More money, bigger scale for Shanghai

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After making shoestring budget, almost indie, films all his career, Dibakar Bannerjee is entering the conventional mainstream for the first time with Shanghai. While it definitely promises to be interesting to see what the director has done with the increased budgets and additional resources he had at his disposal, he promises that it will still remain true to his austere sensibilities.

“This film does not spend its money on what we would generally see money spent on,” he says. “There are huge crowd scenes, and stunt scenes; we needed to spend money to give the film its scale and power. The city and its political energy is a character unto itself.”
But, he adds, it’s not like he’s consciously trying to enter the mainstream now. “It’s not just now; right from my first film, I’ve been trying to enter the commercial space. I’ve always tried to make my films profitable. I don’t do anything except make films, so the only money I earn comes from the films,” he reasons.