THE PURSUIT

Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin in That Girl in Yellow Boots

Even as Bodyguard breaks records at the box office despite the bad reviews, the good reviews have struggled to get in the audience for Anurag Kashyap’s festival-trotting That Girl in Yellow Boots. But as has been the case with him for the past decade or so, Anurag sounds hopeful as he talks to t2 about the film closest to his heart. Over to Bollywood’s enfant terrible.

Anurag: I read the t2 review.

 It raised important points about the film but, you know, I had my limitations, things and concepts which I couldn’t explain in the film. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and perhaps many of them are correct, but they don’t know what I had to go through to make Yellow Boots. And they don’t even need to know.

Firstly, do you agree then that you have tailored the film for the festival circuit?

Yes, I had the international market in mind. There is an audience out there for a film like this. But also, I wanted to largely focus on the performances in the film. I wanted to give space to actors. And so the minimalist style that you are talking of is more to make the audience experience the performances.

But shooting with a Canon 7D makes it look like a telefilm...

Two things here. Firstly we are not having problems in Mumbai and Delhi, theatres where they have upgraded their projectors. In Calcutta, it must be the digital projection which is the problem. Also, we were the first people in India to shoot with a Canon 7D. The camera had arrived in the country seven days back. So, we didn’t foresee the problems with the camera.

As for what we gained, we didn’t have to light anything. And when you don’t light a real location, no one is disturbed. The moment you use artificial lights, everyone is alerted and they stop being themselves. With the Canon 7D, I could use the street lights and yet get very good colours.

Anurag Kashyap

You first made a name for yourself in this industry as a writer. How was it writing the Yellow Boots script with your then girlfriend and now wife Kalki Koechlin?

She first wrote it like a play. The entire thing. And then I tried to turn it into a film. You know, like people adapt theatre into cinema. The obvious way of looking at the matter was like a thriller about this search for the father. But I didn’t want to do that. So I chose to show just four days from this girl’s life and then, of course, the revelation in the end.

One obvious complaint about the film is how you have used Naseeruddin Shah’s character as a red herring in the film...

No, I don’t look at his character like that. Rajat Kapoor is the red herring. Naseer is not. Naseer’s character shows that all men are not the same. That there can be someone like him too. Yes, you want him to be the father but I didn’t place him as a possible father. This is not a suspense film. There’s only that many clients Ruth has. And we see the father early in the film and you hope he is not the father and finally your worst fears come true.

You have put so many known faces in the film for one scene or one shot — Rajat, Makrand Deshpande, Ronit Roy, Piyush Mishra. So why take an unknown guy as the father?

Because no actor had the balls to do that role. I went to a hell of a lot of actors. But no one agreed. This guy was too young and I had to, in fact, dye his hair to make him look a little aged. Kya karoon? Everyone I went to said they can’t play the role of an abusive father. “People won’t trust me,” they said. And maybe they are right. Rajat Kapoor told me that no parents would let their kids go close to him for seven years after Monsoon Wedding!

So Anurag Kashyap, despite Dev D and Gulaal and Udaan (as producer), had to make compromises to make this film?

See it is all about the subject matter. You can’t make an expensive film about this subject. So I had to make the choice. Make this or abandon kar do. I designed the film in that way... minimal locations... the home and the massage parlour. The long shots that you saw were a necessity. We didn’t have the option of taking multiple shots. In fact, most independent films in Europe have these long takes and long shots because those movies are funded by institutions and don’t have the budget. And the shooting style automatically changes the whole mood of the film.

The response to the film here and the response abroad... have they been different?

The response at the festivals has been very good. More than 7,000 people saw the film in Venice and Toronto. We got huge standing ovations. People were hugging Kalki. It was outstanding. Here, the responses have been extreme. People are either loving the film or hating it. ‘What the f**k is this’, some are saying. Some are happy that a film has been made on a subject like this and how such issues should come out in the public.

How do you explain the fact that Ruth (Kalki) gives handjobs to strangers but refuses to have sex with her boyfriend?

This girl is uncomfortable with her sexuality. But she has to spend thousands every month — bribe to cops, for the rent, at the visa office. The only way to make that kind of money is by giving handjobs at massage parlours. That’s how many foreign women in Mumbai make money, those who are uncomfortable prostituting themselves. Dibakar (Banerjee, director of LSD) had also researched on this subject and he shared his findings with me. This is the easiest way to make money. Also, in such a set-up men never take advantage of the girls. They are vulnerable and weak at that moment. The women have more control. I have stayed away from explaining all this in the film. But if you talk to three-four people, they will tell you the same thing.

You seem to have a lot more in your head than what’s there in the film...

I had to release the film in India. I have dealt with no release for a long time. This is a subject very close to me... I have been trying to deal with this subject forever. I have got to this stage of my career with a lot of effort. Around eight or 10 years back people would have blocked this film calling me a ch***ya. Today at least there’s 50 per cent acceptance. In another 10 years, there will be more acceptance. They will understand what I am trying to say. You know I had to put Rajat Kapoor as the red herring because of the distributor!

What was the original ending of the film? And why did you change it?

The original ending has the father jumping in front of a truck when the boyfriend puts a gun to his head. I changed it because that was giving a resolution. The moment you give a resolution, the audience stops thinking. The feeling that such a man still exists in the world will make you disturbed and you will continue to think about the subject. People who are hating the film are not understanding that they are actually getting angry and that’s the film’s success.

You put out a figure on Facebook and Twitter that you need 6.5 lakh people to watchYellow Boots to break even. How are you doing?

Not too good. We have got around 1 lakh people till now. A lot of my own money is in there. The money that I had borrowed I have returned. We should get Rs 1.4 crore at the end of the first week. We need a lot more. My main audience is the torrent download (pirated copies on the Internet) audience. All I am telling them ki ek baar hall mein jaake dekho. Baad mein download kar lena.