 Hey guys, I hope you are doing well. Thank you very much for joining me today on this particular chat. I Just you know if you are on that chat, just do me a favor. Just if you can just Drop me a message and say that you can hear me You can okay, so just if you send me a text, are you able to hear me? So all right, so I'm today You know in a couple of minutes, I'm going to you know have my friend Tony here with me. So Tony is Better known formally as on the right of the re is one of the most Fabulous film directors. I actually Got to see his first film Onur Anur and today I'm going to sort of share a little secret with you that when that first film came out then, you know, what really happened was I Kind of I didn't know what's the meaning of this word onur onur So I asked some of my friends, you know because I've grown up outside of Calcutta and So sometimes, you know, there are words in Bengali, which I'm not so sure off. So I wanted to ask about that and So a friend of mine who's a musician said that you know when you take a sitar and You know, you play a particular rug. So what actually happens is that as you play one particular String even the string which is not being plucked, you know, that resonates So in some sense, I just thought it was a beautiful word Of course, when I saw the film I fell in love with the story and you understand why it is called onur onur And that's really what struck me as a fantastic kind of a format of storytelling. So I'm actually going to be talking to Tony about Different aspects of storytelling, you know, how do you find a story because all of us like to tell stories? It's a very powerful skill and there are people who, you know, tell the story You know through the visual form sometimes, you know, I've written fiction. So that's one form of storytelling Even nonfiction It is another form of storytelling and today one of the hottest skills that you can look at in the market places How do you tell a story which is You know, how do you tell a story which inspires people? So thank you very much all of you who are there. I can see in Rajat, Deshapriya, Kavita, Shubrajeet, thank you very much for the comment Indranil. Good to see you here And you know, it's lovely to be surrounded by friends and I'm going to introduce you to another very dear friend of mine So if you guys are ready, I'm going to attempt to do something else as well Which is that but just before we sort of get into the session I'm going to switch between a few phrases of Bengali and Hindi So you're going to indulge me on that because there are some words which are hard to translate and I have always spoken to Tony and Bengali I've never spoken to him. Today. I think it's going to be the first time I'm speaking to him in in Bengali, so I'm likely to lapse back. So you will please indulge me on that Having said that What we are going to do is if you have any questions, you know, I can look at the thing But I'm going to also try and do a little bit of a doodle here and see if I can summarize some of those things you know for you so Alright, let me just see if I can get the man the man. Where is the man? Tony Hey, hello You're alive Hey, how are you? Let's tea off Tea off? Okay. I'm actually having coffee In Calcutta, of course, it's a sin to have coffee while having udda because you can only have tea Even though Europe one of the best places for udda is the coffee house So then why are people so averse to having coffee? That also happens My club is there most of my most of the evenings during my college days Yeah, and there and I just study in a college, which we used to have evening sessions So I was luckily Discollegiate it, you know, because I used to have my udda in that my club Oh, okay Chai ka duka and all my friends and we have got a group in Facebook also. It's called the my club group It's a group we grew up together for the last 30-40 years, you know All right. So I always thought you're 15. So, yeah One five I am 15 with a little bit with 35 years of experience, you know, okay. All right Tony I want you to know You know, you have your friend for Nali who's joined us from Washington, DC Krishna who's joined us from Hyderabad and he says Aadha Bhai and Arbeen Great, you know to have all of you. Thank you very much Okay, I'm not gonna get distracted Tony first things I wanted to understand that You know when when you are growing up People normally have very conventional, you know choices for careers so did you want to be a Director you wanted to be, you know, something else. What was it like for you? What was your childhood like? Where did you grow up? See, I grew up in Calcutta. I grew up in Calcutta and Asansol and I was in between Boran Agur a place in North Calcutta and Po Shimputiri, which is extreme south and Okay point of time. Those were the notorious places, you know, during the Nakhsar movements and I was this is very stupid. I I might sound sound very stupid, you know, I was Absolutely, you know, mesmerized by the performing office and arts, you know I used to hear this bividhu Bharati Radio pay so I think that something is happening inside the radio when I was very young maybe in class one or so Okay, how can I get into the radio and meet them or whenever I used to go to a theater to a cinema hall And I watch a film as if something is happening inside Behind the screen behind the screen and how can I go there? So I always want I was very clear since childhood I want to become an actor or somebody who is associated with films. So what about that was so fascinating? I mean You know, of course, was it the medium? Was it the story? Was it the popularity? Was it the ability to reach people? There can be multiple motivations. What was it for you? I think I think I think it's story. It's emotion and it's the vastness of nature and the I mean the way people used to capture in cinema the You know nature and nature and the countries and the jungles and the seas because that point of time only those things This is what struck me and of course the emotional part of acting and story telling, you know so You know, I was a film called Hathi Merar Sati when I was very young with my Pisham Aushayi, you know Who was a Jaller? There was a song There was a song called there was a choice between two films. One was Joy Bangla, which was a film on Mukti Judo between Bangladesh and Hathi Merar Sati, of course I said I want to watch Hathi Merar Sati and and there was a song called Aaha Sunjha Ye Tandi Hawa For the first time I discovered love Okay, the first time I discovered love after watching that scene So I don't know I used to like this thing so much and I Decided I told my parents that I will be in films I want to join some day a theater