 Do your ears get hot? In general, just out of nowhere? No. When you have headphones on, do they get hot? Oh, if I have headphones on? Just any time. Do your ears ever get hot? Like, are they hot right now? Well, my ears hang low and they wobble to and fro. I can tie them in a knot and I can tie them in a bow. No, my ears are not hot right now. I know. Thanks for sharing. What other parts of your body are hot right now? My balls. Yeah. A lot of heat. Like, where does the most heat admit from your body? My head. Your head? Yeah. I think Leland's the same way. That's not. Yeah, without question. My ears? I run warm, too. My kids, my nickname, I'm warm-y daddy. If they want to warm up, they come to dad. No, I'm very warm as well. But my feet are, by far, the most warm part of my body. Oh, really? That's why I ask my wife, do your feet ever just, at the end of the day, you take off your socks and they're just wet? Oh, yeah, no. It depends on the day. It depends on the day. It is every single day. Even in winter. Yeah, they're sweaty right now. Really? Wow. Do your palms sweat? No. OK. It's my feet, my ears. Yeah. Like, they're probably really red. The hot spots. And they get red. Yeah. And another reason. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely, my head and my- Shoulders, knees and toes. Yeah, my head, shoulders, knees and toes. And then, my taint. Josh! Hey, welcome back to our Steve with Directs of Gorman. I'm Rick. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter for more juicy content. And on Threads, if you dare. Thank you to everybody's force on Patreon, follow us for extra training time. Today, this is something that no one has requested at all. Great. The new director's round table is out. With probably a bunch of no names. Exactly. It's actually a great panel. I heard about this. A couple of stupid babies DM me on Instagram about this. So it's a film companion. Commented on it as well, maybe, on my channel. Oh, yeah. I don't know. But it's a new director's round table from Film Companion. So she's doing that. She's heading it up. But you got Kieran Johar. So that would be nice. Yep. Konkanasen Sharma. Yep. You got this name. Where are you? I don't see where the mark is. Oh, something right here. Oh, we are highlighting. Vetri Maran from Vidutali, part one. The Tamil film that we loved. Yep. Then Geo Baby. Geo Baby. We haven't seen this cut. Nelson. We haven't seen this film yet. The core. Good style of the core. Because it didn't come here. But he directed... That's the one I wanted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He directed Great Indian... Oh! And many other things that we've seen. Geo Baby directed Great Indian. How did I not remember that? And many other... Yeah. ...finaly on films that we loved. But Nelson, obviously. Yeah. Say this name. Hemant Rao. Hemant Rao. The Side A and Side B. Yep. Avanesh Arun. We haven't seen that film, but he directed Puttallak. He's the director of Puttallak. Awesome. And then this guy right here. Karthik Subaraj from Double X. Double X. A few other things of his that we've seen. Cool. So we're familiar, I believe, with everybody. To a certain extent, some more than others. Nelson. But it's a really... I like the difference in the... I think there's from... Is there Telugu one? He's Tamil, Hindi, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Tamil, Canada. I'm assuming he's Hindi, the Puttallak. Avanesh Arun. So it looks like it's just those three industries. But it's a bunch of great directors. So this will be very exciting. Yep. And we've gotten a request at a ton, obviously. Yeah. I'm excited to see Nelson talk. Yeah, me too. You know, we love him. Yep. So let's just get into this without any further ado. Also, are there any... Dost in there? Future Dosts? No. I've talked to a few of them on Instagram. No, but have come to the channel. Don't become a Dost until you come on the channel. Sorry, it's exclusive here. It's exclusive. Yeah, sorry. You're going to have to maybe one day... Which means technically, Mark Bennington. Sorry, bro. Not our Dost yet. Here we go. The irony is that I wouldn't know the first thing about life. And I've only made a career out of it. So, you know, stranger things have happened, but this is the strangest part of my career. And I realized I can only finish 10% of the film in 20 days. 70% of the budget spent already. I didn't know whatever I was shooting. I still don't know what I'm doing in the film. I always couldn't. I look at photos. I like the idea of changing that particular casting around that gave me a certain excitement. And I wish that people would cast more imaginatively. This journey as a filmmaker, it's very solitary kind of a process. I didn't know how to write. Didn't know any writers, you know. I turned filmmaker by accident. The thing that I've learned is that there are days when you go home and you feel really horrible about being a filmmaker. And there are days when you go home, you feel like you've trapped magic for eternity. Even if it fails, then it'll be with my gut. It's not working at all. Let me take the blame. I don't want someone else to confuse me. The main motive was not to tell this message, but to show that what if there was a camera there shooting everything, if cinema could have been used in a better way in this situation. Right now, I've got a tagline that I am. I'm a feminist kind of filmmaker. I'm a political filmmaker. If there is no feminism in my film, people try to find out feminism. It's a core-mouse production. I feel like you should have better mics. Yeah, they're wearing lapels, but I don't know what's hers is. Not on. In less than 30 minutes, what many people could not say or do in three hours. You know, you've been very kind. I'm totally honest with you. Your mic isn't working. Hi, everybody's a director. Papa, I'm actually only an actor. Quietly. They're having mic issues. Yeah, they're having mic issues, badly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's move on. Let's move on. I'll try not to talk. So, I'm going to start with something that SS Rajumoli said on our last year's round. He said when a director begins, he or she gets excited by an idea. You fall in love. You want to tell everyone that idea. And you start this job. But somewhere in that journey, you have a moment of utter doubt. And you're like, why did we begin? Why did we start this? What does this any of this mean? And at that point, you have to remember what made you fall in love. You have to remember that excitement of that beginning and that first flush of passion. So, I want all of you to tell me all these films that you just made. When did this doubt happen? And how did you remember the excitement? That's a good question. Can we start with you? Yeah. I think the doubt happens all the time every day. Even sitting here and reminding myself, now the film is made. I don't have to worry anymore. And I think that whenever you start anything creative, it's really a sense of I want to share this feeling of what it is to live. It's an experience of living. In some ways, because I had only very few shooting days with this short film. So, there's actually no place room for any doubt or anything else because you have to finish. One day, we were shooting 21 hours straight. So, it's just like, you've done this major prep, all your doubts and all, whatever you have to hajum. Did the crew shoot for 21 hours straight? It just opened for the best. Actually, the idea was, it was not a tragic circumstance, but it was a very unfortunate time that I had to come up with an idea. It was, A, we were hit by the pandemic. I was prepping for a film book. And I was going on the sets, I had prepped for two and a half years. And I was going on the sets in April and March. We were hit by the pandemic. And then for various reasons, I realized just strictly it was impossible for me to make that. And we were all just secluded in our homes and I would go with my notepad and pen book because I still don't type on the laptop. You still write. I still write. I mean, I cannot type on a laptop. I don't know what to do with it. Like, I feel like... Long hand writing. That's interesting. And very, like, unreadable. It's all scripted. He long hands his scripts. I sat there for what it means, nothing was with me. And then one day I went back to a story of my father's family. It happened with my uncle. And I just went back to it. And then I began the journey of developing the story with a group of three writers, actually. I made, like, the writers too. A bit Shashank, Nishita and Sumit. And then the doubts happened again because of COVID because every time we got two months off, you started seeing your rushes and like, is this going to work out? Like, there was one point where I thought to myself that this may not make any sense to anyone. It's been, it's too long. I'm directing after seven years. I was doubting myself. I was doubting the film. I was doubting the industry. I was doubting our films going to work. So when you talk about doubt, there was a big shout in my mind. And I'm from the collective minds of the film fraternity because at one point we were told, like, no one's coming back to the cinema halls. You know, there's a busy group takeover. So yeah, when you say