Director Vibhu Puri talks about his upcoming ambitious project, Bambai Fairytale

For his film Bambai Fairytale on the little-known life of the legendary Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, Ayushmann Khurrana has completely transformed his lifestyle, body language and speech pattern on location in a far-flung place called Gondol in Gujarat. Director Vibhu Puri, an erstwhile assistant to Sanjay Leela Bhansali, can’t believe the change in Ayushmaan. “When I chose him everyone discouraged me saying Ayushmann is too much of a cool-dude to play a 19th century scientist. But I was adamant. I saw my Bapuji Talpade in Ayushmann. Don’t ask me why. And my faith has paid off. We’ve shot around 50 percent of the film. Audiences will be startled by Ayushmann’s transformation after seeing him in three back-to-back urban rom-coms.” Director Vibhu Puri’s journey is no less amazing than Ayushmann’s. He set out to make Chenab Gandhi, a film on the life of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan for producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The Big B Amitabh Bachchan was finalized for the title role. Vidya Balan and Rajeev Khandelwal were also roped in for another important role. The project fell apart. Recalling the horrific time of uncertainty Vibhu Puri says, “When Chenab Gandhi didn’t happen my world fell apart. I was shattered. Luckily I got a lot of support from within the film industry. Everyone advised me to make a light contemporary film. But soft options don’t interest me. I decided to go back 60 years further than Chenab Gandhi to recreate the life of the man who flew the first plane in India.” What fascinated Vibhu about Bapuji Talpade was his resilience and mystery surrounding his life. “Not much, in fact nothing is known about Bapuji Talpade’s life. He was a dreamer, like you and me. And he taught us that nothing is impossible. Bapuji’s story is truly inspirational. And I had to tell this story. But there was no research material, no documented evidence on his life. Ayushmann and I had to recreate Baupji Talpade’s life mostly through the imagination.” Once Vibhu zeroed in on his subject matter and leading man the hunt began to find the right location. Says Vibhu, “We needed to recreate Mumbai in the second-half of the 19th century. Now where in present day Mumbai could we get what we wanted. We hunted for locations in Darjeeling, Kolkata, Oooty, Kalinpong, and many parts of Gujarat until we found Gondol, a little town in Gujarat where my art directors Amit Roy and Subrato Chakraborty have built a Mumbai that existed when Bapuji Talpade dreamt his amazing dream.” Vibhu feels the story of Bapu Talpade has the strength to inspire generations. “I am told period films don’t work at the box office. But just like Bapuji Talpade I too have out-of-the-box dreams. Why do the expected when the unexpected is so much more exciting? My guru Sanjay Bhansali Sir was told not to make a film about a defeatist drunkard Devdas and a film about a disabled protagonist Black. He did both because there were people to believe in his dream. Fortunately for me my producer Reliance believes in my dream.” Besides being an inspirational tale Bambai Fairytale is also a Guru-Shishya saga. Says Puri, “Just like I had Sanjay Bhansali Sir, Bapuji had a teacher and a mentor. That teacher is played my Mithunda (Chakraborty).When audiences see Mithunda’s look and character they’ll feel they’ve re-discovered this wonderful actor.” We anxiously wait for the release of the movie!!!