company or a film company But it didn't happen if you come from a middle-class family. It's very difficult to pursue your dreams, you know and Get your qualification That's okay during our time. There was no money in filmmaking or theater Though now I mean sky's the limit So, so, you know Let me just sort of understand your childhood was a lot about the you know, you were fascinated by the media So radio you mentioned you talked about films And the reason why it's important is because somewhere, you know, I Believe that everything about a story eventually Takes time to get nurture, you know, so the mind of a story Yeah Is that something that you've experienced? I mean so what were some of the early stories that fascinated you, you know So what were some of those vivid memories that stayed with you? Tell us about that See our story formulas due to a lot of reasons, you know, I used to meet a lot of people I was friendly to a lot of my dad's friends, you know There was somebody called Ajat Da Somebody called Ajat Da and you so call him Badulla in whenever he used to come to Calcutta And he was like Jesus Christ supposed to me, you know short That's eyes beautiful hair Had a brilliant voice. He used to Read poetry stomach is to tell stories and he was so vibrant and he was part one of the Mukti You know, he went back to Bangladesh He came back after few months and I found him a transformation from a vibrant human being to a vegetable and Eventually he died after two years He didn't eat he didn't sleep and this is the story I wanted I want to tell sometime and you know This human being had created such impact to me Then I used to look after my father's business and I used to travel a lot to Assam and Bihar Where in Bihar interesting story Bihar I used to go to places like Barowni, but like Mokama Patna, you know, they were then There was a place in between Bagalpur and they were there was a highway So he used to make this petrol pumps, you know, he's a construct and fabricate those tankers So I used to live with mine With my dad's labors in those tanks Okay, that one time I was very unhappy, you know, why I am staying like this on the road in a tent with this Kind of people but that is learning. I find that this is institution, you know I remember one day I'll tell you something and I was with my With one supervisor called Shubash Augustine and Sitaramda. I still I suck strongly and remembering their faces, you know So we had a wild evening You know of local intoxicating liquors, you know, and I was in class 11 or so Okay, I was I was floating somewhere I was floating somewhere then I don't remember anything I'll tell you there is a reason for this story, you know The next day the pump belonged to Thakur Binay Singh He came and I saw a lot of people around me and I am lying on the other side of the highway So Binay Singh told me engineer, he used to call me engineer-sum and I was no, I mean No where near engineering or anything. He told me engineer-sum, what did you do? Where did you go? So I told him, yeah, I went to a place. I think I walked a mile or more than that and I saw a beautiful jungle And I saw a nice river a beautiful stream flowing And I saw the entire moon just falling on that stream and I saw the ripple of moonlight on the water And he told me that what have you done? On your self, what have you done? That's the place. That's the jungle The animals come there and they have their they drink their Drink water you would have killed you could have killed. Abhi chalo mera ghar So that day and that that image of moon and and the stream and the jungle It's like a Spielberg movie, you know, I'll never forget that And these are the Sorry, no did the image show up in any film of yours You know, you obviously I can Moon has come moon has come in Like So I'll come back to this story what happened after this I went for my friends honeymoon And I went to Kosani we were in Kosani run Iket Al Mora in I presume who went on You joined the couple right I joined I joined the couple I I didn't join the couple that couple took me so we three of us we had together And obviously they were they were in a room and I was outside I was outside on the balcony and I was watching the rangers and then that day I found The beautiful moon light and that was Loki Purnima, you know, Lakshmi Purnima. That was a full moon night And I saw the light of the moon shimmering on the snowy peaks and I used the same thing in kanchanjanda in Onuran Oh, and that's so that's the Story of the moon which That that's that's that's the trigger, you know, that's the trigger So that was a very visual trigger again. I will come back to the devour story. I went back to devour with to stay with been icing So one night a lot of people tell me are you a feminist? You are making films mean most of your films women are very important characters, you know, so I Used to stay together in the same house one day one night and I they used to treat me very well, you know Under curry and that the roti with a lot of butter and other things and and a beautiful Around two o'clock in the night, I heard a lot of a lot of noise and stuff So this guy Vinayakumar said he called me Again, the same thing is happening come out So I went out I went to a house, which is just two minutes away from this particular building And there was a beautiful, you know courtyard and I discovered a very young girl Who was just playing holding the You know, it was it one of the pillars and he was just taking a circle He she doesn't know what is happening outside and I discovered there are two trucks One truck is full of that old bandooks, you know old guns double barrel guns and one truck is full of spears and So many at swords and stuff. So I asked what has happened Was there some kind of a fight which was Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you I discovered one that that there was a saga between this girl and a boy And this girl was seven to eight year old. I'll never forget this even There was a saga and the guy died Now the in-laws have come to take her and this girl. I will ask it out. What happened? The girls fiance Huh, okay died and she was seven or eight year old not more than that and she's absolutely Unaware what is happening outside around her So I asked I No, why would they kill her because of what? I Because because because because she inherited so much of land and property After her husband passed away or fiance passed away after after the fiance after I mean how can somebody appear and said the age of seven because she doesn't understand the meaning of marriage I mean What used to happen in India at that point of time? So The problem is From that point of time something triggered You know