Bhupendra Gupta on his first step into Bollywood

Courtesy: IndiaFM

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

He is an established name in the chemical industry and has ventured into the movie making business just out of his sheer passion. We are talking about Bhupendra Gupta who is debuting as a producer-director-writer under his banner of Buneesha Films with Unns. IndiaFM presents an exclusive chat with the filmmaker.

Why the title Unns?
Unns is a Persian word which means Love. It speaks about love in volumes. It is a very small word but very powerful with many feelings and emotions being defined by it. And since this movie is a love story, we thought Unns would be the perfect title for it.

What is the film all about?
As the name suggests, the film is a love story. It is about love between a husband and his wife, between lovers, between friends. The film also deals with various things that are connected to love like emotional conflicts and even sacrifice. And though every character in the film has his or her way of expressing love, in the end they all have the same goal to achieve.

Any particular reason for the selection of the actors?
This is a very emotional subject and hence the actors had to be very talented to portray the characters perfectly onscreen. This is the reason why I have Sanjay Kapoor who is a very fine actor. Rituparna Sengupta has won two national awards and is very famous in Bengali films. Sudhanshu Pandey has done television and worked in films both in Bollywood and Hollywood. Juhi Babbar is a very fine stage actress and Aman Verma of course, is very talented. These actors have brilliantly portrayed the characters that I had imagined while scripting Unns and that is mainly why I opted them for the film.

How was the experience of working with the actors?
To be very honest, when I came into this industry I was told that there would be star tantrums and I being the producer will have to face a lot of problems, but when I started making the film, there was not a single instance when there was any kind of non cooperation in terms of both words and deeds from the actors and also the technicians. In fact I take pride in saying that, it was only because of the cooperation of the cast and crew that this film which was scheduled to be made in 60 days was completed within a span of just 48 days.

Tell us about the music of the film Unns.
The album of Unns has six songs altogether. Two songs are sung by Sonu Nigam, one duet by Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik, one solo is by Abhijeet and one by Shreya Ghosal, and there is also a duet by Hari Harana and Sunidhi Chauhan. The songs in this album are very melodious and raga based.

Since this is your first project as a director/producer, how was the experience of film making?
The experience was very nice. For any creative person, the process of making films will always be very interesting. Besides films serve as a platform to portray your thoughts in front of people. And hence, the sense of satisfaction you get out of it cannot really be expressed in words. So making films is a very fascinating experience. What I would say is challenging these days is the marketing of the films, to ensure that the film gets a good opening.

Unns is said to be a tribute to late Sunil Dutt.
Unns means love and when we think of love, who else than Sunil Duttji would be a better messiah of love. Personally, I was fortunate enough to be associated with him for many years. I was a part of his peace march from Bombay to Amritsar in the 80's. Even after that I was associated with him in some way or the other. In fact when I planned to make this film, he was the first person whom I discussed the subject with. He was highly impressed with the music of the film too. He readily agreed to even direct the mahurat shot of the film and that's how we began shooting for Unns. So he was always associated with this film. And since he has passed away, all I could do to pay respect to him is dedicate this film to his memory.

What is the USP of Unns?
Love is the USP of this film. Love is an integral part of our lives and it always stays with us from the day we are born till we die. Also the film talks about family values which is a predominant part of our culture. And these aspects of human lives are been portrayed in this film, which makes it unique. We have worked a lot on the technical front as well. Besides we have seen to it that every department gives their best input. Therefore, it's about the film as a whole which is unique. And the aspect of love in the film comes out as one dominant part of the whole.