Nagesh Kukunoor on 22 years of 3 Deewarein, "I didn't want to be labelled a funny director, this is my first truly fictional film"
Filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor’s 3 Deewarein completes 22 years today. The film was a serious drama starring Naseeruddin Shah, Juhi Chawla, Jackie Shroff, Gulshan Grover and Kukunoor himself. He looked back at the film in an interview with us. Your first few films Hyderabad Blues and Bollywood Calling, to a large extent, changed the way we look at comedy in mass-oriented cinema in this country. Then why a grim prison drama? I didn’t want to be labelled a funny director. I did make a simple sensitive film Rockford between the two satires. To my surprise, it wasn’t well received. I had a whole bank of scripts ready, and none of them fall into a specific genre. I felt the timing was right for me to move away from satire. Though 3 Deewarein has a docu-centric quality, it is in truth my first truly fictional film (laughs). But it felt so real I’m glad people found the film real. Because halfway through I had taken a U-turn when 3 Deewarein becom...