Chup: Revenge of the Artist director R Balki reveals the inspiration behind his film says, ‘The film has a lot of references to Guru Dutt’

On the occasion of Guru Dutt’s birth anniversary, R Balki released the teaser of his upcoming film Chup: Revenge of the Artist, which pays homage to the legendary actor and his masterpiece Kaagaz Ke Phool. Balki posted the movie's teaser on his Instagram, which also stars Sunny Deol, Shreya Dhanwanthary, and Dulquer Salmaan. In a recent interview, Filmmaker R Balki claims that Guru Dutt, a legendary figure in cinema, was the ideal inspiration for his upcoming movie Chup: Revenge of the Artist, which explores the suffering of an artist who receives wrong criticism.

He said, “The script has a lot of references to Guru Dutt. We will have a lot of music from his films and a lot of sensitivity from Guru Dutt. It is about the sensitivity of an artist. We are giving a rare example of an artist who has been wronged by the viewer or fans or the media, not so much the media but opinion makers.”

The Shamitabh director further added, “For me, (it) was about sensitivity towards artists. Guru Dutt Sahab is one of the greatest artists who suffered from wrong criticism. Now the same community, all of us are calling ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ a ‘masterpiece’. It’s ironic. How much that person must have been hurt at that point in time?”

The director, who is most known for his feature debut, Cheeni Kum, Paa, and Padman, claimed that experimenting with a different genre was not a planned choice. “I don’t make films to break genres or to try something that I haven’t done. I look at stories that to the best of my knowledge haven’t been told anywhere. So, whatever genre it falls into, it becomes that. Chup is a hardcore thriller in a commercial format,” said R Balki.