something happened. Let me tell stories about women about girls So you ask me, you know how stories how to build a story a story So there are so many events happening around you Hmm. There are so many events. There are so many incidents. There are so many music. There are so many human beings There are so many emotions So you have to capture something you have to grab something and that automatically that takes a shape and something formulas, you know so clearly this You know this cocktail of uh music Which obviously, you know, it comes through and the beautiful music you used in your films Visual, you know the stunning visuals that have obviously impacted you or not So that sort of you know comes together The incident of this seven or eight year old you know girl who Is engaged to somebody who dies, you know her fiance or whoever this guy dies and as a result She inherits the money but Is therefore that's a threat to her life and all of that um So that's that's the picture now. I I want to ask you that that that created that created an impact You know And I I think unknowingly I became responsible for them for women, you know, and I decided I want to tell stories about Women always in my films and in most of my films Suppose in bunohash Omul is the pivotal character Omul is the main character But even then they're the mother and the girlfriend and the puppy. They are very important characters, you know You get my point. So how our story see it's all about your childhood It's all about your friendship with people. It's all about your emotions. It's all about your informations You're all about your understanding of life And yep, this helps to create a baby, which is your film So, uh, you know, like you mentioned that It seems it seems That the process of creating a story is really very very um It's not a straight line Because you know, you have an image of no something You know the the moonlit night which you've seen at some point of time You've seen another instance of the moon and that you know shimmering on that lake moonlit night You have this very powerful incident of this girl Going to get killed because of this the impact of drama all of this this cocktail is what Actually, then you kind of trim some portions of it and Build a story. Is that is that correct? Yeah, yeah see Now what happens when I make a story either I grab it from the atmosphere Like pink It was it was there around and we grabbed it but okay Bu no harsh or do in a re uh, uh, do in a re ha te toro a re of chunil on the one that There was a book and I identified certain characters certain incidents certain elements You know of the book and I wanted to I I I I there was an arch I have to Tell this story Like I'll tell you something about wunohash. Wunohash is about a character who comes from a very lower middle class family and This family has come from Bangladesh after the fourth partition Okay, the same thing has happened to my parents. They came from Bangladesh. I I I always I see the nostalgia Which it can I see you it will be easier for me to talk to you if I I feel very comfortable Yeah, yeah, yeah so Omol's character is Something like me, you know, the family has come from Bangladesh and There is no money. There's a struggle. There are responsibilities and there is no hope. I don't know I that kind of time. I didn't know how to pay my bills how to make my money, you know So it was very difficult, you know, and it was very suffocating So omol got a chance to become a career and started making good money The same thing happened to me if I tell you today, you know I used to love watching films. So I wanted to buy our this year I managed to earn 10,000 bucks through advertising work. This is here. Which year is this? This is uh 83 precisely 83 84 And the vcr is still there in my office in Calcutta, you know, it's a national j1 this year and that The cost of the vcr was 13,000 bucks And I had 10,000 so a friend of mine's Uncle gave me 3,000 bucks and tell me I'll get you this this year because he used to like me a lot And I've that from that part of time. I wanted to make omol. I was I used to dwell with that story I was with that story of omol. So he told me Okay, I can organize some money for you And if you need some money right now, can you do a job? I have a briefcase. You have to send this particular thing to somebody in Calcutta Okay, if you can deliver it properly, you will get 100,000 in 83 84 100,000 for a kid like me was huge I didn't know how many You know Zeroes 100,000 at that point of time So why what was special about the briefcase? I mean there was something Illegal I don't know That that's the interesting thing. I didn't know he didn't tell me and he told me you can't open the briefcase And okay, you get caught you'll you'll you have to go to jail for three years Okay, and I didn't have the guts guts for one lakh rupee. I didn't have that Courage your guts to do that but omol had So I connected my story with omol story and I grabbed this story. I told shamur is that It about I'm dying to make this film the same thing happened in in in doing a re happy carver, you know I used to go to us A lot because for bongo shaman all to with my friends there are my cousins also So I used to see a void Successful people people have money people have kids pretty wives, but there is always a shunota What is this? Why you are getting so you're achieving everything, but you're achieving nothing You know So from there I identified doing a re happy carver Yandere the rivalry between two women and where it can go and a person Chake bangalai wale khoi. How a person decays slowly, you know, so Withers away. Yeah, either Huh, so your question was how you get a story either a story is there you identify yourself with that story Or there are so many incidents. I'll tell you one thing. I I'll try I can't share it now I saw a video clipping before pink It was somewhere in Haryana two guys They were trying to pull the pallu of a girl And I saw her eyes. She was suffering so much. She was she was humiliated. They were not doing anything just pulling the pallu The emotion in that It destroyed me. If I had a gun, I would have killed him. I swear I would have I I got so agitated. I couldn't take this The same thing happened where I used to live in polkata in leg gardens, you know Jiu jiu jadubur university is very close to leg gardens. So a lot of northeastern guys Bacha ratio honey. So all these boys and girls they used to come to a chai ka dukan in the morning They they they used to have a tea The only thing they used to do they used to wear short dresses and they used to have cigarettes But beautiful profound little kids and I have seen educated people like us How they used