Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh has said he wrote Kahaani after a string of box-office disappointments, driven by his belief in the story of a woman searching for her missing husband in Kolkata and his desire to work with actor Vidya Balan.
Speaking at the 16th edition of the India Film Project (IFP) at Mehboob Studios here on Saturday, Ghosh recalled the circumstances that led to the making of the 2012 thriller during a conversation with film critic and journalist Mayank Shekhar.
“I had just come out from the world's largest flop. And then I wanted to do something which I really believed in, which was about this woman coming to Kolkata looking for her husband. And the second, and probably the even bigger reason, was to work with Vidya. There is something about her which was truly amazing”.
“I wrote that script because I had nothing else to write. And we went to Kolkata because I knew Kolkata very well. Toh yeh sab mila ke it happened. I honestly don't have an extremely intelligent answer as to how it happened, but it happened,” he added.
During the session, titled Subverting Expectations in Cinema, Ghosh also spoke about the influence of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray and how lessons from classic films shaped his approach to visual storytelling.
He cited a scene from Ray’s Nayak as an inspiration for a pivotal moment in Kahaani, when Rana (Parambrata Chattopadhyay), removes his hat to signal to Vidya Bagchi that her husband is dead.
Explaining how filmmakers learn from the masters, Ghosh said, “And comes Uttam Kumar, walks, he just takes the bottle, opens, and gives it to the boy. And the boy is like, ‘Hero!’ So, I think this is what you learn from the masters”.
“Like when you watch Deewaar, and you see, Nirupa Roy coming, and Shashi Kapoor is standing there, and Nirupa Roy is expecting Shashi Kapoor to tell her where her husband is, all he does, he takes off his hat. And you know her husband is dead. And I used that in Kahaani also. She comes down, and Rana just takes off his hat, and she knows my husband is dead,” Ghosh said.
Ghosh, whose filmography includes thrillers known for their twists and turns, also discussed adapting the Spanish film Contratiempo, internationally known as The Invisible Guest, into the 2019 Hindi film Badla, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu.
He said his primary condition for taking up the project was that the original screenplay should remain unchanged, with adaptations made to suit Indian audiences.
The filmmaker also spoke about Jaane Jaan, his 2023 adaptation of Japanese author Keigo Higashino’s novel The Devotion of Suspect X, starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma.
Ghosh said the emotional undercurrent of the novel, rather than its celebrated mystery, was what appealed to him most. “I just saw this pure, unadulterated love for one person, for another woman, and I'm a sucker for doomed love stories. My favourite love story in this history of love stories is King Kong. That’s the biggest doomed love story ever. And I have it in every film of mine. Like even if you see, Rana and Vidya Bagchi is a story of King Kong because they can never get together. Jaane Jaan again is King Kong. Jaideep can never get together with Kareena. So, I think that’s the purest form of love, when you're giving yourself to someone without any expectations back.”