 hello hello how are you good good all good it's uh it's it's it's lovely to meet you is it it's it's morning there right yeah it is well good morning good morning to you i'm a very very early morning person that's why i'm a nice hit that's how the meeting in the morning yeah absolutely um well thank you so much for sitting down with us we've uh we've been an admirer since the first film we saw of yours which was actually Jalitaku uh i apologize if i'm mispronouncing your names i mispronounce every thing we've seen from india uh so i apologize um but we were uh immediately a fan after we saw that that film and we are ecstatic that it is uh india's official submission for the oscars uh this year because we uh we want everyone to be able to um one see that film and also just realize the talent that's coming out of india so i just want to ask you how does it how does it feel to be the official entry uh for for india this year i'm i'm really thankful to god that this is happening and i would say this is uh i'm i'm really glad that this is happening uh for the team uh it is it is mostly because uh you know uh i have realized uh in the recent times that it is not just the director making the film it is the entire entire team especially a film like this which is like an effort of uh a thousand odd people uh running as you have seen running behind the bull behind in front inside on top so to make that happen uh it was like a huge effort from the team behind so i'm really glad uh for everyone who worked behind from the producer uh thomas panika too uh you know there there was uh there's an art assistant uh sanhoj who always got into the the shell of the the dummy bull whenever i had to take a retake uh so it is like it it weighed around more than 80 kgs so you know how of uh how difficult it was each time because when uh so he had to like uh almost bend down and get inside uh get on i like catch on a handle inside and uh he can hardly see because when uh we couldn't uh make holes uh in in the laser vice instead of that we had cameras uh so he had to catch uh uh cc uh monitor and was it was it was it on like a motorcycle or was it what was it no no no no it's it was just legs functioning as motorcycle wow so anyways these these are all back stories uh behind it but i'm happy that this is happening yeah yeah which we say all the time on the channel that that film is is you know people who haven't been around film don't appreciate what a collaborative effort emotion picture is and and oftentimes the name actor or the name director are the ones who get primary credit and a director should obviously because it's the director's vision but none of that comes to pass unless you have a team like that and those are the unsung heroes the ones that we never get to see yeah yeah yeah so so like i like i explained it is like so every department like worked hand in hand for the film to happen like each department had their own role to do so i'm i'm really glad for all of them actually because like i always like whenever they asked me what was my first reaction i said i'm really happy for all the people who ran behind the bull yeah so more of it i would say yeah yeah and it's also representative not just obviously of the fact that it's all of india but the very specific industry where you do something that's in malayalam that's got to have a level of pride and i bet you've gotten a lot of positive feedback about that as well yes it it is i would say and see i'm really glad that the film is from one end of the country so as you know i mean you're you're quite familiar with india i know so it is like each state speaks a different language each state has a different food culture yeah so it is like every single thing different about each state of india so our state is like this one one end of the the country and i'm really glad that mean the so it is it is kind of an exposure for the outside world also that mean cinema is like like any other aspect of india cinema is also like so diverse in india and we have this n number of languages in which we all make cinemas and watch cinemas so that's a great news what's been the reception outside of obviously you know in india it's been fantastic internationally that you've got from besides us two have you gotten a positive reception from obviously outside of the official submission itself from what's what's been people's reception to your film that are from like america or different different countries like that to this film see apart from apart from india we have taken it to a few festivals like say toronto or busan or a few festivals like that what i have realized is it is like it was all every single place it was very well received considering the the kind of topic or the the idea was more global i think it is yeah it is like a it's it's not a native a story of a native place yeah it's a human story for sure it's a human story so yes a person from anywhere in the world did connect to the film and i would say that man say definitely this kind of what do you say acceptance will happen only after it being nominated from india as a film otherwise many it was just like a malayalam film which is running apart from the festival attention it it got yeah yeah well it excites us for exactly what you said because it does not just represent india or a specific industry within india the film is universal if i i'm confident that if academy members watch this film they're gonna see that and they're gonna appreciate it and i i know you uh you prefer to let the film speak for themselves and to not tell people what the film is supposed to be about um but if i if i may ask is it safe