Shakun Batra

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Shakun Batra is an Indian screenwriter, producer, and filmmaker.He was born and brought up in Delhi. Shakun Batras childhood picture.He wanted to pursue a post-graduation degree in the US after completing his graduation, but his visa was rejected. So, he decided to make a career in cinematography and joined a course in cinematography in Canada. Initially, he had to convince his parents to opt for the course rather than join his familys business.After completing the course in Canada, he returned to India and assisted a few directors in India such as Errol Morris and Christopher Wilcha.Shakun has also worked with top Indian film production houses like Equinox Films, Excel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., and Dharma Productions.In 2016, after almost four years, he directed the popular Hindi film Kapoor & Sons and penned down the script of the film. In an interview, he shared that the story of the film was inspired by his family. He said, Families are like that. Theyre chaotic and are always moving. Even when the members are fighting, they are moving between rooms. I felt that wed never seen this in Hindi cinema, and, for me, that became the exciting challenge. I thought it would be fun if I could organise such scenes, and, if you recall the one with the plumber, you will know exactly what I am referring to. Id seen my relatives behave like that. For the first eight years of my life, I lived in a joint family, so there was always chaos. The house felt full of functions, parties and other grand events. I had seen such scenes in Monsoon Wedding they were so beautiful and fluid that I wanted to bring that element in..He further said that the late Indian actor Rishi Kapoor thought of quitting the film twice. When Rishi Kapoor was asked about the same, he confirmed it and said, I didnt have fun working for Shakun Batra in Kapoor & Sons. You see I worked for 30-32 days on this film. Not a single day passed when Shakun and I didnt fight. It was not a creative fight. It was something else. We fought because I couldnt agree with his method of working on my role. Shakun wanted to cover every shot of mine from many different angles. But I am old-school spontaneous actor. I couldnt recreate the same expression several times over for every shot. I respect all schools of acting. But I am not a method actor. With every successive shot I lose my spontaneity. This new style of working where actors give the same shot repeatedly from different angles has gained acceptance because in the digital era no raw stock is wasted. Because theyve the facility of editing a film on a digital platform they want more software. Thereby actors have turned into robots. Shakun Batra with Rishi Kapoor on the sets of Kapoor & Sons.He worked as a writer-director-executive producer in the Netflix documentary Searching for Sheela (2021). Searching for Sheela documentary poster.In 2022, he directed the Hindi film Gehraiyaan starring Deepika Padukone, Sidhant Chaturvedi, and Ananya Pandey. He also worked as a writer and producer in the film. Before the film was released in 2022, the film grabbed the attention of the audience for the intimate scenes in the promo of the film. In an interview, while talking about such scenes in the film, Shakun said, I have been reading about intimacy in the west in post MeToo world. I wanted to encourage that system of security and safety. I wanted actors to feel mentally and emotionally in a more safe environment. We had intimacy workshops, which are not very different from theatre workshops. They are trust-building exercises to make sure that everyone understands each others boundaries, consent. I am glad that I did it. He continued, This aspiration quality to the urban setting does not feel real anymore to me. There was a time when New York and London felt like the world we wanted to understand and know because it felt so much better than ours. But today, with the exposure that we have, we are very aware of what someones life could be like at least at a surface level..In his leisure time, he loves to play the guitar. Shakun Batra playing the guitar.