Director146;s cut

Stories form the epicenter of his mind space. Real-life incidents, people, bits and pieces of news, snatches of imagination8230;like little quakes they trigger off a stream of words that fill out blank papers on his desk. He carries them all over, these stories of his, till one fine day, one of them made a blast at the box office. Aamir was an unusual script and screenplay to be reckoned with. Who would have thought, that with a treatment so distant, yet palpable and a face not so familiar would make a dent? 8220;But it did, didn8217;t it,8221; Rajkumar Gupta, debutante director of this common man8217;s story was convinced his film will be a success. After lugging around the script, banging his head with producers and makers, knocking on moneyed doors, Gupta finally got UTV on his side. But why take Rajeev Khandelwal? 8220;Because a star becomes larger than the character.8221; But in Aamir, the Mumbai city was one of the characters 8211; crowded, jammed, old,tired, blocks of buildings staring down8230;8221;and a camera movement following from a measured distance.8221; Only a protege of Anurag Kashyap would traverse the cinematic territory like that! Assistant director to Kashyap on Black Friday and No Smoking, Gupta feels that a director needs to be sure and sincere. 8220;He has to know everything, he has to believe in the integrity of the story,8221; saying this Gupta cancels the thought of being genre specific. Although he stems from a league of bold and experimental filmmakers, he feels that typecasting in one role stunts the growth. 8220;Being a master of all genres, now that8217;s the true test of a filmmaker.8221;

In Zirakpur with Mitul Dikshit at Dikshant International School, where he interacted with children, Rajkumar8217;s journey from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand to the studios of Mumbai has been an interesting one. 8220;The love for cinema was not a one-film affair. It was slow and steady, till I knew this was my calling.8221; The writer in him comes first, he8217;s writing constantly, penning yet another thriller-drama, getting inspired by real life, but not for long. 8220;May be two more, and it will be pens down.8221; The idea is to direct, to translate the script of another on to the screen. 8220;Grand plans in making,8221; he pans away.