New DelhiInspired by the issue of whether tea from Banaras, Kanpur or Bareilly is the best, their discussions touched upon life, cinema and everything in between. Director Nikhil Advani reveals how their friendship began over tea. There were also some memorable conversations which he will never forget.
During a conversation on Cyrus Broacha’s podcast ‘Cyrus Sage’, Nikhil said, we all Manoj Bajpayee, Irrfan Khan, Anurag Kashyap used to hang out together. At that time, no one had that much money. The rules were you could eat food, but if you wanted alcohol, you had to bring your own.
Remembered the discussion over tea on the terrace
Continuing his point, the director said, ‘During that time everyone used to bring their share and there was a terrace where we used to spend two or three days just talking, they used to debate whether the tea from Banaras was from Kanpur or Is it better than Bareilly tea or not? There was discussion on which tea was the best. Being a boy from South Bombay, I was unfamiliar with all these things – what is Banaras tea? Kanpur tea? Why was he so emotional about it and why did he discuss it in such pure Hindi.
Created identity through great films
Recalling the incident related to film producer Karan Johar, Advani said that he and Karan Johar were neighbors and whenever he got a chance, he used to go to tease Karan.
If we talk about Nikhil Advani’s work, he is known for directing films like ‘Batla House’, ‘Delhi Safari’, ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’, ‘Patiala House’ and ‘Chandni Chowk to China’.
Let us tell you that if we talk about Nikhil Advani’s new project, his series ‘Freedom at Midnight’ is inspired by the iconic book of Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins. Produced and directed by Advani, the series stars Siddhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra and Rajendra Chawla and premieres on November 15 on Sony Liv.
Tags: Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpayee
FIRST PUBLISHED: November 16, 2024, 14:52 IST
