Why box office numbers don't matter to Badla director Sujoy Ghosh

In an exclusive interview with mid-day.com, Sujoy Ghosh speaks what matters the most to him as a film director.

Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu-starrer Badla crossed the 100 crore mark at the box office in its fifth week. Badla is a crime thriller that revolves around Taapsee Pannu's character Naina, who is stuck in a murder scandal. Playing Badal Gupta, Naina's lawyer, Amitabh Bachchan recreated the magic of Pink.

While the film's production company, Red Chillies Entertainment's owner, Shah Rukh Khan called for a celebration to enjoy the "silent success" of Badla, Amitabh Bachchan too agreed over it. In fact, they exchanged conversations over Twitter about Badla's grand feat. 

Not only in the domestic regions, but Badla also worked wonders internationally. However, on the occasion of the crime thriller's television premiere, mid-day got in touch with the captain of the ship, Sujoy Ghosh. When asked if he was content with the way Badla was perceived by the audience and critics, Ghosh affirmed in excitement.

... about time someone started talking about this silent success .. !! because neither the Producer, nor the distributor, nor the on line Producer, or any else in the Industry, in general .. has even spent a nano second to compliment the success of this film #Badla .. thk u https://t.co/nglxm4f9bH

— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 9, 2019

The director said, "I am super happy! Happy is an understatement. We make films obviously to pay our bills and all but at the end of the day, you want your film to be appreciated. And, how much can you pay me today -- 100 crore to make a film? But if that film is a 'ta**i', there's no worth of that 100 crore because we are failing to do what matters the most. Every time somebody says good about my film, it makes me super happy."

When prodded if Taapsee Pannu was always on Sujoy's mind for this film, he quips, "Badla happened because of Taapsee. She is a dear friend and kept on pressurising me saying let's do this film, the content is solid. Taapsee is an extremely hard-working girl and a great actress."

Talking about Amitabh Bachchan, the filmmaker says that Badla did not choose the megastar but vice versa. He feels privileged to have worked with the icon. 

While we all know the marvels that he has delivered - Kahaani, Kahaani 2, Jhankaar Beats and many other films, we asked him about his journey to showbiz. Hesitant at first, Sujoy revealed that he would travel from Malad to Churchgate on a daily basis in the hunt for jobs. One day, he wrote a script without knowing the film's process and pulled a few strings here and there to get some directors' contacts. 

When Sujoy narrated his script to the directors and producers, none of them was ready to take it. That's when he thought of directing it himself, and that's how the Hindi film industry got a true gem - Sujoy Ghosh.

Zee Cinema airs the world television premiere of the revenge saga Badla on September 29, at 12 pm.

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