Shekhar Kapur on 'Masoom 2': 'It Feels Like Revisiting My Childhood'

Speaking at the red carpet of the inaugural Indian Film Festival Germany, where "Masoom" will be screened, the veteran director said the movie was born out of his complete inexperience and that gave it a unique quality.

Veteran filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is attempting to recreate the creative naivety that characterized "Masoom" as he gears up for its long-awaited sequel. Veteran stars Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah, who played lead roles in the 1983 film, will be returning for the sequel which will begin shooting this year.

Speaking at the red carpet of the inaugural Indian Film Festival Germany, where "Masoom" will be screened, the veteran director said the movie was born out of his complete inexperience and that gave it a unique quality.

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"It's like an attempt to go back to my childhood. And how do I become naive again? Because even Picasso said that. They asked him, 'What do you really want?' He said, 'I want to paint like I've never made a painting before.' And that was 'Masoom'. 'Masoom' was made by a person that did not know a thing about it. So, I just said, 'Okay, let me try.' And so, I just had to concentrate on the story because I didn't know what a camera was and how that worked and everything. So maybe something worked," he said.

It makes Kapur emotional whenever someone tells him that they watched the movie but at the same time, he tries to understand why people continue to be deeply moved by it.

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"I still don't understand because remember, I was not a trained filmmaker. I'd never made a film. I'd never assisted anybody. I had not studied filmmaking. I knew nothing about film and then one day I just made a film and I was a chartered accountant in London. In fact, I worked in Berlin as an accountant also for a while, then I went back and I made a film. There was a certain naivety to it. And there's an innocence to when you're absolutely naive about what you're doing. You do things differently. So, when people say, can you make 'Masoom' again? I say, 'Can you make me naive again?'" he added.

Based on the American author Erich Segal's book "Man, Woman and Child", "Masoom" was a love story, a tale of betrayal and the complexity of family.

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It was about a happily married couple whose life was turned around when the husband's illegitimate son from his previous affair arrives at their house. The movie had a screenplay by cinema legend Gulzar, and music composed by the legendary R D Burman.

Some of the other memorable tracks of the film included "Tujhse Naaraz Nahi Zindagi" and ""Lakdi Ki Kaathi".

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The Indian Film Festival Germany, which commenced on Friday, is being organised by the Embassy of India, Berlin and The Tagore Centre. It has been described as a "landmark celebration of contemporary Indian cinema which has growing resonance in Germany".

Kapur said when he received a call from the embassy for the festival, he thought they would be screening his Oscar-winning 1998 movie "Elizabeth" or his most recent directorial "What's Love Got to Do with It?" (2022).

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"They said, 'Masoom'. I said 'Masoom' is over 30 years old. What are you talking about? They said, 'No, we just want to show it.' It's popular. I haven't seen it for about 30 years. So, it'll be interesting for me to see it on screen." He described Berlin as one of the most creative cities he knows, especially its underground art scene.

"It is so full of creative people who think differently. Creative people with dark and deep thoughts. It's just so exciting. It's provocative. It has the best little theatres. They're so good and fantastic. And I lived 30 years of my life in London. I thought London was the place. And then I realised that no, it is Berlin."

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At the film gala, Kapur said he was looking forward to watching actor Boman Irani's directorial debut "The Mehta Boys", also the opening film. The director also praised debutante director Lakshmipriya Devi's "Boong".

"It's fun, fresh, innocent and it's political. And it's informative. And how somebody can do a film that is so political that the censor itself didn't understand how political it was. That was fabulous. I was laughing about that. The politics are so hidden. You just miss it in the whole energy of the film," Kapur added.

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Indian Film Festival Germany will also take place simultaneously, and there would be panel discussions held in Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Munich. In all, this is one of the biggest non-commercial film festivals ever held outside India.

The showings will be conducted at such places as state-of-the-art CinemaxX Potsdamer Platz cinema in Europe, the biggest screen found, the main premiere venue at international Berlin film festivals.

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