to say and you can refuse to answer this that obviously one of the driving universal stories that's in this is is the idea of herd mentality the idea of people uh being caught up in a frenzy of just instinctive response not using their minds is that obvious to you uh you know it is obvious from uh any single vision of uh jelica i would say it is for me uh it is more uh uh i had written a recent um like a small write up which i had to write so it was uh i i i just feel that when jelica do is everything that the world should not be yeah so uh so it is like i mean i connect the the film more uh two revelations of bible now or the apocalypse uh yes uh in the bible now because see it is it is uh not because of any reason because when the times are uh moving into such a uh space i feel according to i mean whatever is happening around the the kind of pandemic and the kind of issues happening around the the globe yeah so uh it is uh i would say that when it is time for uh every single person on earth to go back from darkness to light so i would uh say jelica to us uh is more of hinting that uh so and uh as you said when i don't want to explain the whole film and yeah because this is my redo and i don't want to like feed it to any audience audience who watch the film yeah yeah yeah i i fully appreciate that um part of your your filmmaking i i it always frustrates me when when filmmakers spoon feed people uh and as opposed and tell them what the film is about so i really appreciate and there's so much about this film that we absolutely adored um from everything from the the sound design of the entire the way you used sounds in this and obviously the cinematography was just almost mind-blowing that that who i forget who your cinematographers i do apologize yes um he he deserves an oscar himself for for what he did with this film um there were so many night shots basically in this film can you explain um how difficult that was to make it look as beautiful as you made it so tell us your process basically the only the only person to credit uh the whole look of the film is definitely the cinematographer uh and uh like you said so let me just uh put it in a uh put it uh in a easier context like say sound design uh music uh cinematography editing all this uh we had decided uh rather than we discussed and uh decided on a pattern where it start from silence like the the graph uh was like from silence to uh to the the peak of chaos and uh uh pyramid and drop drop back to silence again so uh it is like you can see that graph in all the process uh of the film like say cinematography has the same kind of imagery like say you you start with people uh just waking up from sleep silently like like mild of breaths and uh you uh wake up into a very silent morning early morning and it's the sounds slowly start filing up from there to what you see in the end yep so the music has also uh also has the same kind of uh a structural uh pattern uh in the film like say we we have mostly used uh the uh human voices and uh thumping and stomping i mean uh mostly nothing uh from the instrumentals or digital sounds it's it's mostly human and uh uh more uh manual yeah so basically mean uh the structure is from a dot to a peak yeah where you see the the pyramid in the end so it's it's basically that one of our favorite sounds was actually at the very end with the pyramid and when people were piling on it was basically i don't know what you used for Foley or what it sounded like you had slabs of meat like on top of each other and it was absolutely brilliant so it's like when i would say when it is uh Ranganad Ravi uh who's a sound designer and uh for mixing uh it was Kanan Ganpat so they both uh uh like just get me all the sounds in the world and i mean keep it in such a way that mean i mean i i don't have to do anything so yeah well the accolades we that's we couldn't say enough about how much we appreciated the oscar level work of the visual cinematography of the production design of the sound and even you know Corbin had just mentioned so much of the film takes place at night and again people who don't involve themselves with film don't appreciate how difficult it is to make a beautiful night shot uh tell us a little bit about that process okay sorry i mean i have a habit of just taking diversions no no no how was it in my film like i i take twist and so let me explain that so um it was like a huge team so um things don't happen as easy as uh you think i mean how it happens in hollywood or any other bigger industry because uh it's more of a manual job uh when it comes to uh a small industry like uh my little industry yeah so uh let me uh just explain how uh we get a uh entire space in the night oh please so that is that is that is one example like which i can take uh apart from the the climax scene where we have used the balloon lights uh apart from that a lot of sequences we have uh used these uh um we mimicked the balloon lights with smaller like umbrella like you know this chinese lanterns chinese lantern uh like smaller forms of what the actual balloon lights would be okay so what uh our team does is like our team has in the the lighting unit uh the lighting unit does is uh they uh they fill sand in a uh a small a half litre bottle of pepsi or something and they tie it up so they throw it uh to to the top of a tree so and when it comes down they will pull it uh pull the light up and they have to literally climb up the uh tree each time to fix it fix the light i'm not just one or two small uh pieces i'm talking about 50 or 60 light pieces where uh we will get a entire place lit with the same impact like a moonlit effect