It's like an attempt to go back to my childhood: Shekhar Kapur on 'Masoom 2'

Berlin: Veteran filmmaker Shekhar Kapur says he is trying to rediscover the creative naivety that shaped Masoom as he prepares for its much-awaited sequel.

Veteran stars Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah, who played lead roles in the 1983 film, are set to return for the sequel which will start shooting this year.

Speaking at the red carpet of the inaugural Indian Film Festival Germany, where Masoom will be screened, the veteran director said the movie was born out of his complete inexperience and that gave it a unique quality.

"It's like an attempt to go back to my childhood. And how do I become naive again? Because even Picasso said that. They asked him, 'what do you really want?' He said, 'I want to paint like I've never made a painting before.' And that was 'Masoom'.

"Masoom was made by a person that did not know a thing about it. So I just said, 'okay, let me try.' And so I just had to concentrate on the story because I didn't know what a camera was and how that worked and everything. So maybe something worked," he said.

It makes Kapur emotional whenever someone tells him that they watched the movie but at the same time, he tries to understand why people continue to be deeply moved by it.

"I still don't understand because remember, I was not a trained filmmaker. I'd never made a film. I'd never assisted anybody. I had not studied filmmaking. I knew nothing about film and then one day I just made a film and I was a chartered accountant in London.

"In fact, I worked in Berlin as an accountant also for a while, then I went back and I made a film. There was a certain naivety to it. And there's an innocence to when you're absolutely naive about what you're doing. You do things differently. So when people say, can you make 'Masoom' again? I say, 'Can you make me naive again?'" he added.

Based on American author Erich Segal's book "Man, Woman and Child", Masoom was a story of love, betrayal, and the complexities of family. It followed a happily married couple whose lives are upended when the husband’s illegitimate son from a past affair enters their home.

The film had a screenplay by cinema legend Gulzar and featured music by the late R D Burman. Some of the memorable tracks from the film included Tujhse Naaraz Nahi Zindagi and Lakdi Ki Kaathi.

The Indian Film Festival Germany, which kickstarted on Friday, is organised by the Embassy of India, Berlin & The Tagore Centre. It is described as a "landmark celebration of contemporary Indian cinema which has growing resonance in Germany".

Kapur said when he received a call from the embassy for the festival, he thought they would be screening his Oscar-winning 1998 movie Elizabeth or his most recent directorial What's Love Got to Do with It? (2022).

"They said, Masoom. I said Masoom is over 30 years old. What are you talking about? They said no, we just want to show it. It's popular. I haven't seen it for about 30 years. So it'll be interesting for me to see it on screen." He described Berlin as one of the most creative cities he knows, especially its underground art scene.

"It is so full of creative people who think differently. Creative people with dark and deep thoughts. It's just so exciting. It's provocative. It has the best little theatres. They're so good and fantastic. And I lived 30 years of my life in London. I thought London was the place. And then I realised that no, it is Berlin." At the film gala, Kapur said he is excited to watch actor Boman Irani's directorial debut The Mehta Boys, which is also the opening film.

The director also praised Boong by debutante director Lakshmipriya Devi.

"It's fun, fresh, innocent, and it's political. And it's informative. And how somebody can do a film that is so political that the censor itself didn't understand how political it was. That was fabulous. I was laughing about that. The politics are so hidden. You just miss it in the whole energy of the film," Kapur added.

The Indian Film Festival Germany will also feature simultaneous screenings and panel discussions in Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Munich, making it one of the largest non-commercial film festivals to be held outside India.

The screenings will be held at state-of-the-art venues, including CinemaxX’s Potsdamer Platz cinema which has one of the largest screens in Europe, the main venue for premieres held at Berlin’s international film festivals.