"I still don't know what Naseeruddin Shah plays in the film" - Arindam Mitra 
By Avanti Dixit, March 30, 2007 - 09:25 IST
After the unfortunate loss of team India at the World Cup there have been many a speculations as to why we lost out on the Cup. Well when a team looses a match the
reason can be anything from not being physically fit to match fixing.
Match fixing is a big nexus and this very issue will be dealt with in a film directed by Arindam Mitra. Arindam Mitra who has earlier produced Black Friday has
been a student of world cinema “The closest I came to filmmaking was Black Friday. That is because I wanted to make a film in any case. Black Friday
taught me the tricks of the trade. I have also been a student of cinema for a long time”.
So with films like Hattrick and Say Salaam India that revolve around cricket, will his film on match-fixing to be revolving around the sport? The director clarifies the
doubts “The film is not on cricket. It’s a film on sacrifice. Match fixing is the underlying theme of the film. I have used cricket and match fixing only as a metaphor in the
film. It’s got very little to do with cricket and more to do with human emotions”.
And what does the title Shoonya imply? “Shoonya (Zero) on one hand means the score in cricket and on the other hand it has other implications, like on the
philosophical and metaphysical level it stands for nothingness”.
Shoonya (Zero) on one hand means the score in cricket and on the other hand it has other implications, like on the
philosophical and metaphysical level it stands for nothingness”.
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The film which was chosen as an entry for the Rotterdam film festival is loosely inspired from the play ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ by T.S Elliot. “Murder in the
Cathedral explores sacrifice and so does my film. The play applies to the film in some methods. But obliviously this is cinema and Murder in the Cathedral was
a play”, explains Mitra.
The film stars Kay Kay Menon whose performance is supposed to be quite impressive “He is obliviously the main character. And it’s through him that you see the draft
that gets laid out in the film. It’s pretty much a film where the camera follows him in terms of his journey. We have tried a very different tone of language in the film. We
have tried to make it devoid of all cinematic drama or melodrama. It’s a difficult kind of structure which we have used. Kay Kay’s performance is not de-towering but is
very understated, that’s really what we wanted to achieve”.
Interestingly Kay Kay is equally impressed by Arindam Mitra and says, “Arindam is a student of world cinema whose views about world cinema is very pragmatic and
intelligent”. Arindam brushes off the compliments modestly saying, “I don’t know what Kay Kay means. I think actors can’t say bad things about their directors
especially for a film that is going to be released soon.” So how does he describe himself in his own words? “Well to describe myself, this is my first film and also could be
my last film. I am not distinct to cover, I mean both in terms of my craft and politics in cinema. I would not like to comment on myself right now. Rather let Kay Kay do
that”, he laughs off.
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We have tried to make Shoonya devoid of all cinematic drama or melodrama.
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The other actors who star in the film include Tulip Joshi, Seema Biswas and Ninad Kamat. But the added attraction for the film is definitely Naseeruddin Shah and Satish
Kaushik. Naseer has played a cricket coach in the film Iqbal. So will this film too see him in a similar role “No he doesn’t play a similar character? You will have
to watch the film to know about his character. I still don’t know what he plays in the film. It’s an enigmatic kind of character”. Talk about Satish Kaushik and you will
instantly think of him in a comedy role. But ask the director and he will beg to differ “In the film Satish is not playing a comic character at all. He is a surprise package
and is outstanding in the film. When Sudhir Mishra came out during the interval of the film he said I am calling Satish right now to tell him this is his best performance till
date”
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When Sudhir Mishra came out during the interval of the film he said I am calling Satish Kaushik right now to tell him
this is his best performance till date
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The group Indian Ocean which composed music for Black Friday will be seen composing for Shoonya too. So what does the band have in store this time
“Indian Ocean has played these tunes which have been never played before. The music is very jazzy. They have played the saxophone and the clarinet which you have
never heard before”.
So now that the film is all set to release what are the director’s future plans “I am working on a few things. But right now I am not in production. I am writing something
for someone else which is a commissioned script. The next film which I want to make is already written. That’s the film that went to Pusan. Pusan festival picks up some
scripts from around the world and then they showcase them”.
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Kay Kay Menon’s Shoonya to premiere at IndieFocus