basically and so this is a tedious process and uh that is why i'm saying that mean it is for me it is uh all about reimagining what is written uh in the uh script so it is more of uh people really doing their job in this way so i'm uh so this is one uh example which i took so like this each uh place and each uh point we have to uh light uh in a very uh uh it was not that easy uh like it's but when the only thing i am happy about it is uh that we were all like uh happy doing the entire job and uh and i would say that this was the the most fun film we all had it was not uh screaming and uh a loud film like you think behind it it was like a super fun uh film we had it behind the the whole camp that's wonderful the wow so you i i know you've worked with your dp uh quite often is that do you think the most important relationship for director with his dp uh i would say it is not just dp i work uh uh closely with all the technicians yeah just for the reason that um uh as i said i mean uh director is someone who reads uh the script and reimagine the the script for uh screen yeah so uh the reimagining part is what i i do uh so and uh all i do is to explain each technician what i uh reimagined and um so once uh they get it right uh as a as an idea i mean they all work from their own perspective their own ideas so it is like when i would say that it is not just cinematographer i would say but why is cinematographer becomes the most uh is it a sound recurring uh no i'm okay you're you're a little muffled but no i can i i can hear you just fine so uh so it is like um i would say why cinematographer becomes the most important uh a person uh in a set uh is just because uh it's it's more of a visual uh medium what we're we're all working so i have an idea i i narrate the idea in all the explanatory with all the explanatory skills i have so but uh the cinematographer literally have to work uh as my eyes like so it it happened uh i would love when it happens uh i mean when someone was like that and not only uh cinematographer the art director uh the so each each person uh like did uh function like uh uh uh they they literally joined the kind of uh vision uh we all had that's what yeah yeah and i noticed you the editor dipu joseph that you you've worked with dipu joseph on many films is like a part of your team can you tell us a little bit about the editing process is it the same with each film or does it was it different for this film um as far as uh this uh jellie kudu is concerned i would say uh the editing was um um i would say one of the most important uh spaces to deal with or difficult spaces to handle just for the reason that we had a animatronic bull uh and we had uh and i didn't want to use too much of vfx uh uh on screen uh so combining all of this and to make it look more real uh on screen so uh so an editor had to really pick the shots right uh like guide me where where all we need uh vfx uh addition so uh i would say that when uh dipu joseph uh i mean deserves uh a big applause uh absolutely uh what's the do you know the because once again on the on the oscars what is the um next steps now for for you as the official submission it because we know obviously with the oscars there's a lot of campaigning but obviously this year during a pandemic do you know do you know what the whole process is now for for for you see um i um i had spoken to uh our producers uh thomas panikar and uh naushad who's an executive producer so uh they have taken it in the right very right spirit and uh they have formed a team uh which is like really really strong uh say uh guñit guñit moga who's already experienced uh in uh say i would say winning an oscar for india like last year documentary yeah yeah yeah and yes apart from that somebody like xyc uh films coming on board to support us uh like um so these are all great things happening uh in the campaign front at the same time um they they are moving in the right direction and uh attaching the right kind of people with the with the campaign so like you said the the campaign this year is not like the live campaign yeah it is more of an online campaign so which actually works for our advantage i would say yeah so in a good way yeah and the end of the day i would say that when it it should not be um uh the campaign uh what wins uh uh an award oh never yeah correct of course it should be it should definitely be uh uh the merit of the of the film this film or any film for that matter yeah i understand agree and that's one of the things yeah oh go ahead please and what no that's it so and so i i i'm very uh what do you say i i stay a little away from a lot of sound and uh promotions normally so i i prefer that so and they are allowing me to do that and whenever it is required my uh comment or uh or an interview like this which to to reach people so i am doing that yeah and i think that's the case with most artists they don't really feel the desire to be in the promotion side of things they just want to be in the creative side of things but yeah that what we want to see happen and anything we can do which is one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you uh and we live in los angeles uh we know people in the industry and anybody that we can communicate with we want academy members to see this film because i i believe that if academy members see this film they're going to see the merits that everyone else who's seen it is is going to and right now i would say the best thing that we or anybody could do is just continue to talk about it and post about it and make noise about it online and let it have a you know notoriety with algorithms and things of that nature