"Anurag Basu Says Something Profound Simply And Innocently": Abhishek Bachchan On Ludo

Actor Abhishek Bachchan says he boarded the upcoming film Ludo knowing nothing about his character or a proper script brief only because he was drawn to the quirky, innocent world of director Anurag Basu. The dark anthology combines crime with comedy and continues Anurag Basu’s fascination for chronicling charming, eccentric musicals after 2012’s Barfi! and Jagga Jasoos (2017). In an interview with news agency PTI over Zoom, Abhishek Bachchan said Anurag Basu’s filmmaking of marrying profound messaging with simplicity is his strength. “There’s a quirky outlook to life which comes out in his films. He says something profound simply and innocently, through a particularly coloured lens. It’s a pleasant experience. Anurag doesn’t make you realise the severity of what he has said to you, because he says it by putting a smile on your face. Which is the best and most efficient way to make a point.”

Ludo is centered on the unavoidable jeopardy of life and follows four different stories, featuring an ensemble cast also including Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Rohit Saraf, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Pearle Maaney, Inayat Verma, Asha Negi and Shalini Vats.

Abhishek Bachchan recalled meeting Anurag Basu over two years ago, when the film was in the planning stage, and said he committed instantly to the project. In Ludo, scheduled to be release on Netflix on November 12, Abhishek Bachchan plays Bittu, a goon whose life turns over a new leaf after he meets a six-year-old girl, Mini (Verma). The Manmarziyaan actor said he was only given a “brief” basic plot line narration by Basu, “that too much later”, and didn’t know anything about the character before the shoot.