Shoojit Sircar: Been offered big money to make sequels to all my films like Piku, Madras Cafe

Director Shoojit Sircar’s films have been loved by audiences — right from Vicky Donor (2012) and Madras Café (2013) to October (2018) . And the filmmaker reveals that naturally, people expect him to make sequels to them.

However, he has no such plans, despite being offered big amounts of money by makers. “You need to have a powerful story to do that. I think more or less, we have tried to put in everything on that one film, so I do not know what is left for the second film. I also quickly get bored with the same idea, so I need to move on. That is also the problem. I have been offered big money to make sequels to more or less all my films — Piku (2015), even Madras Café. People ask me for the next part of Pink (2016). I have not found any story to move ahead and make a sequel,” says the director, whose last release was Sardar Udham (2021) , starring Vicky Kaushal in the lead role.

While actors and filmmaker mostly have multiple projects in different stages of production at a given point, same is not the case with Sircar. Admitting that he has no next project in mind, he says, “I am not a factory, that I will keep churning out films. I am studying, doing gardening, I play football, and a lot of thinking and discussing. Let’s see what comes out.”

And what happens in a scenario where a good idea doesn’t come to him for years at a stretch? Is he willing to wait that long, just for a good subject? Sircar replies in the affirmative.

“At the end of the day, it is an expression, art. It comes from pure passion, so it is not my only livelihood that I am dependent on. Yes I am dependent, but I am not doing this because I have to churn out films and make sure it is running. It is purely what drives me. Only when it triggers me, I move, otherwise I don’t,” he concludes.