doubt, there was a completely, till the day I think Mike will be released. I was a sight not for sore eyes for like, I was looking or walking around like, like a dead man walking. I was that stress. So yeah, this stress and doubt doesn't leave you. This is like, this journey is full of doubts. It started with doubt for me because I wanted a story where Suri could fit in as the lead. Suri was, has been doing comedy roles for the past like 10, 12 years. And to make him the protagonist of a story, which is also a serious one. There itself I had the doubt. And then I started working on a novel based on a novel. And then I after 15 days, like after investing myself into that world and started liking that, I got to know from the writer that you've given the rights to someone else. Then, but, but I really liked the world and the people in the world. So I sent him whatever I had written and said, can you make a story out of whatever that I've written so that I can legitimize my script and stay away from the person who's bought the rights of that original story claiming that I stole from that. Then he said, no, no, I had written something similar in 98 itself. So he gave me a six page short story and that's where this journey started for me. And I told my producer that I will finish this film in 35 days, the way I finished Missarumai. And we went to the locations and then I realized I can only finish 10% of the film in 20 days. Yeah. So we and 70% of the budget spec already. So, so I... Producers would definitely love him. And the location that we were in did not allow any vehicles to go there. So we had to carry all the equipment there and then we built tents for like 250 people. We built toilets there. And then he stayed there. We built like 20 soil. No, not 20. I think 10 or 12 toilets for the village. Villages there. And then we were using it. And one fine day we had one storm coming. All the tents were gone. We had to come down. And once we were on the plains, I realized that I can't finish this film. Then I called my producer and said, Sir, should we think of working on something else? He said, Sir, already we've spent most of the budget. Why not we try? Why not we try pursuing this itself? Then I said, okay, going to the hills is a problem. I will try to figure out a location where I can shoot here. There's a sequence of the base camp and all of that. I thought I'll shoot that in like 10 days and we'll be done with most of it. Then I go there and then... And then once I see the location, I start liking it and then I start shooting it. After 40 days also, I've not finished what I wanted to finish in 10 days. So by that time, the budget was triple the numbers that what I said. I was shooting. He's like, hell no. When Vijay Sethupati came in, the producer was relieved that we can sell it for a better price. And because he came in, I started writing more. And by the end of 120 days of shoot, I called my producer and said, I think we'll have to find a way to break even. And then he said, so whatever you shoot, you shoot. I had another... That is amazing. That's a great producer. Talk about trust. I had to. No other... I thought... Then I've been decided that we'll make it into a two-part thing. And then once we decided that we'll make it into a two-part thing, a simple intermission sequence ended up being one main action sequence for the climax of the first part. And then... Interesting. back to the first opening of the film, which was not working. Then we decided to execute one shot. Like that 10 minute shot. We have to go about that shot. One long take. And then we managed to finish the first part. Then after the release of the first part, now I'm wondering what to do with the second part. I'm done with the second part. It's ready. I'm trying to send it to festivals. But for the theater, I think something is missing. So I told my producer, I'll shoot for 10 days. He said, okay. Now I'm shot for 18 days. I think I have another 30 days. Exactly. It's like, who the heck is this guy just letting you do whatever his mind is a hell you want to do. Oh, good night. Look at her face. He said it'll be four and a half. And it turned into 64. You just made it great. With your track record, it's very difficult to believe what you know. That's flabbergasted. It's very... I'm always confused. I'm not sure what I want to do. And my team knows how to work around me. They'll say, okay, who all you want? Okay, these are the actors. And what are the props you think you might need? I think I will need these things. And I think we need to have this period score. Like 70s cost. Okay, that's all. They'll not ask for the scene. They'll not ask for any details. Wow. So I called the producer. Like shooting in the dark and hitting the bullseye. He's already finished more than 70 days. And you're like, what are you doing? He just said... He just said... You are sub-attaching yourself. I'm shooting so many allegations against yourself. Impressions. And you're making no pitch to a producer. No, no, this is such a statement. Not to self. If you like something in my film, please be prepared for this. Yeah. His film should have been sent over to 2018. I have a lot of doubts. I clear with myself. I just think in the side of audience. And I just resolved that. And at the same time, I already discussed with my partner, Meena, and my DOP, my editor. And then only I got an answer. If you delete this, if you add something or not. That's why I'm working. And same thing, I'm doing handwriting till now. And the same way, I can only read that. Interesting. There is no proper screen for me. When I'm writing, just scene orders only. But proper screenplay means there is a screenplay. But proper dialogue is not there. I'm improvising. I'm waiting for the last minute for getting a dialogue. Oh, wow. It's so interesting how they differentiate screenplay and dialogue. So every time I'm also a kind of audience. When we're seeing on, watch on a theater. What I feel, what I've heard, that is I'm thinking always. So that is my kind of filmmaking. This is incredible. Because in our head, everyone's fully in control of that craft. There's a story forward. Everyone knows exactly what they're doing. And here you are saying, I think it depends. This is not a proper way. This is my comfort. And it depends on the film. You work best like this. Do you follow this school? I'm constantly in doubt, anxiety. Everything constantly. I turned filmmaker by accident. I studied cinematography. Killa happened 10 years back. And I had to wait for 10 years for my second feature film. So it was like, yeah. I didn't know where to pitch, how to pitch. But when Patalu happened, I sort of like, gathered a little bit of courage. And then I stopped being a cinematographer. And this journey as a filmmaker, it's very solitary kind of a process. I didn't know how to write. Didn't know any writers. So just to spend time with yourself during the pandemic. And that decision sort of took a lot inside. And then I got to know that Patalu says, we like that because of some problems. And I didn't know what to do. And I didn't want to go back being a cinematographer. Particularly for this time because I waited for a long time. And then you pushed the limits. I had only four months. And I went to meet my dearest friend Chaitanya Tamani. And we had a very long conversation. And for eight, nine hours we were talking. And I really felt very charged up. I went to my home. I started writing at 12 o'clock in the night. And in the morning I had all the pointers. And in couple of weeks time, we made the screenplay. I called Varun Grover that Varun, this is what I want to do. Would you be okay to write, like, consider to write dialogues? And he heard it and he liked it. Similarly, actors, I send them the script and they got on board. And in four months time, we had shot at them in 25 days. So that's, so yeah, that was the journey with three of us. Wow. Wow. Heema? For me, this particular film has been riddled with... See, that much talk has been riddled with doubt from a very long time. Because I wrote this script, wrote this idea about 12, 13 years ago. And every time I pitched it, I was met with rejection. Because I was like, nobody's going to watch this. It's not, it doesn't have the right elements for it to work commercially. And so it was always something that people were said is not going to work. So I had carried it with me all this while. So there's a lot of doubt within yourself. And the job description, like he said, like everybody is sort of alluded to is, it is anxiety. It is driven by anxiety. The demand of the job is also to ensure that you don't distribute the anxiety to everybody around you. You keep it within. You have to handle it and give the notion that you're in control. I hear so many directors say that. Because actors don't do well if it comes across like, you don't know what you're doing. Producer wouldn't be happy if you come across like, you don't know. So the best way I have figured out is to be vulnerable and to be as communicative and sort of open yourself up to your team. And that sort of allows other people also to be vulnerable with you. And to make something like that is a very beautiful process. And over a period of time you realize you don't get everything