The 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) turned into a cinematic whirlwind as acclaimed filmmaker and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra lit up the “Unscripted – The Art and Emotion of Filmmaking” session at Kala Academy. In conversation with celebrated screenwriter Abhijat Joshi, Chopra delivered an afternoon packed with wit, nostalgia, and rare insights that left the audience erupting in applause and laughter.
The event opened with a felicitation by Dr. Ajay Nagabhushan MN, Joint Secretary (Films), who honoured Chopra and Joshi, followed by noted producer Shri Ravi Kottarakkara. Dr. Ajay expressed his hope that Chopra would continue guiding young filmmakers with his trademark honesty, while Ravi hailed Parinda as a “game-changing film” that rewrote Indian cinema.
Once the conversation began, Joshi recalled the day he first met Chopra—an encounter that eventually shaped films like Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots. He then asked whether Chopra’s filmmaking style had evolved from Parinda to 12th Fail. Chopra responded with striking candour: “Every film reflects who I am at that point. I was angry when I made Parinda. You can see that violence in the movie. Today I’m calmer.”
Chopra added that 12th Fail was born out of witnessing corruption firsthand. “The film was my way of saying, ‘Let’s be honest for a change’. If I can change even 1% of the bureaucracy, that’s enough.” He also revealed that watching 1942: A Love Story in its newly restored 8K format made him emotional, admitting he could not make that film today because he is no longer the same person.
Joshi praised Chopra’s conviction, saying, “He never cares about a film’s commercial fate, he values only its artistic fate,” before prompting Chopra to revisit the creative process behind his classics. Chopra spoke about his relentless pursuit of visual truth and even reenacted a moment from 1942: A Love Story, explaining how he insisted on real birds flying across a mountain ridge. Seeing that scene restored, he said, “was joy.”
The session then shifted into a riot of anecdotes—Chopra recalling how he wrote Khamosh in a one-room flat, shouting “cut, cut!” from the rooftop, and the crowd favourite: Jackie Shroff accidentally entering the wrong apartment during rehearsals and waking a startled woman who later believed she had dreamt the encounter.
Chopra’s musical memory lane continued with the story of R.D. Burman and ‘Kuch Na Kaho’. He recounted rejecting Burman’s initial tunes—“I called it bullshit. I wanted the soul of S.D. Burman”—before singing the iconic melody onstage to thunderous applause. He even revisited his famous National Award incident, joking about expecting Rs. 4,000 in cash but receiving an eight-year postal bond instead, a story that had the hall roaring.
In a moving highlight, 92-year-old Kamna Chandra, writer of 1942: A Love Story and Chopra’s mother-in-law, joined the discussion along with producer Yogesh Ishwar. Chandra said, “I felt like I’ve done something in life,” while Yogesh described the painstaking 8K restoration in Italy. Chopra concluded that the restored film “looks exactly like what I had imagined.”
By the end of the session, it was clear that the audience had witnessed more than a conversation—it was a journey through decades of cinematic passion, friendship, and fearless storytelling.
Also Read: “Youth has that purity”: Vidhu Vinod Chopra on why he backs fresh talent over star power
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