The trailer of R Balki’s Chup once again shows R Balki to be one of the most innovative and enterprising filmmakers in Indian cinema. Never afraid to break the glass ceiling, in his debut film Cheeni Kum he depicted a summer-winter love story between Tabu and Amitabh Bachchan. In Shamitabh, Amitabh played the ghost voice of a mute superstar.
“The challenge is to do something completely unexpected. I like to surprise myself and the audience,” says Balki. The idea to do a film on how film criticism affects cinema came to Balki after his first film Cheeni Kum was trashed by certain critics. The film went on to acquire a cult status.
“Why only my film? Classics like Guru Dutt’s Kagaz Ke Phool, K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam, V Shantaram’s Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje and Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay were rubbished by critics. My film looks at how adverse reviews impact a film,” says Balki.