right. And it's okay. There are days where the more number of days you work in films. This is my fourth film. If I consider both films as two films separately, then it is four films. The thing that I've learned is that you'll have good days and you'll have bad days. And there are days when you go home and you feel really horrible about being a filmmaker. And there are days when you go home and you feel like you've trapped magic for eternity. So you learn how to deal with that better with time. And I think that doubt is a very powerful check for us as filmmakers. It's a very unhealthy space if you are very confident internally. In fact, if I shoot something very confidently, I start doubting myself more and more because I'm like, wait, this can't be right. It wasn't so easy. It happened too easily. There's something abyss. I mean, it's a beautiful thing. I really enjoyed it. But the anxiety, you get used to it so much that when it goes away, you don't know what to do. It's actually, you know, you're like, you feel suddenly empty. Which is what is happening now. You're empty. Yeah, completely. What about you girls? When did you have doubt with Jailer? I had no doubts about that. I've grown the process and writing process. But what made me come out of that is, Reginald said, not literally. I somehow wanted to do what Reginald said. So when the process happening, I used to convince myself, don't leave this project, you have to do this. Somehow you have to do it. But you had that level of doubt where you wanted to leave the project? Not exactly. If it's not coming out in the paper, of course, it's not going to happen. Either he will stop it or I'll stop it. So that is the thing which made me throw that entire script. And after that, while shooting, I also had the same doubts. Because first time I think I made him play his age. So that was a major doubt in me because a lot of people told me, don't make him play his age. I'm going to let him do whatever he has done already. But I was a little confident and not confident about it in both things. But somehow, even if it fails, then it will be with my gut. So whatever I feel I'll make it. If it's not working, let me take the blame. And I don't want someone else to convince me. So I'm confused. He's probably learned that lesson. So finally, knowing his audience and what all he did in these 50 years, it was a very big challenge and that itself is a big confusion for me. Whether I can satisfy that much audience or I can see my target for this film is, I have to pull maximum number of audience into the theater. That is the target. So I worked around it. I know here and there I'm doing something over the top. But still, that's what people expect from him is what I feel. That's what I also enjoy. Very unusual creation when you're making a film. What I feel is for big films, people come to theater to celebrate and enjoy. Just to feel the aura of the theater. Reginism is the bottom backbone of the film. In my opinion, I totally took it in that way. And I wrote it in that way and executed it in that way. And I think it worked. Finally, my doubts cleared only after the release of it. I feel that I had my own doubts. After watching the film, I think I feel that he playing his age was the best thing for the film. Absolutely. I think it worked the most. Without that, I don't think this film worked as much as it worked. It's the story. So many people were telling me, don't show it's grey. I had something like that all the time. But when people from the industry say it so confidently, Yeah, it shakes you up. Yeah, it shakes me. But after a point, after 10 days of shoot, I was really confident. And I saw the scenes were working. The scenes were working. Okay. Then I left it to the viewers. Stay trusting in your guts, sir. Yeah. Make your style film. Karthik, when did you leave it to the universe? Of course, I think it was on the double X. Actually, I had doubt. I mean, the idea for this was right after the next year of the Gadan. Gadan got released in 2014. So 2015, the project was all set. I mean, I'm in total contrast with what we did. There was a producer, there was a hero who wanted to do this. And I just had the idea for the first half. I mean, what the film is going. And then I also had one idea where the film takes... I mean, if you have seen the film, the first half happens in Madurai. And then they travel to some place. And then the main idea of the film is to show what's the power of cinema as such. And I wanted to show the true story that doesn't happen in Madurai. It's in a total different world. So the idea I had that time in 2015, I had doubt that this is not the right one. This is not... So I said no. I mean, at that time I could have actually started the program because if the complete script is not ready in my writing and this one, I don't... I can't go and do anything in this part. So you need to have an absolute cheer in your mind? Yeah, not even the paper also. Complete script with the short division. You do need to talk. I mean, he was saying... I thought he was a blessed person. I always tell this, when someone comes and tells they would like to work with me as an A.D.A. youngsters. I tell them, if you can learn something from my films, please watch them and learn. Please don't come and learn the way you work. That's the way you could be working. All the producers are thankful. I always say that. See, this is an accident. I always have this analogy of cricket. Like, when you have proper footwork and you have... like, you base yourself properly there. Like, when you're out of form, you can gain back your form. It's like, you know, without footwork, you're hitting success while you're in form. That's what I'm doing now. When the form is out, then you're gone. You can't gain back. Well, it's not going to happen. Yeah, so that's what... So, I'm like, quite opposite of what he said, but I know... So, you didn't have the script clearly enough to make it? Yeah, to where the story is taking. I mean... So, then I left it at that point in 2015 and I didn't think of doing it also. And I think, you know, after like, eight, nine years, again later, then the same, like, Lawrence again, asked, like, did you even think of that script again? Do you have that idea now? So, then the time I was... After I finished Mahan and I was free for some... Then I again thought about the script. And that time, actually, it is... What Nelson said? No, it is actually the universe which came in because the elephant factor and the forest factor came into my mind. And that's when I actually felt, yeah, this is going to be the script. And then I started writing. And when I felt confident about the script, I said, okay, and then the film started. So I had doubt eight years back and that doubt actually pushed this film for more than eight years. And then I started it. But I feel it's good because if I had made that film that time, definitely I would have screwed up big time in the film. That's what I... And I think that the thought process took its time so many years to come into my mind and then into the script and then now the film is there. That's what I believe in. Yeah, which is what you said about Sapta Sarkas. If you had made it then, it would have been something else. No, because I think some stories demand a certain evolution of you as a creator as well, as a writer as well. And I think only when you experience certain emotions yourself and change your worldview, can you write it effectively. Otherwise, it will feel very filmy. Like it won't feel like it is coming from the right place. You know, it might work, it might not work. That is secondary. But the process of creation should feel like it is coming from a place where you're not writing it because the industry demands the scene or this audience demands the scene. It's flowing. It has to flow. Yeah. So I think for me, whatever I wrote 13 years back, 12 years back would be very amateurish in compared to what it is now. It's more well thought out and more experienced. You know, as directors, all of you are making hundreds of decisions, one day long. Right? The doubt is there, anxiety is there, but finally people are coming to you for answers and you have to give them the answers. I want to talk a little bit about how you arrive at these decisions. How do you decide when to move a camera? How do you decide what lens to use? How do you decide about wide clothes? Like you did this sequence in Rocky and Rani where they're both walking. It's a pivotal scene which leads up to the scene where they decide they're going to swap. Right? You do this as a single continuous shot which ends with my favorite dialogue of the year Handle with care, I'm a fragile which I need on a t-shirt. But why do that as a single continuous shot? I think most filmmakers will tell you that there's no way I would be very perplexed you know, if that everybody knew that or this particular scene can be shot in this particular way when you reach that location. Even if you record that location. You've seen it a hundred times. In fact, me and Manush who was the DOP we discussed that we had like we kept that scene for pretty much most of the day because it was a long, it was actually actually the point it starts at in the film is actually one