Dibakar hopes for a hit again with ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’

Banerjee’s directorial debut, ‘Khosla ka Ghosla’ about a middle-class family caught in a land scam, hit bull’s-eye with the multiplex going audience. Expectations are now riding high on his next film, ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’. But the pressure rests easy on Banerjee’s shoulders even as he excitedly talks about his new film. ‘It’s about a thief who’s very special,’ he says, ‘unlike other thieves, who never want anyone to find out anything about them, this guy wants everyone to know he’s the one who committed the crime. He has a talent for stealing and he’s very proud of his ‘craft’. If you haven’t figured out it’s him, he’ll call you and tell you that he did it!’

It’s obvious that Banerjee is attracted to stories that are a little out of the ordinary. And, he says, that tendency also affected the choice of his movie’s leading man, Abhay Deol. ‘Abhay likes to look at the unusual side of things. He doesn’t believe in doing what everyone else does. In that sense, we’re very alike, he explains, ‘Moreover he’s a very intense actor. That doesn’t usually come out since he plays it cool, but he’s one of the most focused actors I’ve met. This intensity of his will take him a long way,’ he predicts.

Banerjee is, in fact, very upbeat about all the actors in his movie. ‘We’ve deliberately not repeated any of the cast members from ‘Khosla’. We wanted to work with old and established actors like Paresh Rawal and also some new faces. In fact, there are 10 new actors in this film, five of whom have never acted before.’

The music in his films, says Banerjee, also plays a very important role in the narration. ‘In most Indian movies, music plays a very important role in drawing the audience to the theatres and in providing breaks throughout the narration,’ he says, ‘I’m not entirely comfortable with that idea. So instead, even the songs are pushed into the background and become an integral part of the storytelling.’ The soundtrack of ‘Khosla’ was a huge hit for the freshness of its sound and Banerjee has made sure that this time too, the audience has something new to listen to. ‘We’ve recruited a young talent called Sneha Khandwala. She actually went backpacking in Haryana and Punjab and brought back the old, forgotten melodies and poetry from those regions. You’ll hear a lot of folk music on this soundtrack; we’ve even got folk singers singing here.’