to shame them I have seen A young manager how people in our society how people You know Give a weird name to her because she's to party with boys and girls and listen to music And she used to love whiskey. Hence she was named as a rotten woman in a society So what can I do? I had to make a film That was a propaganda film and and and and both shuji to rani everybody believed in that and we think happened So this is how a story happens and you gather it from around you gather You have basically obvi do you have to keep your I try to keep all my doors and windows open And let the sunlight let the air come in and let's see sometimes stories come to you. Sometimes you go to the stories So, you know on a frivolous note, we had a The saying by one of our teachers in school used to say keep the window open and let the air force come in So it is one of Ha ha ha ha Barik was a world she but you know but but but you know and and I sort of Back to this whole incident that you talked about which you saw near your home and You know for the students in jadapur um, I guess the question I would have is You know, it seems that if there is a story that resonates with you I mean, you might see a lot of things around you The story must mean something to you personally whichever way it you know, it sort of hurts a sentiment resonates with your sentiment so that You know the phrase which I was just telling people before you joined in You know, tony that The word you used onur or not. It's one of the most beautiful words. I learned in Bengali. Thanks to your film I didn't know about this and I know what people from Kolkata I will always say that, you know, the probasi bangalis don't really Know all these little nuances. I'll tell you a story me and my colleague Neha I'm not just one film release or two. We used to visit all the halls And we used to stand beside the ticket. I mean check on the ticket book in the book book near the booking counter And we can see how many people are entering the entering the hall And onur onur was a hit and I used to see people Onuron and we used to correct him or her onuronon It's not just me being ignorant about the language, but it's also Completely shame Because it's just such a beautiful thing a word the nuances that you know, even when Um One particular stream of the instrument is playing another string resonates So the resonance is that the onuron Right Okay, so how does something how does life So how does onuronon happen in life? How does that happen? Then Okay, it's it happened due to relationship. See there are a lot of Okay, I have to cut I have to edit certain things you understand. This is yes, everybody is watching this Yeah, yeah, I I am editing I am censoring a little bit. Okay. There's certain things in life, you know, which is which happens unknowingly And which doesn't have a name So in our world, there is a taboo husband and wife boyfriend and girlfriend brother and sister But is there a relationship between a man and a woman? Suppose a married man is going out with a married woman. So people will think that there is some kind of You know sex is around they are kind of beyond that but life is beyond that also So onuron is all about all about all about A relationship which doesn't have a name. Why do you have to give a name to all kinds of relationship? Yeah, I think that was the point And I and I used to have and still I have a relationship which doesn't have any kind of tags Any kind of identification any kind of numb, you know, this is this this is that so there are a lot of things which is unknown Which we can define undefined, you know So onuron happened due to that It still remains, you know, it's your first film and I don't know what is your view on it, but If I see onuron and and think these two remain my favorite, of course, I've also loved ontohine for equally the same reason What I have liked is that, you know, the the stories that you shared A lot of stories are talked about which are, you know, in the in what is defined But I think most beautiful stories are also told when You talk about things which are not defined, you know, so you mentioned That there is this relationship which is not defined. So that really sort of drives it I have a question that do these kind of Stories in your head when you think of a story, so let's imagine you see something and you know, there could be something Let us say now All the conversations that we have are around The corona virus and and and so obviously it must be doing something for you and Even within this, I mean there are so many possibilities stories And you talked about the fact that the story must mean something to you Because that that's also another beautiful part of the whole process Because the resonance between what's happening outside and what's happening inside Is actually something that forms the story actually I I've often wondered that do you get a fully formed story in your head? Which means, you know page one to page 200 or pay 400, whatever it is Is that a completely formed story or do you sort of Build it you talk to people because that's how I build my we we We snowball it I'll tell you something we'll snowball it and also we go get these ingredients like you are cooking something You get some spices Then you get something from somewhere and you add that and you create a story But the basic structure is in your mind You wanted you wanted to tell them one line or in one line you want wanted to tell a story between The mother and the father That's the thing but all the ingredients you get it from your life I'll tell you something in as far as on his pants and you remember that Chiti for our sequence Rahu and Ritu Pona they were reading They came back from uh from London. Yeah from London to Kolkata So I used to live outside outside my home most of the time, you know So my cousin he used to work and he used to get a lot of Scotch from because he used to travel and he used to get his his His bar was stocked with good scotch And he had I had he had lovely perfumes, you know, so I used to stay with him Because for the perfume so that I can go out and to have the scotch one night It was around 3 a.m. I said remember he opened opened his drawer and told me that Tony I have found something Mashi has written me, you know, maybe 25 years back. Mashi is my mother Oh, your mother had written my My written he was my cousin. He was my Mashi. It's my my aunt's Son so I read the letter Okay, and I started, you know I almost write it was so beautifully done. It was so poignant And it was so personal, you know It it's I still remember the words and my cousin's name was Bobby, you know, he told She wrote Bobby. I am sending the clouds to you from Darjeeling