fourth into the scene. We've only shot in one shot lot before which got cut in the edit. It starts abruptly a little bit because of whatever reason. At somehow, when I reached the location I felt when me and Alia had such terrific conversational chemistry. It's like they allow each other that gap when required. They speak over each other when needed. You know, two actors one simply to each other that happens only when that happens. You know, I've last seen it with Shah Rukh and Kajal. You know, when I worked with them in 1998 and the 2001 and I feel with the both of them we tried this as it just happened there organically. I took the call. I said, let's try doing it in one and then see if we need to cover it. But it just it just it just went so smoothly that one shot just went so smoothly that we were done by 1 p.m. And then we were like, we have no other shoot too because nothing is so planned. And you know, I'm also the producer of the film and I feel like if I call pack up right now I've lost a day and I'm sharing it and then I'm thinking should I for just cheat sake do such work? You know, you know, to just pretend that I made use of the day. So then I came up with this big idea. Let's do it from back also. So we started and I was like, where am I really? I am the producer. I should take this call and I'm exhausted. It's been 30 days in the heat. So I was like, pack up, you know, and then I got a frantic call for Apurva. I was like, afternoon is like you just shoot the whole day. I said, I didn't need to. What could I do? We would not have another location. That's the upside and it's happened to me actually with Shah Rukh and Tarjal way back in 98 where there's a pivotal moment where they meet each other after eight years. And I just said, you know, I explained the scene to them and they said, awkwardness and whatever. And I played a song for atmosphere and the two of them came into the frame. They performed something before the rehearsal began. I told the DOP, Santosh Tundial. I said, just roll the camera. Those days people weren't aware of camera rolling or anything. We rolled the camera and they came and they shopped that whole moment which I I really believe is one of the I can't say it myself I don't know why. But like it's what what I've been told is like a special part of the film. Yeah. And after we we set cut I was like, we're done. He said, what do you mean? Shah Rukh said, no, we're done. I rolled. We have to and he was like, no, and we didn't have a monitor on our set. So I went purely on because that was the time the monitors were just coming in, you know, we got a to talk about that where you're on the steen back and then made that transition. So I was like, we've got it. And again, we had nothing to do again after that. And then I looked at my father. But you see my father because he was like, he knew. You go home. You sleep. Okay. Don't do anything. Don't worry about it. You worked hard enough. Yeah. Anyway, he thought like, he thought I was the most gorgeous person on planet earth. I was the best. I used to get scared going anywhere with it because he was such showing off about it. I used to die because he met Mani sir at the same location of Kuch Kuch. Mani sir was making and shooting the song which to me I was wanting to do. And he kept gushing about me to Mani. And I tried to pinch him to say, please, I beg you, I want to, I want to dig a hole and jump into it because Mani sir was God to all of us, you know, and continues to be. And I went home and I said, Papa, you can't. My film hasn't released. He says, no, if it's your trumpet, if you don't blow it, who else will? I love it. So to go back to your question, it really just happens on set, right? I don't know I know that short traditions are made and we do kind of, we break it down with actors and then, you know, sometimes there's a process that goes on but some, many a time I've noticed that you've broken all of that happened specifically to the drop, you know, not once but four times where I've done one wrong shot, where I've just felt the need to just keep the camera going and worked it out because I felt all great actors. Why do I need so much coverage? But I think it comes from the moment you're focusing. You can see it. I agree with me that the mother of all long shots is what we did and some accomplished in the life. Part one. I mean, I was watching that in the theater and it's horrifying. It's so immersive and what's happening is just so awful. But one part of me was thinking it, how is he doing this? How is this possible? How is he not cut for now eight, nine, 10 minutes? And that shot at least according to media reports cost something like eight to ten crores and to three months to stage. I love Gary and I just react to all of them and Konkono she was just closer as it took a deep breath. We're like, who do I produce that as well? Well, actually what happened was that was not in the plan to have that sequence. I had already told my producer about the strain crack that was supposed to be my first shot. But then as the budget was going higher, I said, in the titans, we'd use all the sounds and all of that. And then we'll show news topics like in the newspaper cuttings we can show and he was okay with it. Like after three months, he called me and told sir, we were released it. Why hold that back? You can't shoot this in am I any other? My goodness. Yeah. Everybody is producing. Let's go. He said, good lord. We had to my art director is someone who will do it very real. So we dream producer built that bridge with engineers to hold the weight of actual railway compartments. Like we put two compartments, actual compartments there and then three, the one that falls down is was made and that it said was, I think four tons or one. So they were like massive structure. Actual structure was built it took three months. The construction took three months to assemble all the parts and took some time and it took me really a long time to shoot going to the spot I realized that this is too big. I mean, I didn't know what to do with that kind of set. And for me personally when I choose to do a long take is when I don't know where to cut the shot. Yeah. So then I say, okay, let's try this out. So I go to the spot firstly, I go to the set and then say, okay, from here you know, you show the siren of the vehicle first. It was originally supposed to be an ambulance. So the ambulance siren and then the camera comes on goes to this point. Then we cut and show the details of the family crying and then while it was saying that when you cut you're going to emphasize more on that with particular detail and then each and every detail you're when you show it and when you are specifying something the whole instead of underlining the whole the gravity of the situation like when highlighting each and every detail or the the plight of each and every individual passenger I thought I will give an overall view and leave most of it to the audience's imagination instead of staying there. There are some references you know, certain lines like a newly married couple is there, who wanted to go on the pilgrimage is there and then a child is there looking for the mother all of that is just you just pass to but then stays in your mind and then we started rehearsing I asked all my boys to come back already made films also all of them came and they were around like 40, 45 assistant directors working there me rehearsed for 13 days and because of one role you know 40 to 45 or during the break or during the break lunch break one of the fighters tried to do a rehearsal without the whole team and to where he died yeah it was an accident that could have been avoided but but he then we stopped the shoot after that before that we got that's awful two takes two takes so we rehearsed the shot for two takes and then we got that shot but that was not the final shot that we see in the break so I used like four gimbal and four operator who will carry it and then the final one the last guy was on a crane with a harness on him so he picked up the camera sitting on the crane and he was moved and then when he reaches a certain point the harness like loops on his body and then he was picked up like 120 feet on a crane and then on the rope he was moved from this corner of the bridge to the other corner so because it's incredible it took a lot of masterclasses happening absolutely incredible you know Nelson you were talking about how you struggle with trying to figure out what Rajni sir can do and can't right I think Jio you went even a step further because in your film you cast one of the iconic actors of this country and he's playing a game at it it's a remarkable film it's a story told with such compassion such tenderness but I want to ask about that conversation for you of course Mamadi sir is the producer so he signed up for it he's going into it all eyes open but when you're actually constructing this did you think of how much can I do and is that one of the reasons why why him his character and his partner are just looking at each other from far we don't even see them ever touch each other right are those things you thought about actually the screenplay was exciting like this they meet there is no meeting for each who is down and they are watching they