EXCLUSIVE! Amrita's life revolves around her children, needed that experience in my film: 'Badla' director Sujoy Ghosh

Sujoy Ghosh's directorial Badla became a sleeper hit of 2019 and deservedly so! The movie starred Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu in the lead roles with Amrita Singh in a pivotal role. The film is the Hindi adaptation of Spanish thriller Invisible Guest and it got amazing reviews by the critics as well as the moviegoers. Badla is produced by Shah Rukh Khan under his home banner Red Chillies Entertainment.

Now after a great run at the theatres, Badla is all set to have its television premiere on September 29, 2019, on Zee Cinema much to the excitement of the fans. Talking about the plot of the film, "Set against the backdrop of Glasgow’s icy air, Badla narrates the story of Naina Sethi (Taapsee Pannu), a dynamic young entrepreneur, who is under house arrest for a crime that according to her she hasn’t committed. Naina claims that she is being framed for it by someone hinting to Rani (Amrita Singh) who has been questioning Naina for her son's whereabouts. To prove her innocence, she hires Badal Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan), an attorney with a track record of winning every case in 40 years of his career. While he wants to win this case as well, he has only three hours to uncover the facts and prove Naina’s innocence. Hence, Badal tells Naina to pay attention to all the minute details and tell the truth behind the fateful night of the murder that took place in a locked room of a hotel. With the story unfolding, various characters and truth come into the light which will keep the viewers guessing about the real killer and their motive."

Ahead of its television premiere, we had a quick telephonic conversation with Sujoy who spoke about how watching a movie on TV will always be special, Amrita Singh's performance and more.

Excerpts...

After an amazing run at the theatres and a successful digital run as well, the film is finally getting premiered on television. How exciting is it for you?

It's great because at the end of the day I'm from the generation where we have been using TV more than anything else, right? What TV hopefully will do take the film to a lot more people who maybe don't have access to digital content, right? So I'm hoping a lot more people will see and will enjoy the film because that's the whole purpose of making a film. So, TV is something I'm looking forward to. For example, even now, when Kahaani or Jhankar Beats play on TV, I get so many messages. That's so nice and that's what we make films for, to be appreciated!

Knowing that the film is an adaptation of a Spanish film which has been well appreciated, was it overwhelming and surprising that Badla was thoroughly loved by the masses?

Yeah, initially, I was a little apprehensive, but then again, that is the challenge. So first, we will make a film, which will be an Indian film, to begin with. By the time you start seeing the film, you'll forget everything about Invisible Guest and you will enjoy it like an Indian film. That's what the whole purpose of making Badla. It looked doable on paper, but then everything is doable on paper. So we had to wait till Friday to know that yes, we have managed to do it. But till then there was stress, tension, solid nervousness, you know, whether it will succeed or not. But yes, it is very overwhelming because, you know, everybody has seen the film, everybody knows the whole story and the twist. Everybody knows everything! So how do you make a film over and above that? I didn't want to change the film. It would have been much easier if I have changed the film to something else and just use the twist. But I didn't want to do that. I wanted to keep the film in its original form. For me, that was more challenging. You keep the film exactly! You have seen this film before, but yet you're going to enjoy it like anything else before.

Like you said, you kept the Indianness in the film. Then why the location Glasgow?

The characters in the film, they are very independent. To a certain extent they are alone in a society where they do their work. They drive their car, they make their coffee, they don't have any help in the house, there's no security. So that independence doesn't happen in India. India is much warmer, there's no way anybody's going to let you be alone in India. If nothing, your next-door neighbour will cook for you. I needed a society which was a little independent and a little cold. So people there are very cold. Naina, my character, is a very cold person. Hence I needed that. Also, I needed a little bit of snow. I enjoyed that snow because that gave a lot of meaning to the storytelling. So I wanted to use that. So I think Glasgow became a very good fit and also that area is something I understand a little. So it was a bit easier. I like operating in areas which I understand like for Kahaani it was Kolkata, so...

Last month in a tweet Amitabh Bachchan sir called Badla as a director's film. Your take on that?

At times sir becomes very humble. The film is a joint task, no one can make a film alone. Today if I said Badla just worked because of me, then I'm lying from my teeth. Everything falls into place when everybody works together. It is as much my film as my editors' or my cinematographers' or sir or Taapsee's. If anybody, it should be Amrita ji's film, but everybody has to come together. That's when the magic happens. When everything comes together like my sound, editing and cinematography, when you are watching the film there should be no hiccups. I think it was humbling and very nice of sir to say something like that. But I think he had a lot of contribution also, everybody has.

One of the most surprising elements of the film was Amrita Singh. Many didn't know that she is a part of the film. How did you zero down her for the role and what do you have to say about the response she received for her performance?

I wanted to work with Amrita for a long time. When I was thinking of this character, you know, this mother, I've seen Amrita with her children. Her life revolves around her children Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan, uske aage peeche upar neeche koi nahi hai and also Mr Turtle. Apart from these two and a half individuals, everything is all over the place. But when it comes to Sara and Ibrahim, she's so clear which is amazing. So I knew that I needed a character that would bring those experiences into my film. Her life experiences were all really attractive to me. Also, she's a damn good actor, more than anything else. All this is good but above everything else, she's a beautiful actor. So then, when I told her, she was very very happy. The response to her character was amazing!

This was the first time you directed Taapsee and going by the posts shared on social media, you had great fun during the shoot. So how was the entire experience? Will we see her in your future films as well?

Hope so. I enjoyed working with her because there is no method to Taapsee. Sometimes I can teach somebody and I know this is a way. But with her it's different, she is different! I don't know what she does. It's fun! There's no way to figure out which Taapsee I am going to focus on as they are many Taapsee on the sets. 

Pay attention to minute details as a murder mystery is set to unravel with the World Television Premiere of Badla on Sunday, September 29 at 12 pm only on Zee Cinema!