I am missing you And I am sending all my thoughts to you through these clouds It a Fuler I I want you to tell your clouds so that they can come and whisper it to me Oh my god, it was written much beautifully. It was written much beautifully than I explained and I I had to use that in in that In my first film. Oh my god important things which I used and it was such a such a pure Such a beautiful moment in my life I even cherish throughout I mean till I die, you know I remember that, uh, you know incident in Um onto him, you know when raul goes and rithupanna, they are sort of Talking and this letter is read out It's actually written by your mother. Oh, no, no. Yeah who Wow inspired by my mother Inspired so what I wanted to do a lot of you get inspiration from a lot of incidents, you know Inspiration is the word and you take those and put it in your films or in your writing or in your class in your daily life I know a lot of CEO CEOs. They take inspiration from the World and they talk It's out of management books. You know, it's not always it's it's not always mathematics and grammar You go out of that and you tell people and and that's how the wisdom flows Okay, so, uh, I have um, I have uh one of the one of the people has requested me that You know, can you actually do a demo of a story snowball? You know, that's that's something so Tony You are putting me in trouble It is uh You know, somebody has put that request. Uh, so, uh, I'm going to sort of so let's let's talk about the corona virus Huh? doable Let's have fun. Let's all right. So I'm going to start with the story that uh The the you know lockdown has lifted and there are four people who are traveling uh to us via london and Um, you know, the flight tickets are expensive and they're you know for all the restrictions um There's just six people in the flight. You know, so it's almost an empty flight these uh Four people who are from the same office and then there is a couple Okay Bob is in your court now So then what happens? What is what is your just come back with your last line? that these four people, uh, you know a group of colleagues who are going to us and they are going via london and and and and um You know and Sorry, uh, and and then there is this couple who are you know going to um London they stay there they meet on the flight And then what happens? Okay, this couple uh one of them is a professor in in kimbridge another one Maybe the lady is a professor in professor of english in kimbridge and the man is a business person. Okay Okay So these guys were supposed to take the evening flight the connecting flight But everything due to the virus everything is stopped Everything is locked and they didn't have any place to stay And since they traveled The the the hotels are not allowing them to stay So this four of these guys were invited by this couple to go to their place To go to kimbridge and stay with them because they had a quite a big bungalow, you know Then okay Well my turn is it okay now now We are we are snowballing right so let's yeah, okay. All right, so um these people um They go and stay with this, you know, these four guys they go and Stay with this Purely because you know if they stay in a hotel they'll get quarantined and all that stuff So they decide to go and stay there and they really, you know get along and then As as part of that conversation that evening over dinner they discover That this uh old couple the lady and the gentleman who were there They had actually go to india to tell the children that Or tell the family that they were now getting Separated they were going to get divorced And And that late night you know this Gentleman in that couple whose house these guys are staying in He develops a complication and they discover that You know, he's been impacted by The covid virus corona Okay. All right. Now it's your turn Then what happens? all right We are always We are telling that this man and woman. They are old actually. They're not old. They're 50 years old, but they're looking old All right, because there is a something is happening between the man and wife and they are unhappy They're looking little you know Little old and little dejected Yes, so out of the school people three of them. They went away. How can we stay here? And the other guy he stayed back and He wanted to show life to them Suddenly he felt like their child Responsible to bring hope life color rainbow sunlight a little bit of rain in their life And he stayed back with them Okay Okay, and this this this man and woman that's man. It can be a short story this man this And maybe this guy is a student I mean Let's let's try to add a little bit of layers. Maybe this guy is a student And this man is a big business person and this woman. She's he's a fellow in oxford. You know, so what happens this young kid He brought back sunshine in their lives And they decided not to get divorced suddenly they bring back the life comes back to them Due to these boys so there is an accident And for that accident unknowingly something good happens and they This is resonant. This is a resonance. You know Who is not who doesn't have But His life is getting It's getting resonated to this man woman and suddenly they discovered life is so vulnerable Life is so delicate Life is so, you know fragile. What the hell are we doing? And they started and and our author Doesn't call them old anymore Two young men and women started living again together forever Other story ends You know, I I was just thinking I should be a beautiful You know one of the short films that you've done Two of your films, which I've seen on youtube. I have loved both of them One is maya and the other one is baby. So I think I am a little more fond of debi than Maya, but both are lovely stories. I have enjoyed seeing them. So in case Um, you know, you have the people who are listening and if you haven't seen that beautiful stories, uh, you know, toning at his best Is it hard to Tell a story In like, you know, two and a half hours or two hours and then switch to 15 minutes, which is tougher. Is it short story is tougher than? See See, it's just it's everything is same I told story in 10 seconds also because for my art film, uh bad But before we start any conversation, you know, obj, uh, let's you please write this story We can write this story and we can make a short film Maybe we'll not go to london. It can be a bombay calcutta scenario And yeah, there is a film which inspires A man woman and a kid Okay, all right. We can we can we can do I let's let's do okay Because a lot of people are asking me to make a short film, you know, make a film on covet So let's make something hopeful Uh, now then a little bit, you know, uh, because I find