are at distance and when I this is the story of two other my friends two writers Adarsh and Palsan and firstly Mamukha Mamukha sir come into my mind so I need an actor like Mamadi and I need a human being like Mamadi so I choose Mamadi and talk to our story to him and he give a little bit suggestions for the entire screenplay he is also entered in every screenplay and discussion not every in between he also involved with us sometimes he send lots of messages can we change like this and we add like this so the support was too great I have two writers and Mamadi sir and including me we both are involved in the screenplay every time we change all areas for example that interval portion so Mamadi sir says that I need a night contact with him so there is another version already be written in the screenplay we change that that is for will all are saying that the interval portion that is his suggestions that is for will and we Adarsh and Palsan work a lot that we both create all these all these little little things Adarsh add one thing and Palsan will add something more and I will give a suggestion that is why we created it and I also discussed with my editor my co-director so I already told that when I when I got when I am stuck in doubts I would discuss with these guys all that so I will get an answer and we made a interval block like this like this like that so that is the way speaking of interval blocks the other amazing interval block is is of course Karthik's but also Karthik's and Nelson but the what you did in that so in the pre-interval sequence of Jailer is when you you got Rajini sir sitting on this dining table it just kills me every time I think about it that he's organized this entire massacre without lifting a finger the killer is coming to get him his wife and his daughter-in-law sitting opposite and at one point this is nuts okay a dead body falls on their laps and Rajini sir just looks very cool and says just push it I just died when that happened I was like oh my god how in the world do you think of that he's Nelson actually interval blocker I was thinking that for a month for a month how to stage that scene because I wanted him to be too cool in that scene the old film yeah because rather than him fighting what happens around him should be like more interesting I never seen before in his films yeah so the thought process in that scene is like going on and on the fight master he used to come every day and I he used to show me few stagings we can do like that then finally what happened I myself wrote the whole stunt like this because he will have only some 6-7 dialogues what happens before the dialogue and after the dialogue how the body falls how it's falling in the ground so you scripted it out yeah it's totally scripted so on the shooting day in the fight choreographer he used to ask me sir Regini sir is doing is not doing anything is it okay is it okay so like this too many people are asking sir at least in the end we'll have something I told him yeah in the end he's doing something like this this is not enough for him he's a big hero so these decisions were little difficult for me whether it is right or wrong but till that fight is over that confusion was there till the release as I said this confusion was there throughout but somewhere I liked the whole staging and the sequence and I wanted him to be normally for me I like Regini sir when he's talking when he's doing that mass dialogues and delivering the dialogues his style and the way he speaks that one more than his fight yeah so I consciously avoided his fighting and I made it like that and finally it worked so it's okay if it's not worked then I'm done dialogue he has to do something that's right they've got a dead body on their lap and blood on their face he tells no just push it it was just fantastic Kathar tell me about your film you know this meta sprawling spiritual sequel and again we're back with a gangster we're back in that same territory but this time like you said you put in the message right about the environment about the elephants did you at any point have to struggle because this is something that happens a lot in the movies where the messaging overpowers the story you know you're so busy trying to give a message that somewhere the actual narrative starts to wobble how did you find that path and this is a movie in which there's also a peaceful and there's there's just so much happening how did you find that exact way to kind of make it entertaining and deliver that message yeah so basically as I said before this messaging part was not my priority initially because my main motive with this film is to show what cinema can do as a yeah it's a power of cinema yeah so when I'm showing something like this is what a cinema can do I mean it can bring a bigger change of evolution sort of a thing or a bigger political change or it can bring down the overall the system which is trying to to people at all so I wanted to show something which is that can connect with this and also that is very strong so that's when I said like initially the one which I had I was not all convinced because this is not enough to show what the cinema can do I mean in the end the Radars character is holding the cinema they are making is a hero of the film not the Caesar character or the moon so that should be worth it because the story what they are capturing in the cinema and then what is being shown in the audience in the film and what the ripple effect that's creating should be bigger so that's when when I got to know I mean the story of a tribe that's being a story of a genocide that's happening and that has been I mean because when I got into the research I found out that this is not a fictional story I mean there's a lot I mean throughout the world if you take a forest if you take tribes there has been incidents like this where I mean for the pure that well the forest I mean a lot of times have been displaced a lot of times have been killed and everything and what if there was a camera there should be everything and then we could see that means what kind of effect so that's when this messaging part came so the main motive was not to tell this message but to show that okay if cinema could have been used in a better way in these situations or when a genocide is happening if we say it's what to say it's the best case scenario which I thought right I also want to talk a little bit about casting how can I like you cast Tilottama who is one of our finest actors agreed and is always you know straight jacketed in some sort of a certain class of people or the house help and you totally turn that around you cast her at the affluent upper class who comes home and finds her domestic help having sex on her bed what is the magic of that what is the excitement of that but what you did you know you see Suri and we think okay comic actor we see we see horror comedies but you cast him completely differently when you see an actor and you say okay I'm going to do this I'm going to just switch this around completely tell me about that I think it's exciting to see people who how you've not seen them before so it was for me it was exciting for her not to be the domestic worker because whether you're a domestic worker or whether you're the employer or a CEO of a company it is not based on your looks actually we do that in films sometimes but in reality it's anyway not like that so there's no reason to adhere to what we've been doing kind of falsely in films anyway we can just look at real life only so that for me I enjoyed that very much I liked the idea of you know changing that particular casting around that gave me a certain excitement and I wish that people would cast more imaginatively I think I've also suffered from that in a sense because you know one has not like for example not done too many re-erolls things like that so it's nice to see people how you've not imagined them yeah yeah and is that also coming in a sense from your career as an actor you know maybe subliminally but that I've not really thought of I mean in this particular case it's because I myself was tired of saying telotama regularly cast as a domestic worker even though she's done a wonderful job absolutely she's amazing some of these roles have been really well fleshed out as well so it's not that it's just that I mean I think she's a wonderful actress I actually honestly other than this I find her very modern in her sensibility and in her reactions and her the way she expresses it's not something that you've seen before so that I wanted that and I wanted a slightly not necessarily very relatable I wanted somebody who's a little quirky who's a little bit of an oddball maybe all those little elements which are already there in telotama in any case yeah Avinash I think of you as the master of stillness you know there's such a quiet you in your cinema and you said somewhere that I want to observe my protagonist I don't want to intrude upon can you talk about that so you get this film I guess after patalu because it was extremely dramatic and then you're shooting five six pages a day you know continuously with that kind of an intensity I wanted to come back to this kind of a space like I'm a big fan of Rishikesh and Karjeem Saikaranshpe and their cinema Guddarsha and I really