My Albert Pinto is from the middle class, says director Soumitra Ranade

Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai?

After Saeed Akhtar Mirza's film first raised this question in 1980, filmmaker Soumitra Ranade follows in his steps with the official remake of the cult film. The film's primary cast includes Nandita Das, Manav Kaul, and Saurabh Shukla.

Ranade has a long-time association with Mirza, an icon of the new wave of Indian parallel cinema in 1970's and 80s. "I've known him for 25 years. He was the external expert for my FTII interview. I'd seen Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai in my first year at JJ School of Arts and I was blown away by it," Ranade says.

If Mirza's dealt with anger and discontentment of the common man, Ranade's version aims to contemporise this theme. "There is a lot of anger in the common man today and the anger is being used by political parties. This anger can easily converted to hatred. The entire situation is very tenuous because we need to channelise this anger in a very constructive way," he says.

From the minute he started work on this film, Ranade knew he would produce it on his own, keeping it a completely independent film. "For some films it's necessary to have independent control because otherwise its whole ideology becomes confused. I knew at the time I didn't have enough money to finish it but I had enough to bring it to a level where I could show it to people." 

While 80% of the film has been completed with Rs.80 lakh he had raised earlier, Ranade is now crowdsourcing the rest through the platform Wishberry, aiming to raise Rs.30 lakh in the coming months to complete the film. The funds raised will be used for the film's post-production which will include animation, visual effects and final edits. 

With the cast and crew of the film having worked on it for free on the film, Ranade calls it a people's film. "A film like this naturally lends itself to crowdfunding," he feels.

The film, in which Nandita Das plays five different roles, has surreal elements with dream-like hallucinations.

The inspiration for Ranade's film did not immediately come from Mirza's Albert Pinto. "When I finished writing the film I thought the character was a lot like Albert Pinto. So I took the script to Saeed. I didn't know how he was going to react. Albert Pinto is a cult film. Obviously he would be attached to his work and not (want to) have it abused by somebody. But he loved the script and he said, 'You must do it.'" 

Mirza himself was closely involved with the remake and helped develop the script, often typing it up during long discussions with Ranade. Mirza suggested that he call the film Albert Pinto... "It was a huge boost of confidence. It's a phrase of our time and, even in the film, I'm using it more like that," Ranade says.

Despite the inspiration, Ranade's Albert Pinto is not the same as the one in the original."My Albert Pinto is from the middle class. I thought it was important to address them with this film. We have a huge middle class and it can actually be a very powerful force because its educated and literate and hardworking. If motivated, we can actually change our system," he opines.

In his director's note, Ranade writes, "For me, the film is a culmination of a prolonged, despairing struggle. Like Albert Pinto says in the film, 'It was as if a bulb had been broken inside my stomach'. The making of the film meant removing each and every little piece of glass… carefully."