Truth be told, I would never have given him a chance to say no. I had complete faith in his talent and was determined it was not wasted.
Looking at the film today, I can confidently say that my faith was not misplaced. I cannot imagine this film turning out any other way.
The short story “Josef” can be found the the collection Jiban Bahurupi. If you would like to purchase a copy of the book, you can do so here.