When R Madhavan said ‘yes’ to Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Sunglass’ without reading a script

R Madhavan worked with late filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh only once and he still remembers the shooting experience, especially Rituparno’s persuasive way of reaching out. It was a bilingual film ‘Sunglass’ made it Bengali and Hindi back in 2006.

Konkona Sen Sharma played the leading lady in the Hindi and Bengali versions of the film. However, Rituparno initially approached her mother Aparna Sen with the script in the 1990s. Madhavan wasn’t part of the film from the beginning. It was Arshad Warsi who was initially selected to play the lead in the Hindi version but he walked out demanding higher remuneration and was then replaced by Sanjay Suri. Tota Roy Chowdhury had signed on to play the lead role in the Bengali version, and along with Suri, started attending the final script reading sessions with Ghosh. Jaya Bachchan was added to the cast to play Konkona's mother, while Raima Sen appeared in a guest role.

Unfortunately, Suri also opted out of the project noting that he had "reservations about the character". Finally, Madhavan replaced him with the Hindi version. The terrific actor shot for the film simultaneously in late 2006 alongside Mani Ratnam’s ‘Guru’ and also expressed his joy at working alongside Rituparno and Jaya Bachchan for the first time. Madhavan said yes to the film without hearing the entire script. Rituparno was convinced that he felt it was the right role for Maddy which gave him the courage to plunge into the film after hearing a brief narration.

Incidentally, the entire team charged small fees for the film, with Konkana didn’t even use a vanity van on the sets. However, the film's shoot was delayed for a month due to Jaya Bachchan's illness, though scenes for both versions were subsequently shot rapidly in Calcutta in October 2006. By November 2006, the Hindi version of the film was reported to be "ready for release". But the film failed to get a theatrical release. It was stuck in limbo and then in 2013, after Rituparno Ghosh’s tragic demise, the film was screened at the Kolkata International Film Festival in the same year paying homage to the master filmmaker.