Ranbir is the God of acting: Anurag Basu

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: After a disastrous outing at the Box Office with his last film, ‘Kites’, Anurag Basu could have played it safe and stuck to the norms. But he went and made ‘Barfi!’, where the lead protagonist is deaf and mute, and his heroine is autistic. In a candid interview to DNA, Basu defends his choice of films and says, “But I have always been changing the pace with every film of mine! ‘Murder’ was different from ‘Gangster’, which was different from ‘Life In A Metro’ and so was ‘Kites’.” The filmmaker also admitted that Ranbir was his only choice for the film. “Once you watch the movie, you will agree that no one else could have done the role the way he did.” Basu also cleared the air about how he had never said he would shelve ‘Barfi!’ if Ranbir had said no. “Unlike what some interviews have quoted me as saying, I never told Ranbir that I’d have shelved the movie if he had said no. And neither have I openly stated that he was a God (of acting).” But later, Basu confesses, “He is one, but it’s just that I am quite stingy with praises.” The film was actually a short story written by Anurag during the making of ‘Kites’. “I have the habit of writing short stories and ‘Barfi!’ is a two-page story I’d written during ‘Kites’. So, after ‘Kites’, when I sat down to think of what to make next, I knew one thing — it had to be a story I’d love to make, because I would be working on it for at least one and a half years. And so, when I went back and read ‘Barfi!’, I knew this was the story I had to make, “ the director added. ‘Barfi!’ releases nationwide today.