Homi Adajania, who made his directorial debut with Saif Ali Khan-starreer dark comedy Being Cyrus 18 years ago, recently said that finding a financier for the film was an uphill task. The movie, which revolves around a dysfunctional Parsi family, was released in English and also featured Naseeruddin Shah and Dimple Kapadia.
While talking about casting the actors, Adajania recalled they didn’t ask him if he had done a film earlier, and was impressed by his narration. “Nobody asked me if I had done a film before. Neither Saif nor Naseeruddin Shah or Dimple Kapadia asked me if I had made a movie before. They assumed that I was an ad filmmaker. They didn’t know I was sitting in my lungi, on a jetty, in Lakshwadeep catching fish,” reminisced Adajania, who also directed Cocktail and Finding Fanny. The filmmaker was in conversation with Cyrus Broacha, on his YouTube Channel.
Adajania further revealed that the film is based on a book which was rejected by publishers for its profanity. The director, who had done ad films in the past and was writing articles for newspapers and magazines, further noted that he believed the actors were floored by his style of narration and therefore, said yes to the film.
“I am a decent storyteller and I get very enthused during the narration. I think because of my narration they had a clear idea of what I exactly wanted from the film. I had a story but no technical knowledge. In the ad space, I had only delved into the creative part with a little bit of editing experience and not know anything about the technical aspect of the process and a huge amount of time had passed since I did that,” he added. Coincidently, Being Cyrus clocks 18th years today.
While the film received critical acclaim, the making wasn’t a smooth ride. “It was difficult to get the film made and it was not easy to get the money. It was an English film with Bollywood actors. The producers were not sure about the film so we went through 8-9 narrations before the financiers. When we finally got the money, just 12 days before the shoot, I was told we had to do another round of narration and then came the shock. The financer had died and we had to look for another person,” said Adajania.
He added that while the entire process of getting a financier was a Herculean task, the process of making the film was one of the easiest experiences he has had. “It was something very liberating probably because I didn’t know anything about filmmaking and I had nothing to lose. I told my technicians that they have to translate my thoughts on the celluloid,” he added.
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