In 'October', challenge was not to be melodramatic: Shoojit Sircar

Mumbai, Apr 20 (PTI) With a story about love, longing and loss, Shoojit Sircar could have easily made his film "October" melodramatic but the filmmakers says he chose not to go overboard as he wanted to give the story a life-like feel. "October" features Varun Dhawan as Dan, an endearing hotel trainee who undergoes a transformation when his colleague Shuili, played by Banita Sandhu, is hospitalised after a freak accident.

Sircar is elated that both the film and his "directorial craft" from cinematography, music, editing to the treatment of characters has been appreciated. "I had never tried this genre. To hold on to yourself, not let it go, not to play it to the gallery, not to be melodramatic while still being realistic was a challenge... I had to restrain myself," Sircar says. In an interview with PTI, the director explains the origin of "October", why his characters behave the way they do in the film and his biggest take away from it. 

Excerpts: 
Q) You previously mentioned that the film draws heavily from your personal experiences. Were you Dan at any point of your life? 
A: "With my mother, I was Dan. She went into coma in 2004 for three and a half months in Delhi. Some of the similar doctors from that hospital gave us medical advice for this film too. I don't know if I was exactly like Dan, but I went through similar things which any coma patient's family goes through. "Talking to her, waiting, sleeping in the hospital, the crunches of the money. Constant debates within the family and doctors- to pull or not to pull the plug. That's a big debate which goes on when someone is on a ventilator for months. I've gone through these dilemmas." 

Q) What did that period do to you? 
A: "It definitely had a deep impact, it was a learning (experience) and since then I knew everything what happens in a comatose situation. Coma became my study since then. It's an absolute uncharted territory." 

Q) So was "October" one of the first stories you wanted to share with the world before you made "Yahaan"? 
A: "The story came from Juhi (storywriter, Chaturvedi) but my only instruction to Juhi was, 'Can there be an unconditional love portrayed like a mother and child through a relationship.' That was my basic idea.