The Hindi film industry has gradually opened up to depicting intimacy realistically, like it’s done in Hollywood and other industries of the world. Yet, Agra is a film that stands out. It is a rare Bollywood movie to depict frontal nudity. Directed by Kanu Behl of Titli (2015) fame, and starring Rohit Roy, Mohit Agarwal, Priyanka Bose, Vibha Chibber, Sonal Jha and others, it is about the exploration of sexual dynamics within a family. It premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, that too in the prestigious Director’s Section. The Yoodlee Films production was also screened recently at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023.
Bollywood Hungama exclusively spoke to Kanu Behl where we asked him about whether the censor process has been completed. He said, “We haven’t started the censor process right now. We are still doing our festival journey. We’ll cross the bridge when we have to do it.”
When asked if he is worried that the explicit sexual scenes might get cut, he replied, “We’ll see. Hopefully, the censor board will see the film for what it is, how important the film is and what it’s trying to convey. I am hoping that they’ll be reasonable about the film. The sexuality in the film isn’t titillating. We are not trying to use sexuality for any other purpose. It is there so as to explore people’s sexual lives. The gaze of the film is correct, and I hope the censor board sees it that way and they assess the film through that lens.”
The city of Agra is known for the Taj Mahal, the monument of love. The characters in Agra are also trying to build their own monument. Was that the parallel he was trying to draw? Kanu Behl disagreed, “Not really. For me, it was more about Agra ka pagal khana! All these people in the house are crazy. They claim that Guru (Mohit Agarwal) is paagal but in reality, they are as much crazy, if not more, as him. I wanted to shed light on the madness within us.”
The mandatory Taj Mahal shot is also present in this film, set in Agra. Kanu said, “That was always planned. We didn’t want to reinforce the stereotype.”
Kanu Behl is known to go to any lengths so that the actors can understand their characters perfectly. For Titli, he made Shashank Arora take a dump at Versova Beach. What was the prep like for the actors of Agra? The acclaimed filmmaker explained, “There were a lot of different things that we did for different actors as it’s such an intimate film. I had to go deep into the past of the actors. A lot of different exercises were done so that the actors could come close to the parts that they were playing. Mohit Agarwal in real life is completely different. Contrary to his character Guru, in real life, he’s quite a ladies’ man! He underwent an intense prep for 5 months.”
The most unusual choice is Rahul Roy. Kanu Behl was honest to admit that he wasn’t his first choice, “I’ll be really honest. I had not thought of him. Then I met him through the casting director. He was so involved with the script and his part that it was just amazing to see an accomplished actor taking so much pains to come as close to the part as possible. After a point, he pretty much cast himself. For workshops, he used to be the first one to come at 9:00 am and the last one to leave at 9:30 pm. In the third week of the workshop, he told me, ‘Yeh role main hi karne waala hoon. Yeh role aur koi nahin karega’! When an actor confidently says that, toh fir decision aapke haath se nikal hi jaata hai (laughs)!”
Kanu Behl also revealed, “The workshop went on for 3 months. We shot the film for 40 days. The whole shoot took place pre-pandemic.”
The shot of a giant-sized squirrel is very memorable. VFX costs a lot of money, but Kanu Behl stated that it didn’t cause an issue, “The squirrel shot was always there. It was written into the script. The squirrel is in the cage and Guru feels caged too. It was a metaphor that I wanted to incorporate. And no, there was no issue as we managed to get it done within our budget.”
As for release plans, Kanu Behl exulted, “We are focusing at present on the festival circuit and are getting a response. We’ll soon make a decision (on its release).”
Titli was backed by master filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee. When asked if he was in touch with the Shanghai (2012) director, Kanu said, “Yes, we are, we keep talking. He hasn’t seen Agra yet as he’s busy shooting his feature. I hope to show him very soon.”
Kanu Behl, meanwhile, is ready with his next feature film, Despatch, produced by Ronnie Screwvala and starring Manoj Bajpayee. Before signing off, he confessed that he’d love to make a web series. “I like the idea of a long format and the potential to tell the story with many more characters. I am totally open to it, and I am already in talks,” he said.
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