I I have a lot of hope in life and a lot of good things Are going to happen. So we let's make this story one good thing has happened after after after this discussion That obj is going to pin something for me Yeah, I'm going to I'm doing a little do to which of course I'll do a proper version later But I'm just scribbling a few This things and I'm going to Sort of do that. Yeah, we have we have got a we we have got a structure. We have got a structure So you think the story Always I I I always I always think there is potential, but I don't know whether this will work or not We see there is only one life of it. We have to keep on experimenting with life It might sometimes it will work Sometimes it will fail and this both the thing the same It's like actor coiner epitopic. It's head and tail. If you Tail will be with you if you take tail head will be with you. So I don't I mean, let's let's make this We'll we'll do this You know, once we uh, so I'm finished And And if we come back if we come back to your last question, which you asked me that About the duration of a film See, I think It's very difficult to tell a story in a very limited time If you get tours you get a lot of players you can do a lot of stuff, but when it's I mean A 15 minute film or a 10 minute film or a 10 second ad or a 20 second ad There are so many brilliant stuff happens in 20 seconds 30 seconder. I grew up with I mean Advertising is so great because I learned everything through advertising, you know the discipline that the power For economy of words and films There is less, but it has to be more Yeah, you will get little stuff, but you have to tell a bigger story So it's it's it's more difficult to Do a job in a small film in a small duration than a longer version, you know, I feel that But both this medium have their own disciplines And and you know, I also think that At least as far as uh, you know when I wrote fiction and we were talking about this when we were at Shantanu's place the other day where I first met and by the way for the benefit of Everybody, you know, I met Tony very It was just one of those strange coincidences, right? I was Visiting my friend Shantanu Moitra. I was staying with him and Tony was also there and You know, so I had never Sort of seen or I had never met Tony Of course, I'd seen all his films and all that And then I get to see the that and so we get chatting and then I suddenly Well that I've known this guy for a long time, you know He's he's just this fun guy and you know with millions of stories and so I You know, we spoke and and then at the end of all of that You know, we've just stayed in touch and it's been absolutely phenomenal You can see from this conversation Tony is a guy who can keep you engrossed in stories right through So if I stay at Tony's place That conversation will start in the evening and end up in the VRs of the morning And not for a moment. Will you ever feel bored? That's that is the magic of the storyteller. So incredible stories What an incredible life. I sometimes think that you know Tony you you've had a Really interesting life. You make such interesting people. I mean people Uh, you know, one of the regrets in my life is I never actually got to meet Uh, somebody who was a hero of mine, which is uh, Suryal Ganguly, you know I've grown up admiring his storytelling craft and you know, so So I I must also tell you that I feel very jealous of you that you know You you've had the chance to meet these people. I have idealized so Which is not fair. You know because Why should all the good things happen only what you told me? um, I also think that You you've grown up in Calcutta where you make a movie film Is it a challenge when you don't understand the language as well as You know, but I suppose you had made a film which was in Bengali Obviously, you know the language, you know the nuances Uh, and you can talk about all those shades of the language. Is it harder? I mean, yeah Hero first time Shantanu was making fun of your So Now before I'm before answering this I will tell I'll tell you a story So since this this program is called storytelling. So I will tell you a story before answering this, you know Uh, I had an experience with Willard Hansa once So his nephews That's the one of the greatest it was God to me. He was gone So my nephews His nephews were very close friends of mine, you know, we grew up together So almost every day we used to stay together. We used to hang out. They used to play And for a very brief period of period of time I wanted to learn Sarod so once He called Ustadji called us. So we told us Isha, what are you playing? Isha plays something Very good. Why are you playing? Why are you playing something? You son, what are you playing? No, no, I'm playing. I'm playing So I tried to play something and it was horrible that Ustadji said like God is talking to you, you know, we were sitting here and he was sitting on a divan And his voice like I was a man and I was in love with him because for his voice and for his mizaz and for his You know the way he should talk the ways to play So he told me better So he told me, uh, you are playing There are some girlfriends So I got totally, you know taken about how can I talk this kind of stuff with Ustadji so he said This is a cuts cake and he he did his hand like this So you have to feel it, huh? So basically when you make a film in any you have to know the language of film you can you want to tell a story I would I am dying to make a film in malayalam. I I am loving malayalam film I told my friend who is a producer there. Let's let's do a film immediately. Okay, yeah Because the language Is important you have people but the basic important thing is The sensibility and the onuhuti. What is the English of onuhuti? What you sort of the the what do you feel? Yeah Yeah, what do you feel the feeling has to come out properly? That is the most important thing So language is not a problem. I saw Mind-blowing a wonderful Bengali film by a german filmmaker Equally mother to give me a little filter numb. Uh, it was so beautiful It was so beautiful. I'll tell you the name someday, but if you google a german Wait making a Bengali film and one of my friend worked there as a as a Script writer. It was brilliant. So it's it's language. You have to feel it. You have to feel the topic You have to understand the characters And you tell your story Why will it should be enough? Let's not afraid and let's tell a story. So pink It was in Hindi and I was a little lucky because shuji to Ronnie everybody went there The team was so great. They hold my hand when the film happened And if everybody every each and every person in that film Believed in the story in the in the topic and