Interview | Achal Mishra on meeting Vinod Kumar Shukla, making Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai | Bollywood-OxBig News Network

Ahead of the release of the film on Mubi, Hindustan Times caught up with director Achal Mishra on the journey of making this film, and seeing the writer up close. (Excerpts)

Tell me how this idea of a documentary on Vinod Kumar Shukla came about.

It was quite accidental in that sense. I was just visiting a friend, and at his place, I met Manav [Kaul], and the three of us were talking about Vinod Kumar Shukla. Then Manav came up with the idea of visiting him, and I got really excited. I asked whether I could tag along. We planned the thing that we would go to his place in the morning and stay there through the day, and then we would also shoot something. We will see what comes out of it, and we will shoot through the day.

So we went; Manav asked him the questions and I was shooting him. Once we came back I looked at the footage and thought maybe I should do one more visit. I wanted to shoot a little more. Within a week or ten days I went again and shot through the day… this time I interviewed his son as well. It was just these two visits that I sort of kept looking at for the longest time and finally sat down to edit it, after almost two years of shooting that.

Tell me a little about your association with the writer, your memories of reading his work, or how you came to know his work in some way.

I came across his work through the translation of Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, who is a wonderful writer himself. It was at the Jaipur Literature Festival where Arvind ji was introducing another poet and it was Vinod Kumar Shukla. At that time, I didn’t know anything about him at all, but I was there in the poetry recital that he did. Over the years, I read his translation, and slowly, I started reading his poems as well. Mainly in the last couple of years before shooting the film I started reading him and loving his work so much more. I think even in this process of having shot the film and edited it, I have come to read more of his work.

Did you discover something completely new about the writer while shooting the film?

One thing that definitely came across was that there was no separation between his writing and his way of being. If one listens to him in the film, it is like he is talking about these things, which are so beautiful, and they sort of feel so much like his writing only. Even the sentence construction or the little poetry in the tenses, in his choice of words. One thing that really struck me was his way of being which is also his creative process. What we learn from his son mostly is that the way he writes is not separate from how he lives. He can write in the middle of the night, he can write on the call. His way of looking at the world is so much part of him, the ease is already there, that is something that really stood out to me.

There is a beautiful sequence in the film where he says that once his work is published he would rather not look back, that the reader becomes the co-author of that work in many ways. As a filmmaker, how much of that sentiment do you agree with?

I definitely agree with both his doubts and his wanting to revisit his work because, obviously, one grows as a person over the years. When one looks back at one’s previous work, there is a temptation to do this in a certain way. But also one accepts the fact that one could have only done what it is… if I talk about my work in particular, I could have done Gamak Ghar at that time, in that way. The film that it is. If I think of it abhi ke context mein then this 28 year-old me making Gamak at this point would be so much different. It would not be the same film which I made 7 years back.

So one accepts that once a work is done and it goes out, then it becomes something of its own. The audience being some sort of a co-writer is something that I actively believe in, and an aspect that I try to bring in my work as well. When one is making a film one is not filling all the blanks. One does not want to explain everything so that the interpretation comes from the audience. You do not want to say what it is. Then, when 10 people watch it, there will be 10 different versions of it.

Has Vinod Kumar Shukla seen the film and what was his reaction?

He has seen, his family has also seen the film. (smiles) They have all seen it together. We had gone to visit him in August when we had just finished the film. We took a projector along and screened it in his living room and he was really happy. I was scared about what he had to say, but he was so pleased. I was so overwhelmed in a way because that was the only approval I needed that way. He had no idea what shape the film is taking, and the first thing we did was show him the poster. He was very happy and said, ‘Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hain Aur Main Bhi Toh Hu!’ (smiles) This is something that I remember.

Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai is available to watch on Mubi.