“Make it happen, Anup Saab. I would like to see it on the big screen here in India. Who knows how much time there is," recalls Anup Singh while remembering one of his last conversations with ailing Irrfan Khan as they were struggling to find a distributor for 'The Song of Scorpions' to release in India. After travelling to the finest film festivals across the world including Locarno Film Festival, the film is set to release in India on April 28. Set within the deep desert landscapes of rural Rajasthan, the film features Irrfan along with Golshifteh Farahani (About Elly fame) in the lead role along with a cameo by the legendary actress Waheeda Rehman.
In this insightful conversation with the writer, Anup Singh talks about the making of this beautiful film, working with Irrfan Khan and his influence on the director's body of work, and the late actor’s son Babil. Excerpts from the conversation
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Q) The film finally has a release date Anup, a film that is so special for all Irrfan fans. What are your expectations?
AS: My prayer to the audience is that they come and see Irrfan as he needs to be seen: on the big screen. That would be our real tribute to him. On any small screen, I believe, one will not be able to see the subtle, but breathtaking expansion of his performance that he has brought to ‘The Song of the Scorpions’. Intensely linking himself to the concerns of the film, Irrfan has carefully widened his play beyond the drama to a dialogue with the larger forces of the film - the wide space of the desert, its winds and plants, the camels and the voice of a woman that opens an oasis in his character’s barren heart.
Here, Irrfan has created a rhythm - whether it be a simple raising of the hand or an eye - that immediately links us to the larger rhythms of our world. His passionate attention to the breath and heartbeat of nature, of other people, is a reaffirmation of the deepest spiritual beliefs of our country.
A belief that I am certain, we all have a desperate desire to reaffirm at this moment in our history. At the end of watching the film, I am sure the audience will carry a little bit of this lively, compassionate rhythm back into their lives too.
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Q Would you like to talk about your emotional journey as a filmmaker while making this film, especially because the story talks about an important aspect of society, secondly Irrfan was struggling with his own battle while shooting it?
AS: At the end of the shoot in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, Irrfan told me that shooting ‘The Song of the Scorpions’ had been the happiest shoot he had ever done. And that was true because we had excellent and passionate producers: Saskia Vischer, Shahaf, Thierry Lenouvel, Justin Deiman, and Michel Merkt. They made sure that we could make the film exactly as we wanted to. Making the film was a joy. What came later was heartbreak.
We were elated when the film had its international premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. It was screened on one of the largest outdoor screens in the world, with an audience of 10,000 people. It then traveled to some of the finest other film festivals in the world including Rotterdam, London, Dubai, Torino, and numerous others.
It won awards for best actress, best actor, best film, and best director at various festivals, and the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Musical Contribution at the Soundscreen Film Festival, Ravenna, Italy. And our joy had no bounds when it then found release in Europe. But, for whatever reason, we could not find any distributor in India. It was heartbreaking for me to keep telling Irrfan that we had failed with another possible distributor in India, and another and another.
A little later, in 2018, it became even more agonizing because suddenly he shared with us that he was diagnosed with cancer. At that point, my producers and I, gave up all our sense of politeness, our sense of shame, and started calling just about everyone we could to help us distribute the film in India. We even reached back to all who had said ‘No’ earlier. I met Irrfan at his hospital in London. He said to me, “Anup Saab, every film has its destiny. Wait.” I looked at him, weak on his hospital bed, but still trying to console me. My throat choked, but his words did give me the strength to keep hoping. As his health steadily deteriorated, I would sometimes get a call from him late at night. One of the last times we talked he said, “Make it happen, Anup Saab. I would like to see it on the big screen here in India. Who knows how much time there is.”
Just before he passed away, we heard from Shiva Sharma of 70mm Talkies and Kumar Mangat of Panorama Studios that they were committing themselves to the release of ‘The Song of Scorpions’ in India. I sent a text message to Irrfan. I don’t know if he ever saw it. The film was finally at the edge of release in 2021, but just a week before it opened in theatres, we were in the grasp of the Covid pandemic. Even after the pandemic cleared, it took a while for the theatres to open and the audiences to return to cinema.
Now, in 2023, on Irrfan’s third death anniversary, the film will finally open in theatres all over India. As the director of the film, I am overjoyed. As the director of the film, I am devastated that my friend, my muse, the mesmerizing actor of the film is not going to see it on the big screen as it was at long last release in India.
Q) Let’s talk about your memories of working with Irrfan while shooting. As a director, how did he inspire you with his body of work?
AS: Would you agree with me if I say that any terrain, space, or location, changes depending on who sees, lives within it, in what frame of mind and at what time of the day? This conviction is what was of primal importance to both Irrfan and me. This was precisely the excitement and the challenge of being with Irrfan - in different terrains, in a different light, he was ceaselessly different.
His attempt as a person and as an actor was always to seek in every space, object, person, and thought a path to grow. To see and live as he had not done so before, His unceasing attempt in our films together, in fact, was to discard his body of work, to renounce his earlier craft, to relinquish all temptations to repeat himself. That’s why he refused numerous roles because they were too similar to what he had done before.
He came to a friend, to a film, to surprise and to be astounded, to always initiate us into something unknown. This is the dream of cinema that he taught me: unless every frame changes us and our reality, we have cheated ourselves and betrayed the possibilities of our life and our art.
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Q) Now that Irrfan’s son Babil is also an actor, do you see any association in the future between you two?
AS: I would never cast Babil if he reminded me of Irrfan. But I will, immediately when I see that his one gesture is not at all like Irrfan’s, but gives me a sense that this is that one gesture that would have filled Irrfan with joy.
Q) What is next after this?
AS: Irrfan and I had numerous projects planned together, but after his passing away, I need to go elsewhere for a while, at least a film or two, before I return to India. My next project, therefore, is set in Senegal, Africa, and France. It will be in French and is the tale of a daughter abandoned almost 25 years ago with her mother, who comes to Senegal to confront her father. She is unsure whether she will destroy him or forgive him. However, I am working on adapting an Indian novel by Saikat Majumdar, called ‘Firebird’. The story has so taken possession of me that I am looking forward to making it as quickly as possible.