they feel they they were so much responsible Sir was so responsible. Mr. Bachchan was so responsible. He Love the idea and the way they nurtured it was It was a film done democratically, you know, everybody were part of the filmmaking process Everybody loved it and everybody made a baby together, you know so pink happened but Language is very important, but you But you can make a film even if you don't know the language Yeah, I actually I was also very impressed with the With the last poem which bachan saab recites Beautiful so so beautiful all all the stanzas is the young poet. I'm missing his name Gazi Who was the Very very beautiful lines. Yeah, it's just Really incredible. So, um voice is cracking I'm Now visible in the voice. I think that's where it So, uh, I I want to uh, you know talk a little bit about You know, how do you see the concept of storytelling? Evolving, you know as the media may evolve so you sort of see There is a tick tock now. There's a youtube. There's a you know So there you have youtube film festivals and you have of course the theater now the theaters are, uh, you know People aren't able to go and watch movies and there's a whole lot which is happening there in that world So Does the medium where you tell the story does that you know change and the reason why i'm saying that is that changing and the question in my head is that Very often when I Watch a when I when I read a book, you know, and a book especially when it has been made into a film More often than not I find myself feeling disappointed because Uh, the story in my head the visual in my head doesn't quite match the way the visual has happened on screen Why is that? I mean, is it that the story that I visualized is so one shouldn't I mean, I always tell myself. I think I shouldn't watch a film Especially if I have enjoyed the novel book Yeah, see the the thing is it varies see it is something like, uh, suppose, uh, ragdash Okay, ragdash Abhijit, I can't see I can't see you Yeah, go ahead. Uh, if I I I I become so nobody if I can't see you So basically ragdash, yeah, you will Play the flute in a ragdash in a way. I will Play the sitar in a different way. So it's the it's the the expression changes from person to person, you know, the it varies Right. So when you read a book, you start imagining certain things So your imagination can go anywhere. There is no boundary Right, right. So sometimes sometimes it might not match your whatever you have seen through that Uh Through that literature, you know, because these are both two different mediums But I have seen I I I know there are so many books which has been translated into films and I I prefer the film Better than the books. So it's it's a very subjective thing. It's a it's a it's a perspective, you know I don't know. I I think it my My feeling is that if you are extremely opinionated About the visualization in your head You don't tend to enjoy it as much. Uh, you know, so It has to be organic, you know, it has to be from Just let it flow. I mean from a from a creator's point of view when we make a film You know, we design a lot of things but a lot of things also happen I'll I'll tell you one thing. Uh, let me find an analogy during ontogen You know, we had All those rain machines and stuff and it was 12 o'clock 12 30 in the night The machine failed And we wanted a little bit of rain outside the window Right mission failed and and we couldn't do that scene and rahul was Going to bombay Flying bombay the next day morning and we had to complete that scene that day only So me and only we decided what to do there. I saw a piece of glass So we sprayed some water and we took a shot from the from the glass And as if water is flowing from the glass and she is and it become a everybody was talking about that scene But it happened accidentally and organically and it happened due to some constraint, you know, that also works so it's How good it was a friend of mine who is a friend of mine who is a cameraman He always tells me That Yeah, I think I think, you know, there is an element of Planning which happens in the beginning you have a faint idea of a story, but you are right. I mean a a book a film a song and and I sort of seen this My life as well that it just evolves it takes There comes a point of time when the story is Not so much in your control. It just emerges by itself. The story has to be told in a certain way You feel the same Yeah, do you You know, I Question that you make different kinds of films a lot of it has been about There are different kinds of shades of relationships. Yeah Does it impact you personally when you are with a film a particular story? um, does it impact you or are you You know very detached and you are sort of focusing on the craft or the story Are you inside of it? It creates a I am always inside the thing if it definitely impacts it definitely create a some kind of repetition in your mind and Emotionally you get drained And you become you know, that's why um So many relationship happens between film stars or between directors and stars and you know, you become very Very attached to that story and the character Be it a man or a woman So do you get attached to the Person or the character? You know, so when when somebody uh To the character To the character and there is a bridge and we walk towards the person also Or to the person and the and you cross the bridge and go towards the character also So both Yeah But I also think one one is It's a mirror image, you know, you are liking the person and the reflection in the mirror also So when you cast stuck to that When you cast When you cast somebody in a role Yeah, um I mean, do you do are you stuck at this particular role can only be done by this person? Or is it that uh, you adapt the role to so is it is the role to me to fit that actor or Does the actor have to largely fit that role? So you kind of see the there are two ways you've gone There are two ways you can work, you know All my Bengali films also think I saw somebody and this is the character This is the character he or she has to do this role otherwise it will be a very difficult thing for me Wait at the high this is this happens you become absolutely Uh, what should I say you You're so convinced with somebody And and you start seeing is it's an image. It's a it's a world you create, you know And the world if you you have to hold somebody's hand to create that world And you start imagining her or him in this world and if he or she is not there, it's a physical discomfort Um, uh, you know, um Just one last piece that I want to sort of talk about because I also realize that We are slightly over time. I'm gonna take the indulgence of One last question, which I must ask