Shoojit Sircar says alternate romantic ending for ‘Piku’ was shot on Irrfan’s insistence

Director Shoojit Sircar revealed late actor Irrfan Khan’s romantic instinct nearly changed the ending of 'Piku' (2015), as he suggested a different final scene, reflecting his creative depth and lasting influence on filmmaking

Mumbai: Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar says the ‘romantic’ sensibilities of Irrfan Khan, his late friend and the lead actor of “Piku”, almost altered the final scene of the 2015 film.

At a special screening of “A Story That Refused to Die”, the documentary on Irrfan’s film “Paan Singh Tomar”, the director fondly recalled the romantic side of the late actor.

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The comedy-drama narrated a heartwarming story about a father and daughter, played by Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone. In the movie, played Irrfan played the role of Rana Chaudhary, a witty and charming taxi business owner, who drives Piku (Padukone) and her father to Kolkata.

“Not many people know that Irrfan was a romantic person. While we were shooting the last sequence of ‘Piku’ where they (Deepika and Irrfan) are playing badminton and then it was cut.

“Irrfan came to me and said, ‘Should I not go inside (the house)?’ I was like, ‘Why do you want to go inside?’. He was like, ‘I should rather go inside (the house), since it’s a romantic film, and the house help comes, I’ll go.’ I was like, ‘We can shoot it as an option’ and he insisted that I keep this in the final edit. We shot that but I didn’t keep it during the final edit,” Shoojit said.

Irrfan, the versatile star of films such as “Paan Singh Tomar”, “The Lunchbox”, “Hindi Medium”, and “Maqbool”, died at the age of 54 in April 2020 after a battle with cancer.

The director, known for movies “Vicky Donor”, “Madras Cafe”, “Sardar Uddham” and “I Want To Talk”, said that Irrfan remains a constant presence in his creative process.

“Whenever I write something, I think of Irrfan. He would bring soul and heart to a film without doing much, but just being there. When I would write something, I would be rest assured that Irrfan is there in the film and he will add something and it will make sense.” The documentary was screened on the sixth death anniversary of Irrfan on April 29 at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.

Shoojit said he was captivated watching the documentary, which he felt, mirrored Irrfan’s fascination about the magic of cinema.

“We know how difficult it is to shoot behind-the-scenes of a film. But the magic of cinema is such that I was enjoying watching it, I was glued into this documentary. Irrfan also would often talk about the magic of cinema,” he added.