‘Irrfan Khan came up with Metro In Dino idea’: Anurag Basu on how Konkona Sen Sharma broke down; making Aashiqui 3

After Irrfan’s untimely demise five years ago, on April 29, 2000, a heartbroken Anurag couldn’t bring himself to make this story written with Konkona and him in mind and put the project on the backburner. “That story is still with me, I don’t know when I will be able to bring it to the screen, but during Ludo, I started another script which translated into Metro… In Dino. Once I started writing, phataphat ho gaya (It happened fast). Hyperlink films are usually difficult to write, but after Life in a… Metro and Ludo, I think I have mastered the art because the words flowed easily this time,” he recounts with a smile, adding that he had developed two ideas and was confused which one to go ahead with. “I narrated both to my bouncing boards, my wife Tani and my composer-friend Pritam, both picked this one.”

Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sensharma starred together in Life in a Metro.

Once the idea was locked, he got together a fresh cast, including three National Award winners Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta and Pankaj Tripathi, along with younger talents like Sara Ali Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Aditya Roy Kapur and Ali Fazal. “I had hoped Koko (Konkona) would also agree to be a part of this Metro and was delighted when she said yes,” he says, recalling that while they were shooting a light-hearted scene in Goa that required her to scream, the actress suddenly choked up and broke down. “I understood that she was crying because she had connected it to a similar scene in Life in a… Metro and it had brought back memories of Irrfan. We both missed him during Metro…In Dino, yeh film ussi ne to shuru kiya tha (He started off this film).”

The filmmaker then surprises you by confiding that initially, Irrfan had not wanted to do Life in a… Metro because he thought the role was too short. Anurag admits that being a bad narrator, he wasn’t able to convince him to change his mind and made an SOS call to his wife Sutapa. “I owe her a lot, he did the film because of her,” admits Anurag.

The character he plays, Monty, is a socially inept bachelor who is so determined to settle down that he is even prepared to go through with an arranged marriage till his much younger office colleague Shruti waylays his baraat. Then, realizing he loves her too, he chases her to the railway station on his ghoda (horse) and barging into the ladies’ compartment opens his heart to her. A departure from Irrfan’s usual intense roles, the character got him a lot of love which is perhaps why he urged Anurag, “Chal, ek aur Metro banate hain (Come, let’s make another Metro).”

Irrfan is no longer with us, but Anurag sees a softer version of his friend in his eldest son Babil who has proved to be a talented actor too. “In profile, when he looks up silently, Babil is so much like his father. I met him six-seven months ago and speak to Sutapa sometimes. I know I should be in touch with them more, but we are all so caught up with our work,” he sighs.

Will there be a Metro 3 and will it take 18 years to arrive, you wonder, and he exclaims, “No, no, I won’t make another Metro, I don’t like making sequels. This was the first time I was attempting one and the tone is so different from the earlier film that I wouldn’t even call it a sequel.”

However, three months later, Anurag takes forward another successful franchise, Aashiqui, and this one, he reminds you, isn’t even his which made the job even more difficult. “I was reluctant to direct Aashiqui 3, but Mukeshji (Mukesh Bhatt) convinced me, after which I had a word with Bhatt saab (Mahesh Bhatt, who had directed the original Aashiqui for Gulshan Kumar in 1990 and in 2013 produced the sequel with Mukesh Bhatt, Kishen Kumar and Bhushan Kumar). I have a different equation with the Bhatts and now Bhushan,” he says, informing that like the two Metro films, Aashiqui 3’s story is written by him. “I already had the story and was going to make it after Ludo. Since it is about love and loss, heartbreak and heartache, and fit into the genre, we decided to make it as the third instalment of Aashiqui.”

 

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It’s surprising that he is able to write so eloquently about love, empathise with the pain that comes from losing it, when his own love story has been so solid, Tani standing by him through all the high and lows. “That because I broke up with her five times for different reasons before we finally got married. But after that it’s been a wonderful journey. Working together, time has just raced by for us. Today, when we look, we are surprised to see the children (daughters Ishana and Aahna) all grown up. Pata hi nahin chala (We didn’t even realise it),” he signs off with a laugh.