had not planned like it will be this observant kind of a film like it's a very talky sort of a film like Killa was not like this you know but it was quite like while shooting like I observed and actors were doing their things and obviously because Jairi Palawat I didn't think of him he was not my earlier choice like like all the casting it it well through like this interesting film I think it came to me like I didn't make it you know so it was very instinctive sort of a choice I just didn't feel like cutting I just felt like observing and you know and every day by two o'clock we used to rap you know that's yeah just a page and a two and that's it I don't like at all because I shoot mostly available likes and because you know series is a very anxiety driven form something has to happen after you know like it's structure wise it's very different and every episode has to have that book and this and that and that's a feature film feature films catharsis is very different than the series like if someone asked me like okay name a show which has changed your life I don't know maybe a show or a two but with feature films if someone asked me like okay just tell me like what is the which is the film which has changed your life there's so many you know because catharsis is completely different I wanted to come back to this sort of a space where no drama is happening you know nothing is happening and just observe and feel and see what kind of catharsis it would happen because pandemic that the time was like I went through lot of like emotional personal turmoil and I had to sort of like rest my case and come back to this and I'm glad that it happens well your film has all good people like Geo's film they're all good people just struggling with their circumstances also want to talk about love stories because I interview Siddharth Anand in January right after Pathan and he said to me I'd love to make a love story but I don't know how to make it anymore how can you make a love story in today's times but Hemant you made a very very stirring love story Karan you did that as well yours was happier more joyous left us a little more uplifted than yours it just devastated me what is the trick to telling a love story today when the idea of relationships went so much has changed I actually don't think so much has changed I am asked to believe that love is the sign what we see is a lot of noise from today but I'm not denying that there has been no change in terms of how relationships are looked at and how how people talk about love today it's far more experimental people are far more experimental than before but the ethos in terms of what demands of you to be in love is the same you have to be ready for pain right you have to be ready to be weak in front of somebody else you can't have walls right I mean I'm not talking about a relationship between you know two people in a romantic relationship it can be collaborative also even in a work environment so there is a certain way there is a certain demand that you have to give yourself to the other person and hope that the other person treats you with respect and care right that I think will be there as long as we exist that is undamaged to us as people so for me that became very important while scripting the story and when making the film because I wanted to focus on characters in terms of how they give themselves to each other and not really dramatize that like I wanted to capture everyday stuff things like you know the way they talk to each other the way they fight with each other like you know there is a certain habitual attitude towards couples that they don't realize that they have you know but for somebody who is like if I am in a coffee shop and if I watch a couple from a distance there is a certain voyeuristic element to love stories which make it feel like okay that moment is mine now you know when I watch money search film that's the reason why it stays with me because I feel like I was in that moment with somebody else but it's not my moment so I've always aspired to make a love story because I want to have in my filmography all kinds of stories like I want to do like I've always wanted to do a love story I've always wanted to do an action film so I want to because I've grown up watching all of them but this the love story that I've made is the thing that I have had maximum impact on growing up so that's how that was sort of the fundamental idea around which me and my co-writer Gundu approached the writing to keep it very vulnerable keep it real you know we don't have to dramatize we don't have to explain what love is to people we have to assume that they know it we have to make them partake in that moment and create that slightly voyeuristic experience so that's how I went about it I was very doubtful but I'm glad it's it's worked Karan for you you know you've been making love stories for 20 years now 25 but the irony is that I don't know anything about the main female director actually you know it's actually completely alien to me first very foreign to him and I haven't even seen in a strong relationship that's lasted long enough for me to tell stories of love I have because when I grew up I grew up on the fodder of romance and love in Indian cinema in Hindi cinema Raj Kapoor and Yash Chopra Vintage Guru that they were all influences so all I was doing was all I was doing was deriving from cinema you know till I realized that I had stopped deriving because now everybody's gonna catch it you know I couldn't do it anymore when the word woke up and social media arrived and there was internet really saying and I was like okay now they couldn't realize that you know actually all he's doing is I'm just copying this one this one Yash Chopra I said I have to stop doing it I have to start creating individual boys and then every piece of a drama or love came from my observations of other people and their relationships the thing is when you're single that long everybody comes and talks to you right even the couples you hear the the female perspective and the male perspective and then suddenly you realize that you know there are many perspectives that you clap with both hands and I may I was fed up of like people talking about their versions of infidelity either they took like the high ground with it and said that how you know you can't endorse infidelity and it shouldn't be the deal breaker or the others were saying like why is it a deal breaker it's a mistake made you can still move on and I'm like what do you mean you're endorsing something like infidelity it's already sold out you know everyone's already you know it's a weak spot in so many marriages we rush in on the carpet but it exists it exists so I was like that movie was made by a series of observations that I made and conversations I had had with very close friends otherwise I know nothing about infidelity I have to have a relationship first to cheat on them you know so I mean that this will not happen so then where am I going to that cheating that's why I made my name is Khan right after that which was something I deeply was affected by in terms of like and then soon the way of which I had to do nothing it was my already film I was not planning to climb any cinematic mountain with that film and nor did I and Eddill then arrived as a love story but that was my story because I then in those six years fell in love with somebody that was not mine and I understood what one-sided love then I realized that there is a creature called unrequited love breaking it can shatter you pieces to slithereens actually and there's a physical pain when we say heart ache it's not symbolic it is true it hurts it hurts as hell and you feel like like literally the earth is slipped by you know and you don't know what to do and I realized making that film that was the most cathartic journey I've ever had with the film and because everybody said the end is polarized and you know why have you gone this way but it's just a way I took the narrative and at one point Ranveer actually caught me because I was so invested in the material because it was coming to me the way I was saying the lines the way I was expressing the scenes he said one second am I playing you and I was like yes and he's like Arushka I said a person I would like to not meet for a while so I was like it's like one minute it's all coming together sit me down he took me to his room I think we got drunk talking about my love story and the next day I felt like he at the spring in his step because he had he had all the the all the tools that he needed to perform the raw material so I don't know and we dropped Ranveer and never he viewed it as a love story and viewed it as my homage to Hindi cinema more than anything else everything I grew up on you know the old song references the characters the cultural differences what I did want to do is within that bring in a commentary of things that I believe I strongly about I grew up dancing on my own Indian music and being mocked at by my friends I grew up very large and big faction that made its way into the cinema and I grew up again understanding that people can have love stories that they brush up with the carpet because I've noted of my own family so Rocky believes it's a series of my convictions and also