yes is that the best thing people can do to just promote the film yeah yeah uh what i mean can you can you repeat the last last block of it yeah the best thing that all of us could do to promote the film is to post about it tweet about it talk about it share it with people tell them to watch it yes yeah uh yeah of course when unfortunately i'm i'm away from all this social media activity oh i know i wouldn't say i will not say anyone uh not to do it yeah i would be happy that if you like the film and if you share or uh if you comment on it i will be more than happy to see and listen to it so yeah so you seem like a very sweet genuine kind person what draws you to chaos so much uh in your films so uh i would say that when i uh see the last one year one year definitely has changed me a lot so i would say that when i have definitely shifted from what uh uh the the master of chaos chaos uh title which i had to uh i would stay i would like to be the master of silence so so anyways so but uh see what all i'm saying is that the best uh best uh definition i would give uh why why in my films there is a lot of chaos will be uh see that is what the world uh us mostly most of the times when i when i look at it from a perspective of an artist yeah and uh why i featured it in my films uh us just for the reason that uh i want to take away that chaos from uh from the world and keep it a peaceful place so that's what i would uh i would uh love to say yeah yeah that makes sense another thing we've noticed about you which was one of the many things that impressed us about you as a director is there are some directors and i've used ron howard as an example here in american cinema who don't mind being kind of behind the camera so you know it doesn't necessarily feel like a ron howard film whereas if you see a quintin tarantino film you know you're watching a tarantino film your films have a very definitive dna that is yours we notice that immediately like the people we know you admired like a frances ford coppola or in your retu um is that something that you always wanted to have and it's intentional or is it just a byproduct of your creativity uh these are all like very huge compliments i would say and i'm happy that you're giving it to me but let me say uh these are these are not a planned or signature things what i try to do in each film it is like i all i'm i normally try to do is to make a different film from what i did uh as a earlier one yeah so yeah so in that process when it definitely becomes uh slightly different and uh it will give a uh say for example uh see these kind of crowded shorts or a long uh long take i mean uh if you say that mean that is that is kind of uh my uh signature i'm happy there to agree just for the reason that it is like um uh i have liked uh those those kind of shorts those kind of sequences with someone else uh has really taken that effort and did in a different film say like when i always uh have loved uh something like ran of kurosawa or uh zine of costa gavras so uh i for me as a director these have these sequences have excited me because when uh i really would have liked to know i mean how how how how they how did they do the entire sequence so uh such small small things attached together when uh becomes my uh my way of doing a new film i guess so and uh it has all come from different places different directors different ideas and uh tomorrow if someone uh makes a film uh like what i have done i will be super happy that when someone is taking it from me i mean what uh it should happen yeah and and and and on your love for for tracking shots and you are a master at tracking shots when obviously jolly taco you had a bunch i think the the fight scene with the two the two gentlemen in the river uh that that tracking shot and then obviously um i apologize for mispronouncing this title of this film but agamali diaries right um i can't pronounce anything like i said but obviously that 11 or 12 minute tracking shot um that's almost your signature now and you're absolutely brilliant at it would you ever go as far as birdman essentially a film where it almost looks like it's entirely one shot go the entire next level like i said earlier it is not the shot uh what is designed uh uh is decided before it is like the film first and then if the film demands a shot like that why not right a film was all just one shot yeah no if the film uh i mean film uh the script demands a shot like that i mean i should not cut anywhere so then i mean i go like that otherwise i would i take that do ever take a shot of course yeah exactly which is a beautiful thing that we noticed about you we have felt that you your decisions as a filmmaker always are in alignment with the story we don't think you'd ever make a decision about something just for the sake of it or to do something meet it's always about story for you uh and how much of that do you storyboard and it stays that way when you're filming and how much of it is just inspiration and you're there you realize either we can't do that shot the sun's going down or oh i just have how much of it is just on the fly as you're filming it's uh i would say that it is mostly impulsive uh i mean most of most of the films what we do because the storyboard or the previous such things normally don't happen so almost all the all the films are results of the kind of impulses and like that momentary decisions we we all took are on set but as i said when it it is like the coordination happens on all sides and i am just someone who designs a shot and it is like physically being there taking it in the right way channeling it in the right since like all these