Naseeruddin Shah lashes out at Veena Bakshi-director of The Coffin Maker

The congenitally forthright Naseeruddin Shah takes on the director of his ‘incomplete’ film The Coffin Maker. A filmmaker named Veena Bakshi has called you ‘a bully’? I can’t bother myself with what someone like her calls me. She thinks she can give me a taste of my own medicine. She is trying to behave like me. Rather than waste time calling me names she should just join some film making school and learn the ropes of direction. You’ve often ended up working with people who don’t know their jobs? It’s the roll of the dice. One never knows how a film will work out. One takes a chance each time. I didn’t know anything about Neeraj Pandey when I accepted A Wednesday with him. Or about Shoaib Mansoor when I accepted Khuda Ke Liye. I din’t know anything about Kaizad Gustad when I accepted ombay Boys. Kaizad now did Jackpot with you recently? Yes, I did it in the hope and belief that we could do another Bombay Boys together. I was sadly mistaken. Would you work with Kaizad again? I would not disregard what Kaizad has made earlier with me just because of what he did in Jackpot. I’d still consider his offer if he came back to me again, whereas I wouldn’t give the time of the day to Veena Bakshi. We called her Veena ‘Bak-Bak’ during the shooting, and you can quote me on that. Why Bak-Bak? That’s all she did during the shooting, talk and talk. I’ve come across a lot of incompetence in my life. But I’ve never met anyone this incompetent. Would you give her the honour of being the most incompetent director you’ve worked with? Well, she has very strong competition from many other directors. But yes, she definitely leads the pack. All I am willing to say about Veena Bakshi’s film The Coffin Maker is that it was abandoned incomplete. There was some problem between the producer and she. If they are planning to release The Coffin Maker they would do so without shooting some very important scenes. They must have put together a narrative based on incomplete material. Since she has thrown the gauntlet at me, she will really regret it. She claims you’ve called her ‘incompetent’? I maintain she’s incompetent. In case she didn’t get it the first time, I am repeating it.