something like cancer culture scene in the film is something that I firmly believe because I was fed up of people telling you to shut up when you say the wrong thing I'm like teach me I might say the incorrect thing we grew up in a different circumstance we grew up seeing things and using words terminology is that we don't mean to be offensive but you know it's just the way we grew up it's the way we criticized for what I thought was intense romance I was like this man chasing this woman and really pursuing her how romantic till one day I was sat down in even a lecture and she told me that that's talking it's that's talking that's incorrect I felt that it's passion in that you know and you know when you see all of that that you do and the mistakes that you make like the gender politics I I understand are incorrect as compared to the gender politics of Rockier and because now I've evolved I've understood and you know and then then then you have someone like some big manga ready telling you like why are you listening to anybody just do your own thing and I'm like still I feel like you've got to kind of understand that with age comes evolution it's being a parent it's being raised in a certain way and you don't want to make those mistakes you don't want to tell your children that oh you were pink and you were blue it's okay for most of them to wear pink and blue and also you don't tell the boy that don't cry like a girl it's just the most peculiar so I have to train even the people at home not to say these things you know so when you say love story I'm like the irony is that I wouldn't know the first thing she's part of my career a few more questions Avinash Gio Kokana you all work in us lower register right the tonality is is is sort of more hushed you know and when we talk when we look at massive films right we look at the tent poles in theatres we look at massive stars and those and the conventional wisdom always says that okay this is what's working this is what people will come to theatres for do you all ever think about how will I nurture my aesthetic how will my story go out into the world I mean is it daunting at all no I I don't have to worry about that really actually yet I've not had to worry about that kind of thing now because in both the films in Death in the Gange and in last stories I think it was just it came from a personal space I didn't think anybody would give me money to make it even when I made it I didn't know if anybody would come to watch so I had to please myself and even in last stories I think honestly I was so excited by the idea myself I was just like scandalised myself you know and I found it just so exciting it was candle I was like oh my God can we oh my God should we and then how to go about it in a way that is even palatable that itself and how to present that it was so exciting even earlier when you were talking about camera and I was thinking you know when somebody was answering I was thinking things like consent like for example that camera only goes inside the room with Seema only when Seema was there so all of that was so exciting to think of how to translate that or how to because you know when we were writing the scripts of the whole obviously the floor plan and the layout was so important because of the mirror and you know so then putting all of that inside a house how will we make that happen trying to you know like a few times we've done for example what is a not a real split screen but like a manual so all of that had consumed me me and Purja Kulani my co-writer and we had a lot of fun with that luckily we didn't have to think of these kind of things till now I have not had to I want to take a moment and address the last moment in Kalkanas the one between Tilottama and Amrita I don't know if I've seen a more sparkly display of talent left just to their own device by the vegetable vendor and I really felt like only an actor could direct the scene because there are pauses there are silences there is awkwardness and yet there is resolve at the end of it all there's a resolve and done so seamlessly I went back and I rebound and I watched that scene it's right you know it's really because it moved me on many levels and layers it's so believable I mean I know I spoke to you but like that moment besides the entire film and how genius it was in its projection you see each everyone to go and visit that film and specifically as filmmakers of cinephiles who observed that moment I thought it was tremendous oh my god it is Ji what about you do you wonder or do you just make your cinema yeah maybe right now I've got a tagline that I'm a feminist kind of filmmaker a political filmmaker I have to change that personally I love action movies for me there is a reason for action in our feelings in our mass kind of feelings in 2 hours more than 10,000 people died there is no reason for that Nelson you want to address that no no no I already told I already told Karthik that I love this movie there is a reason behind every dance it's okay sir so I have to change I have to change myself that I have to try the comedy I have to try these kind of movies Jailer and Karthik kind of movies and I don't know why I reach the same kind of movies and when society affects me my our families affect me relationship affects me so for career ways for profession ways I have to try all genres from next I am trying different one I am trying keep trying not sure what is my next you are doing a great job and I think feminist filmmaker is a great tact yeah yeah but continuously love that if there is no feminism in my film people try to find out feminism in my movies yeah you just have to have it there is a quality in my movies I know that but I made a movie named as a near catering service yeah it's it's people not watch that yet it's in the Amazon Prime it's released in theater it's not worked well people they didn't connect that movie I tried a comic piece of something but it didn't work well but people find out there is a feminism in that movie there is it why that is not loud I don't know but I I am trying to break out all this but you are nice I think I want to do every kind of film it's like Mukul Anand was my most favorite director you know I've grown up watching good to Danua's films you know but it's like where you are what kind of impact and what kind of resources you are going to get you know like when I when I passed out from FTI I knew that like I don't know anyone and my journey in fact I choose cinematography as like I opted learning cinematography because I didn't have any other option I was like I don't want to die out of hunger like it's at least calm you just have to be on the set and I was like if you talk about films you are like it's fine you know so just to be on set and everything that was enough and it happened such that my first release was my own film and after that I was like what just did happen you know within whatever happened after that and my bread and butter was not depending upon cinematography so I was very sort of like okay I want to make a regional film and that's where my passion lies and this and that and I sort of like I didn't have any other subject it took me a long time to come back to directing when Sudeep Sharma offered me Patalu and it was not like I didn't get any offers or this or that but I was very sort of like loyalist to what kind of film script I want to be part of and I was sort of like I knew that like of course Aston's have been like I can give monologues by sitting here you know it's really really so yeah so the three of us were very sort of like strategic sort of a move in a way because I was like no one is making this kind of film right now and I have four to five months and if I can crack this down right now let me just see like if it happens and it was kind of an audacious sort of a you know thinking like just I did you know I just and then whatever I mean I'm writing next is very different I'm writing a western musical this that very different Change notes with him you know making a western big fan of his big fan of his like you know that the way he uses background score and like his editing style and everything huge fan I have you know so that's why so it's three of us was very strategic you know like yeah yeah yeah as far as the distribution is telling I there I sort of like went a little off with the because I felt like okay this pace is new and we didn't think like Patalook will become such a huge hit back then but just because like it released during pandemic and all that it became a rage and we were just sitting in our houses and like I didn't even get a chance to celebrate whatever like just calling and this and that and but you know particularly in this film I felt like it is very correct it's correct for OTT yeah but then no one was buying it you know and I'm like oh what I you know so that was a little sort of like because what happened during the pandemic the decisions whatever like you know how things are very limited release and whoever has seen this film they're writing and I'm very happy with that and it is it will come out in couple of months time so yeah I love me no I think good work finds an audience okay two more questions I want you to pick one Indian film that you saw this year that just blew your