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Anubhav Sinha just wrapped up an extensive shoot schedule in Delhi for his next film. In a four-week period, he covered over 20 locations in NCR and his biggest takeaway was how helpful the people of the city were and, of course, the amazing food. The director says he left the capital 2-4kgs heavier and with many warm memories. While the director shot extensively in the capital, the locations he picked were not the typical visuals you see of Delhi – the posh localities of South Delhi, the elegance of Lutyen’s Delhi or the old world charm of Purani Dilli. Instead, he chose the more mundane, gritty side of the city – from Sadar Bazar and Amar Colony to Yamuna Ghat and the Ghazipur landfill. Excerpts from a chat about his experience in the city:


‘Delhi people are such wonderful hosts’
Most of the time, it’s the people of Delhi that made the shooting work. It’s the people. People who love films, and they see a unit of 150 people running helter-skelter to make something work which they can’t see, they don’t know what it is. Somewhere in the corner there is one camera and in front of it there’s something going on – but for 100 meters there is chaos, there is mess, people running around with lights and properties and costumes, and so they don’t know what’s going on. They’re a little disoriented, but they’re trying to do their best to make it happen.
I loved interacting with the people of Delhi. It was great fun. The fact that everybody wants to host you, everybody that you stand and talk to would want to host you for a meal or for a cup of tea. They’re such wonderful hosts. It’s the Punjabi effect.


We shot a lot in Lajpat Nagar – Amar Colony. And we reached out to the (traders) union, we sat down with them and told them what we required and all of that. Suddenly, every shop owner was told that there’s a shoot. The people were anyway helpful to begin with and then they were also offering food and inviting us home to have a cup of tea at least, if not a meal. And I was saying ‘no, no, I am shooting I can’t come to your house to have lunch’, but then they will send something. At least tea will show up… It was great fun shooting here. It’s such a wonderful city. I had such a ball. The local people are very, very, very helpful. You go to them and request, can I use your garage? Can I use your terrace? Can I use this? Can I use that? They try and go out of their way to help you. Because, you know, India is a country that’s fascinated with movies and cricket.


‘Never had such an extensive schedule in Delhi’
I have never shot for 20 days in Delhi. I shot for Thappad here a bit, I shot for Anek here a bit. But never such an extensive schedule. I needed it to be in Delhi, without making you feel that this was probably shot in Meerut or Lucknow or somewhere else. So it was a really tricky shoot in the sense that you were not in those iconic places that you know at a glance as Delhi. But still, you should feel through the film that it’s in Delhi.


‘I love Delhi’s chhole bhature !’
It’s a joy to shoot in Delhi. The discussion that we have before we go to any city is about the eateries – ‘What are we eating every day?’ And Delhi offers so much! At every nook and corner there is some ‘special’ food. It doesn’t matter where you are, there’s always a place within a kilometer from you which is iconic and super famous. I’m convinced that I put on 2-4 kilos during these four weeks. The hotel breakfast menu always have puri sabzi or chhole bhature - I love chhole bhature so much that I hate them - because I want to have them every day (laughs)!


‘Delhi is the real microcosm of India’
Mast shehar hai - khana, music, kapde, bahut sara bhaichara. This is the real microcosm of India. There are all the classes, adjacent to each other. So there is the real rich class, the neo rich class and the bourgeois. And then there are the slums, which is the underbelly of any metropolis. And you know they exist together and it works endlessly. Seems like the city works so seamlessly - which is not true anywhere in the world, but it seems so.