As one enters the dimly lit room, cuss words and the choicest
expletives stand out tall in the wall that is decorated with haphazardly
created graffiti. The smoke swirls emanating from his cigarette die down and you
can see the wise looking face of Kaushik Mukherjee aka Q the Kolkata based
director who made waves last year for his explicitly shot and in your face film
‘Gandu- the Loser’. Having directed a bunch of ‘different’ films for about a decade,
which chose a different path, yet failed ‘Gandu’ propelled him unexpectedly
into the limelight. 37 year old Q is now
making full use of his new found popularity and trying to make more
‘path-breaking’ and different films to satiate his creative buds to the T.
However, not much is known of this ‘rebel’ like director who
chooses not to talk about his past or his background as he considers them
‘inconsequential’. He just wants to be
Director Q. Why choose such a weird name
though? “Q is basically a character which
I created. When I started making these films I realized Kaushik Mukherjee
wasn’t making them. I had to create a film-maker. I wanted to be reborn and so
I created Q.” explains Q. Another
source where he got inspired from was Japanese director Takameshi Mike’s
Visitor Q, where a troubled family find their lives intruded by a mysterious
stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures. “I felt like the central character and
thought that let me be that trouble maker.” he further adds.
Q started his career in an advertising agency in his mid 20s
but gradually got bored with it and wanted to explore different fields.
Film-making was something which always intrigued him, but since he didn’t have
any professional education in it he had no idea how to go about it. It was in
Sri Lanka where his advertising career had taken him, that he finally got the
answers to his queries. “I was exposed to
a completely different value system .I realized that there was a completely
different kind of cinema that was happening that never comes to India. My
exposure to these forms made me realize that I too could make films like
these.” reminisces Q.
For five – six years he developed this craft inspired by
many famous filmmakers across the globe and after that finally entered the
field by making short films and documentaries. Some of them which got noticed
were Le Pocha(2004) a short
documentary , a short film That Boy
(2009), the critically acclaimed Bissh
(2009) and the award winning documentary feature Love in India (2009).
However it was with
‘Gandu’ that the long and hard journey of about 11 years finally reaped him
some rewards by getting him noticed all over. The unexpected wave that it
created took even the the makers by surprise. “We never thought that Gandu would release
in India. We never looked at Indian popularity, but somehow its trailer got
leaked and a wave was created soon afterwards. Whoever leaked the trailer did
us a huge favour really.” he says candidly. ‘Gandu’ incidentally had extreme reactions
in India. While some people loved it for its narrative style, many where
completely appalled by its representation of in your face sex. So was the crude use of sex deliberate? To
catch eyeballs? “See, we are basically
provocative people. Gandu isn’t even half as provocative as we all are. We see
a lot of such stuff all day but refuse to talk about it openly. I put all of
those in ‘Gandu’. If some found it bothersome. That’s fine by me. You needn’t
watch it.” he says shrugging his
shoulders and blowing another puff of smoke into the room. So doesn’t it bother him
that perturbed by his film’s content a particular section of the audience might ignore his works? Q has his own aboveboard take on that too. “Who gives a f***. Target audience is a myth.
It works for guys like Yash Raj. We are throwing a stone, wherever it hits,
it’s a good thing.”
More than this ‘don’t care about the world’ attitude the
thing that intrigues many about him is on how
Q is suddenly become sort of a trendsetter by depicting these sex scenes in most of his
films in such a straightforward manner. How does he manage to convince his
actors to enact such scenes then? “That
too has a process. Like for ‘Gandu’ we conducted severe workshops for about a
month. This consisted of a hardcore
theatre form developed by Jerzy Grotowski (Polish theatre director and innovator of experimental
theatre); where actors
just loose themselves completely and after four hours of training they don’t
care what is happening to their bodies.” explains Q.
Post the success of Gandu, Q and his small team has got the
much needed impetus that was required for them to move forward with their
future projects. Q has his own small production unit now, Overdose Joint, which
is trying in earnest to keep making different kinds of cinema. They are
planning to collaborate with many production houses from all over the country
to make different- genered films and documentaries. That is his real motive for
now; to not fall into the commercially driven path and try and create some real
and diverse cinema.
His immediate project
is Tasher Desh ( Land of Cards ) which is about to hit
the screens in a few months time. Based
on a popular children’s play by legendary Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore by
the same name, Tasher Desh would be Q’s most commercial venture as yet. It’s a
story where a prince and his friends go for an adventure. “I was
never fond of Tagore. But Tasher Desh was the only one I liked. Nobody took
Tasher Desh seriously for all this while, which has given me an opportunity to
explore. I decided to give it my own version and completely f*** it up.” Q explains with a glint in his eye and sipping
black coffee.
The thing that makes Q unique is his no hold barred
film-making approach and the daring to explore the path that conventional filmmakers
in our country hesitate to take. He’s been working with the same small unit for
a very long time that includes his long time girlfriend and actress Rii and
Tolly actor Joyraj Bhattacharjee who have been a pillar of strength for
him. Joyraj who besides acting in most
of Q’s films also doubles up as his production designer, is all praises for the
director. “I have been working with Q for
about 10 years now and can safely say that we understand each other very well
and don’t have to verbally communicate every time. I have a lot of respect for
him as I believe that in Bengal he has changed the scenario of film-making altogether.
He really is a path-breaker. He failed initially, but never gave up. That’s what’s
inspiring about him.” says Joyraj .
Despite the initial failures however Q is happy to announce
that he has his kitty full with upcoming projects, both under his direction and
many under his production house. Besides
Tasher Desh there is The Greater Elephant by Mumbai based film-maker
Srinivas Sundarajan , a docu-feature called Sari and many others.
As the interview is about to wind up Q is busy on his phone
and making constant instructions to his production unit, before finally
settling down to give me a last word. As I congratulate him one final time for
his new found success he surprises us again. “I am no one buddy. You should focus more on many alternative people
who are out there surviving a tough life. Kolkata itself has many poets, little
magazine owners who despite many adversities somehow manage to survive. That’s
the real vibe of India. Focus on them. Films can never have that.” he says nonchalantly. Before I try and register how to go about
his advice, he just smiles and says,
“It’s just you buddy. How tough is it? If you seriously want to do something,
you would go ahead and do it.” That’s
Q for you, no holds-barred and in your face, just like his films.
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