Director Shoojit Sircar recently spoke about how Amitabh Bachchan and the late Irrfan Khan had different approaches to acting and also recalled the time when he worked with both on sets of Piku.
“Irrfan is like whiskey, maturing with every take. Mr. Bachchan does many rehearsals, he wants full prep; Unko camera ke film roll waali aadat hai, one take waale (He has the habit of working with film roll camera, he is a one take person). When everyone is absolutely ready, he will perform. More or less, his one take is perfect,” said Shoojit in an interview with Samdish Bhatia in an episode of Unfiltered.
“For Irrfan acting is like drinking tea. His first take is like his first sip. He once asked me how he is (Amitabh Bachchan) on set? I saw him trembling for the first time. I told him that he was chill completely. He had never worked with Mr Bachchan before,” added Shoojit.
The filmmaker even revealed that since Irrfan and Mr. Bachchan’s styles were so different, the former even suggested that all of the superstar’s shots could be taken before his. “I told him, he (Bachchan) won’t leave the set, he will be there for all the shots,” he said.
Shoojit also talked about how it was a huge thing for Irrfan and Deepika to work together back then. “Irrfan was never a mainstream actor and Deepika is like this star, a leading lady. Deepika ko in fact lagraha tha Irrfan ke saath kaise karpaaungi (Deepika was worried about how she would be able to work with Irrfan), he is such a good actor,” he said.
The Sardar Udham director’s upcoming film is the Abhishek Bachchan starrer I Want To Talk.