Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra graced the stage at the 56th International Film Festival of India, Goa, once again this year. During his session with moderator Abhijat Joshi, titled ‘Unscripted – The Art And Emotion of Filmmaking’ on the third day of IFFI, he shared many interesting anecdotes from his filmmaking journey. During the interesting session, Vidhu revealed that one of the top actresses of his early days used to send her mother for a story’s narration first. He also shared his witty reply that left her mom stunned before his film Parinda’s (1989) narration.
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When Abhijat asked Vidhu if he remembers the anecdote, the filmmaker requested him not to name the actress and said, ‘Maare jaayenge nahi toh (we will be in trouble)’. “In Parinda time, there was a very famous, top actress. We had to narrate the story to her. My assistant told me that the narration is at 10 in the morning tomorrow and her mother will listen to it. I was shocked and questioned again. He told me that her mother listens to it first, if it’s fine, then the actress listens to it,” he recalled.
Vidhu further added, “I asked him to call her mother, I picked it up and said that I won’t be able to do the narration tomorrow because my father lives in Kashmir, and it will take time for him to travel till here. She questioned, ‘What has your father got to do with it?’ I told her that if the mother is listening, then first my father will narrate. If you two can’t get along, then the children will meet. This was when I had nothing, she was the top heroine.”
Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parinda featured Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Nana Patekar and Jackie Shroff. The film was a major critical and commercial success.