people are involved so as i said when it is a lot for me to design it is i would consider an easier job than physically doing it so so it's a combination of all this yeah what's your relationship with i because we know you've been in quite a few of your own films and and other films is acting but you hate acting um but you've also worked with the great like greats like for hot for seal but then you also make films where you have like 80 something actors who acted for the first time is that something you you you enjoy you enjoy finding new actors or what's your whole process with actors see um according to me like every single person is an actor so you just have to tweak them or make them realize one more thing to do and i would uh uh not try to make it a difficult job for anyone i would that is what i i normally uh does so uh when uh the person in front of the the cam when he start feeling that mean what he uh what he's doing uh something really difficult so then it becomes very very uh difficult so otherwise i think when every single person can easily perform in front of camera so you just have to pad and easily make them do it in the right way that's all yeah so i i enjoyed both i would say it is not just uh the new uh actors in front of camera i enjoy working with actors also but uh what matters is mean uh that phase uh literally uh needs to be uh like clean uh on the script of the the character so it is more of the character the look of the character uh decides the person so it could be a a popular actor it could be uh a new uh new actor who who wants to get into uh acting or someone who just uh is walking on the street mean so it could be anyone who has a similarity to the kind of character what is written uh in the script i would say so yeah it works always yeah that that was i know satyajit rai chose a lot of his roles that way it was that person is they look like that character and that's who i'm gonna have for that character uh your father was a respected actor so you grew up around theater and film uh when did you want to be a director what made you want to go into directing i don't know the it was like always uh i mean i i um i no that's what i'm i'm seriously thinking when when did i really start thinking about directing very young it was never it was never acting i would say maybe it was um um the moment when um what uh my uh my mother's father used to be a urgent uh film lover so he used to do all the small experiments in which uh we fill water in a bucket and like light a torch and project it on a wall kind of a thing so um the the liking for cinema was always there and i don't know maybe it was like seeing it from behind uh the rehearsal camps of the theater like where i used to go or my father's theater rehearsal camps so such places also used to be like really uh an inspirational uh reason why i mean i mean why i i got into directing i would say but it was all about but mostly it was like just uh i i love stories i love listening to stories i love telling stories and uh the best way to communicate it to a thousand million people is to like bring it on screen so i think that is what that is yeah absolutely um so we've seen quite a few films from malayalam industry and it's one of our absolute favorite industries even though we've seen films from almost every industry in india and seen fantastic great films from each region but malayalam sticks out because almost every single one of them is top notch and almost everything acting directing cinematography everything but i want to ask you what's one thing you would like to change in the malayalam industry if anything uh no i don't want to change anything you see the the place the cinema or the people everything needs to evolve by itself i feel and uh as far as uh the the cinema what is happening in the industry are really inspiring and there are i mean it's like a lot of people coming out with great ideas and the cinema has become more global in their narrative nowadays so it's not just malayalam i would say it does like most other places cinema uh have moved out of that regional box yeah so it is more global so the stories are more global and people just connect to all the stories so that is more important that and it is happening yeah and one of the things we're really passionate about and we were thankful that the academy recognized parasite as the best film because it's the opening of that mindset that there's international cinema it's not just hollywood is that something that you really you just mentioned it i assume you really would love to see more people whether it's americans paying attention to indian cinema spanish cinema french cinema and vice versa that indians are paying attention to other regions that international community i think is very important to you yes so um all i'm saying is that when uh all you have to do is to uh make a film or tell a story in in a way which you think is right and which you think uh is the right sign to tell a story or uh to bring it on on screen and just leave it as it is i mean so if that story needs to be uh like when seen by people the film needs to be seen by people maybe it will uh be uh seen by people so uh all i'm saying is that we don't have to push it too much uh saying that mean okay everyone in the world needs to uh watch this uh cinema so if it uh if it uh has that kind of a quality it will it will slowly reach people so uh i would take like i would take it like that so so and just make your uh narrative honest as possible yeah so that will reach people yeah yes and yes we saw your your trailer for your it was supposed to come out this year i believe was true true