you, you know, yeah Your your films have an incredible Um collection of music. I've always loved all the songs in your films Of course a lot of great go to shantanu moitra and look at that But one of the questions again is You know in a film when you think of a When you think of music Is it that the music? amplifies The word which is being spoken, which means the the Music is about what is being said and it amplifies it or it creates an interpretation of what is happening or Is it in your case? Would you say that it fills in the white space? So like, you know, I always think that when you when you get to know people, uh, you want begin to understand, uh, their words Yeah, when that relationship becomes very deep It is then that you begin to understand the silences, you know the white space between the words Where is music for you? Is it in this world? Is it in the? um Music is I can't live without music, you know Uh more than anything else. I imagine music because I love this medium so much I can't sing I can't play I only envy one kind of people who can play good instruments or who can sing or who can cook well Otherwise, I don't envy anybody, you know, I don't have any insecurity about anybody and Two ways I see music in life or films one as a punctuation Like how do I explain punctuation? I am very happy and I play uh The rock uh Jay Jay and T by Vimshen Joshi And I I start doing this The other day I hurt my hand because I was playing that rug under the shower and I I have a rotatoric tear and I again Hate lege galo, you know, so That is a punctuation your thoughts. It's punctuated by these music and flowing somewhere else Sometimes it highlights also Sometimes it highlights that I am trying to feel sad, but I'm not that sad Okay, let's play something or listen, uh, kishore kuma song You know thinkers means we don't have anything only thing we can do we can think we can Uh, uh, scribble certain things we can think of the story and we want to make a film. That's the only hope we have It's not a hope to make money or anything It's the only hope is to make a film for that you have to construct a story to construct a story You have to construct an emotion to construct an emotion. You have to have some Dotted lines, you know, sort of should aligns to you. So always this is a Unknowingly we do the I mean I do this practice always so, uh music But we grew up with lip sync or widget We grew up with lip sync, you know in all of our hindi films When a star used to sing a song it was so beautiful It was so great We were mesmerized and the songs used to become so hit and it was it used to become part of our family You know part of our livelihood So songs are very important, but nowadays we use as a punctuation or as a mood To highlight the mood of the scene I'm getting a lot of comments are lovely All our friends are writing so beautiful words another open during this difficult time Yes, all you see another thing All we need is a pat on our shoulder more than anything else Our energy becomes much much much more Highly powerful I am getting so much of energy from from our friends Yeah, and you know, I think that When I was talking to one of my clients about you know, how do you make this workplace? More innovative, you know, how do we bring more creativity and innovation into the team? and one of the things I was saying is You sort of really look at the performing arts What motivates a person to be more creative? It is not the money ticket sales or something like that It's really not People sort of you know when somebody does that Somebody just says oh my god, Tori. There's such a beautiful moment in that film He's not even appreciating that full film. He appreciates that little shot or that little line And it stays with you, you know And for me today for example The one thing that I will always remember this particular conversation with is that word honor You know, I just really understood What you mean by that and and You know, it's just incredible So I think if only organizations Encouraged people Appreciated people You see a lot of creativity, you know and So it is on that particular note I think I you know, if we don't now stop Tony, I think the people are now going to just completely hammer us And they will never listen to us again, but on behalf of this entire set of people I just want to say that I so enjoyed our conversation because of The candidness with which you spoke Tony. It's really a gift. It's a privilege to have had this conversation Try and you you give you gave me the scope You allowed and I did no absolutely It was it was really great talking to you. So I am not a very organized person I'm not a very articulate person, but it's you who has made me You know We we just jammed But remember guys you are witness to the fact that Tony has promised to make that film if I win the oscar, you know where it started. I will And Tony that Oscar We will go together to go and get that. Thank you so very much for You know your generosity your time and your ideas And keep making films these stories are going to stay and inspire people for generations So don't stop making films Tony. You are such an amazing storyteller. Thank you so much for enriching our lives and Thank all of you, you know for um, thank you for having me All the comments I I'm sorry. I'm just really clumsy at this particular thing of really being able to Somebody merely Paul wrote somebody you have to be observant. It's absolutely right. We have to see things We have to listen We have to take it in we have to observe we have to Absorb, you know So that's the only work we have to do just absorb open your doors and windows Open your old set. It's all sensors and take it in just take it in absolutely absolutely Gosh, thank you. So very much. I'm going to try and see if I can figure out a way to You know If I can record this I've never used the software before but I loved it Somebody has written a poem of it. Oh, sure written a poem On the story we created, you know, okay Uh It's Nina care Nina Claire. Okay inspired me to Okay cornered by corona their magnificence became apparent in that cluster to lucid The reflection spoke back to them stories. They had buried under the sands of time now unearthed Resurrected refined resplendent resonating today's reality. Thank you so much. You know, that's lovely For all the comments. Uh pilu. Thank you Yes, all the guests kavita sujaita. Thank you so very much. Um, I appreciate adheer. Uh, charada Thanks a lot arveen pretty show big isha Millie, uh, all of you femora nussel. Uh, thank you so very much And I appreciate and I'm going to try and see if I can post the story somewhere. Thanks a lot Goodbye. Take care. Thank you. Bye. You too. Bye