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Kaun was an eerie little surprise that left the audience on the edge of their seats 26 years ago. Clocking in at just 94 minutes, the film came close on the heels of Ram Gopal Varma-Manoj Bajpayee-Urmila Matondkar’s cult classic Satya. But Kaun was not what the world was expecting from this trimuvirate — it was made on a shoestring budget with only three actors, nameless characters, no outdoor shoots, no costume changes and not a single song. Perhaps, the reason why the film remains delightfully eerie even 26 years after its release. Manoj Bajpayee talks to SCREEN about the film and how it remains memorable quarter of century later.
Manoj, Kaun clocks 26 years today?
Kaun happened right after we finished shooting for Satya. So it was like a double whammy for me, an actor who was struggling to get work, working with one of the best directors Ram Gopal Varma in the country at that point of time , and that too in his second project.
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Kaun was planned as a start-to-finish quickie?
It was a quickie, we shot for this film for 22 days in Panvel in a bungalow. So this was my wettest film.
What do you mean?
I used to go on the set and they used to put a bucket of water on me because that’s what the script required. I was a character coming from outside and it was pouring outside. So this person who is coming in is drenched. So the whole day and night, I used to be completely wet while shooting.
Didn’t you fall ill? Shabana Azmi contacted pneumonia after being constantly drenched in Aparna Sen’s Sati?
Luckily not. But I went through 22 days of ordeal, but we were far younger, far more driven, far more aggressive, just focused on the job. That’s it. It never bothered me that I was drenched all the time.
Kaun remains one of the most eerie Hindi films.
Through the making of it, we never realized that we are making a very special kind of film. And now when I get to hear the new generation actors and the film people, they all talk about Kaun. For them, that’s the kind of psychological thrill they would like to see. I see so many articles being written about it. I see so many tweets and so many good things about it circulating on social media. And such a small film. But for me, it was a challenge.
Why so?
It was a challenge because there was Bhiku Mhatre after Satya released. People didn’t seem that they were ready to go look beyond Bhiku Mhatre. And then they loved Kaun. So for me, that was an achievement. Urmila Matondkar, Sushant Singh, all of them are magical. And the three of us, we enjoyed thoroughly shooting for this film. We used to rehearse, we used to shoot for 16 hours, 18 hours, then go in our room, sleep, and again, first thing, just get back to the shoot.That is the kind of atmosphere where a quirky cult film like Kaun is created.
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