true i apologize yes thank you uh do you have any updates on that way if do we know when it's coming out yet at all or see truly uh for me i see i would say that the last three films uh starting from uh in my uh then uh uh jelica too and now uh truly so this um it it it slowly shaped into uh i would say uh uh unexpected uh uh triological format and uh uh truly uh definitely would close the uh the kind of uh triology uh it was uh so uh i'm almost done with the the film it's almost through so uh right so let's see even what does what is in store i don't want to talk more about film i did uh one one thing i didn't know if it was that film or a future film but we did i did read an article that said for a future film of yours you're considering virtual reality uh i would say yes uh because when i i say that it's uh i don't know when it'll happen but then definitely that isn't uh i consider uh that is an idea yeah it's just for the reason that uh i i feel that when uh that is one uh medium which uh which needs to be explored yeah uh agree and uh for a storyteller uh to to narrate a story in 360 degree is always exciting and uh i would say that when uh i was not so familiar with uh uh the medium i recently got introduced like say a six to seven months back so now i am uh definitely thinking of doing something in vr but uh before that definitely after uh truly's work i'm taking a break yeah yeah for good sure sure well as a point of encouragement if there's anybody that we think would be able to do that well absolutely in 360 i think about jolly katsu in that format where you'd be literally in the night and all around are the sounds and the sights that would be an unbelievable experience i want to jump on the right so yeah but one last question as well i wanted to know about jolly katsu the screen the screenplay is forgive me for mispronouncing their names it was our jaya kumar and and uh yes harish yes yes yeah um was that a screenplay they presented to you did you have the concept and then they wrote it how did that happen the the actual idea for the film yes harish is a very popular writer a short story writer he had recently written a novel in the by the name misha which called the moustache so it won the biggest prize for a literature in india the jcb award jcb award so this was a story written by s harish which was titled ma moist but that was more of a satire a social satire in its content and when we sat to create a screenplay for the story like the adapted screenplay so it turned into more of a thriller because when we figured that the the thriller aspect of the story is more interesting when it when it comes to a film i mean even i i thought when it it needs to be approached from a thriller point of view so that is how it slowly turned into what jelica do or was kidding and i would say yeah well we are very excited the at the prospect of of it getting selected as an official selection for the oscars so we were are very hardly rooting for you and your entire team involved and we look forward to the morning when we get the notification that says it's it's going to be official selection to the oscars i do want to finish this interview off a little bit of rapid fire just dumb questions uh nothing nothing too difficult here um but first one do you coffee or chai chai chai all this uh favorite malayalam dish mean mingari like fish curry i would say yeah gotcha um favorite alcoholic beverage if you drink alcohol you know i used to drink now i don't drink anymore water's delicious uh favorite hollywood film um uh 2001 space odc so i have a lot of c if you ask me i mean i would say i would just narrate a hundred films but when i just did something which came into my head uh instantly so i'm just saying it uh favorite indian film any region satya satya i would say yes satya we we we love that film uh favorite hollywood director um stanley kudrick again yeah besides yourself favorite indian director if you can k g gods was okay uh your favorite book the recent uh one is bible the bible what's now i'm reading it what's booked specifically in the bible revelations they got gotcha uh favorite hollywood actor uh bruce willis i would say bruce willis interesting interesting and favorite indian actor if you can say i can say uh i would say feel again sir feel again sir again okay well thank you so much for sitting down and chatting with us sir we we deeply appreciate your time we know you don't do a lot of these so we really appreciate it like i said once again we are we were very excited when we first heard the news that your film was chosen for the official selection of the oscars but we so are excited and rooting for it because we we want people not only in america but around the world to not only see your work but obviously then after they watch your work go explore the rest of indian cinema and what it has to offer so uh we are we are sending all of our love to you and your entire team uh for for for the next month ahead i suppose rick yeah we we really do um you know our passion before we ever started this channel corbin and i were actors we loved i taught theater this is our blood and to talk to you because we really do see you as not just someone who's a present day visionary and directing but we're so excited for what the future holds we consider you to be not just at the forefront of malayalam or indian cinema we consider you to be a pre-eminent director in global cinema right now and we are very much excited we're some of your biggest fans we're rooting for you and again thank you so much for honoring us with your time thank you thank you yeah have a great day man thank you thank you bye