Anurag Basu speaks about his process of coming up with hyperlinked narratives, his musical influences, his views on modern love, and if he thinks of the box office before making a film

Anurag Basu speaks about his process of coming up with hyperlinked narratives, his musical influences, his views on modern love, and if he thinks of the box office before making a film

- KARTIK BHARDWAJ

DIRECTOR Anurag Basu is cheerful and chatty when we speak to him over the phone, after the release of his latest musical, relationship-drama Metro...In Dino. He isn't much for going too deep into the artistic process. He doesn't take it high-handedly ("It's all organic", "there is no set formula"). The film, featuring an impressive ensemble of Pankaj Tripathi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Alia Fazal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Neena Gupta and Saswata Chatterjee, released last Friday and Anurag, although happy with the responses, is on a wait-and-watch mode. The film business is a fickle one.

We speak to the director about his process of coming up with hyperlinked narratives, musical influences, his views on modern love, and if he thinks of the box office before making a film.

Excerpts

How are you taking the responses to the film?

I am happy at the moment but it is too early to make a conclusion. People's reactions and reviews have been favourable, and hopefully, they will turn into numbers.

Since Life in a...Metro (2007) and then Ludo (2020), hyper-linked narrative is becoming your USP. Do film ideas come to you as a string of multiple stories?