Interview | Srijit Mukerji opens up on how Angelina Jolie's suicide attempt shaped his new film Killbill Society

When Srijit Mukerji's Hemlock Society released in 2012, he was just three films old. Audiences warmed up to the film's unique concept of assisted suicide, its fresh pair in the casting of Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Koel Mallick and the soulful musical score by Anupam Roy.

Now 13 years later, Mukerji is back with a sequel to the film, which releases in theatres on April 11. In the span of this decade, the director has consistently made acclaimed films and dabbled in a wide variety of subjects and formats of storytelling. In this exclusive interaction with HT ahead of the release of Killbill Society, the director opens up about expanding on an idea that he chanced upon on X, collaborating with Parambrata and more. (Also read: Interview | Rituparna Sengupta on working with Sharmila Tagore in Puratawn: ‘She loves delving into things that are new’)

The director has had atleast one film release a year. Does it get any easier before a film releases? He says, “I made a film which I wanted to make, on my own terms. Now it is up to the audience, so now I am going through the drill… promotions, post-production and the usual things just before the film comes out.”

On the idea of a sequel

Mukerji adds that the idea of a sequel to his 2013 release was always there. “If you remember the last scene of Hemlock Society, it had Ananda Kar (Parambrata) driving away with a new aspirant and taking him under his wings,” he says.

“All these years we were just waiting for the right plot. We did not want to make a sequel just for the sake of making a sequel to such a cult classic. We were waiting for the right plot, and on erstwhile Twitter, we came across this real-life incident involving Angelina Jolie's life where she had hired a contract killer at the age of 19 to kill herself. She wanted it to look like a suicide but also wanted to make it look like a shootout for her family. Of course, the contract killer asked her to sleep over it and she changed her mind, and the rest is history,” he adds.

When asked what was about that specific story that made the director take notice, he says, “Just the uniqueness of it, the quirkiness of it. Also the fact that if I had imagined such a plot myself people would have dismissed it as too radical or too unrealistic. Thankfully it actually happened so it made my life easier. Also the themes of suicide and assisted suicide are close to Hemlock, which is why I thought this could go ahead. Ofcourse there are twists and turns in this story, but the seed idea remains this.”

‘Parambrata is a very underrated actor’

Killbill Society stars Parambrata in the lead, an actor with whom Mukerji has worked several times. The director opens up on this creative partnership over the years, even as he admits that he does not write roles with any actor in mind specifically. “But it is true that Param and I go back a long way. He was my junior at school, so in that way we have known each other for 37 years! That's a staggering number! We have known each other since childhood,” he says.

“He is a very underrated actor in my opinion. I have always gone to him with diverse roles, and he has always delivered. Which is why he is my go-to man for difficult roles, especially in crisis. He is my Rahul Dravid in that sense! (smiles),” says the director.

Lastly, is there a genre that he would want to explore next? Mukherji says, “There are lots of films that make me sit up and take notice. I would love to make a horror film someday. That is one genre that I have not tried and possibly a full-fledged slapstick comedy. These two genres, two extremely difficult ones, these are the ones I want to do. And maybe, a science-fiction feature someday, something more elaborate.”

Killbill Society releases in theatres on April 11.