mind that you wish you had made Veggie let's start with you okay I don't think much but I think it's not it's not this year I don't I don't think I would say that I wish I had made it I wouldn't say that but I really like Kurangal Pebbles oh yeah I really like the notes yeah it was fantastic I got the wonderful I saw it last year but I want to say that yes it's a wonderful film the best one Karthik it was a good film as it blew me off yeah I had to watch Side B I told him but Side A was more than enough for me you don't care what happened to I wanted to see but still I have not come out of that it's an intoxicating it is it is Nelson for you for me Dada it's a small film but it connected very well to me I felt it's very real and it had all sort of emotions like I was feeling good and emotion and everything was there and it fitted with and I like pebbles of course pebbles I don't know whether I can pull it off but yeah I think Nelson make pebbles would be a I would like to do something interesting really talk about Dada and Trichit Rambalam last year oh I love Trichit Rambalam yeah something like that some romcom he just mentioned the the news something smaller less people dying less crowd in the spot no nobody cutting anyone's head off no no actually I am far from that I don't know it's automatically happening like that I like to do films like very very small films and romantic films that's what I want to do but I don't know what I am doing as far as it goes it goes well it's okay Karan I loved Side A and Side B I had the privilege of seeing Side B he sent me a link very kindly when I saw Side A which was on Amazon I am going to try and get the pronunciation of the name with Saptasagarachay Saptasagarachay close very close Saptasagarachay sorry but when I saw it it was just like to me it was like a heartbreaking love story it was also so emotionally fulfilling and you know it was like and I loved that the film begins with the love story and they are so they are going about it in such a like a lived in way you know when they were on their hunt for the house and when it ended I was like you know I really felt like a stone on my heart at that time really just felt like so and then I was waiting, waiting, waiting and then you know as soon as it landed he sent me the link and I saw it just late Thursday night and I felt very complete yeah and so I would say yes I mean I watch some very special films everyone here has made such amazing amazing work commercially successful films are in fact the toughest to me absolutely to me to pack in the ingredients of Jigrat Handa or Jailer and to do what like everyone here what Retri has been doing for centuries you know it's like he's really such a master but even to do what Konkanade I mean like which is like I just told you at that moment I knew my mind but this series and Avinash's exotic work has stayed with all of us but this particular series of two films really do it yeah Konkanade so kind you know always so generous you Akaran I have to say that I have not watched very much unfortunately I have to watch that and today I'm going to go back tonight and watch the Saturday side be I'm dying to watch that now so I can't exactly remember this year what it was something that has really stayed with me I think is great in kitchen I think it's because one of the greatest Indian movies of all time it's so normalized we've all grown up like I mean in two different degrees like this but to know when to shine a light on what and how to present it that really blew my mind I was like why didn't I think of this this is like a I mean I found it a very modern almost like a horror goer story and very feminist and really strong I think I did know that I did know that because I had no interest yeah I do not need to say what did you like my favorite is B32 Moodal Moodal means to 44 Vare it's about it's a bra size B32 to 44 directed by Shruti and produced by Kerala government and released in theater but one of my favorite movie directed by a woman only woman can make that movie that's why I like very much that one of my favorite all time favorite movie isn't we got a new post freshman new view about women I can't make that I can't think about that kind of things it's all about boobs great really I have to catch that I haven't seen that yet it's not available right now in the OTT yeah I think it will coming soon maybe our government start an OTT platform yeah now you heard about it no reason why you are going to talk about it there is a lot of problem sounds interesting though for watching this movie for the public so you must watch that I will absolutely absolutely Avinash, for you for me it's we know it's a swell thing oh yeah thank you I take that back I was like really it didn't come here it's with Avinash suggested I get him on the round table I said no that's not happening dying to watch that I haven't seen that yet I have been hearing just the nice things it's really special it's very special very very special thank you thank you I actually haven't had the chance to watch too many films so I have a huge list of films to catch up on starting with Vetrisar's film I'm a huge fan of Vetrisar grown up you know like my the director that I used to assist was Vetrisar's only I've I've met him as an 80 yeah met me as an 80 sitting here with him was like a very big deal for me even Karthik when I saw Jigarthanda the first part I hadn't made my first film yet I remember the feeling of walking out of the theatre and feeling that sense of I'm a filmmaker you know I will not give up on my dream and it's a very special thing to be sitting here and I will be watching their films all the films but there are moments the two films that I saw was Sir's Rakeem Rani the whole thing right before the conversation that the dance sequence the way it is choreographed people take dance for granted in Indian films the the amount of effort that the that Ranveer and the other actor I forget the name of the general it's so beautiful the way he I mean and the point that it is making that you know a man can dance and there is nothing to laugh about it so beautifully made so beautifully shot the that whole entry of Sivanna Sivanna is from from Canada and huge fan of Sivanna so his entry with the tissue box it's just the slow motion yeah it's for me it is everything that is that is not a mass film should be yeah right you do the whole structuring because it gives a tissue box like in the interval Rajiv sir is just sitting he is not doing anything that sort of reinventing the wheel is very very beautiful to watch and it's the hardest thing to do because you are not doing films only for yourself you are also trying to you know maintain an artistic sensibility while catering to people who you might not relate to even you know so that was all the trailers of all the films I am going to watch all of them how lovely okay I want to I want to end with something that writer director Paul Schrader said in an interview okay and then I quote he said in the late 60s and 70s it wasn't that the films were better or that the filmmakers were better it was the audiences were better the moment that a society turns to artists for answers great art will emerge when audiences don't think movies are important it's very hard to make important movies do you think this is true and what is our current moment are audiences seeking answers I feel that's very true because especially especially in today in Tamar scenario when I was making Visaranai I used to tell my team if this film works in the theaters then I would call the Tamar mainstream audiences the most evolved mainstream audiences and it did work in theaters and for the kind of space I have been enjoying whatever that I said now it's because people kind of connect and appreciate the film that the films that I've been making which are not the you cannot call them the most conventionally mainstream mainstream they are mainstream I do make mainstream films but not in a very conventional way I do have a different take on mainstream films to appreciate those those films and to make my producers invest on me the way they are doing it's the audiences also we have a tradition of voicing out like there's a lot of political expression that happens through the viewers and there is some element of a common man issue that is being discussed, addressed it is appreciated and now that that thing is catching up with the whole of the Indian cinema space I think any film that that discusses even the slightest of the common man issues Hindi films were not I might be wrong here but my observation I'm just sharing my observation were not very common man representative for the for the past some years like couple of decades or even more I don't know about the superstar but now when there is some references from even other languages or films that are being made here where there is a common man representation an existential crisis of a common man or a political question that he needs to put forth if that is seen on cinema people do like it when and in today's world like all my everybody in the distribution industry there in Tamil say post Covid is the golden era of theatrical cinema cinema exhibition it's like the numbers are like huge now everybody are talking numbers is that the competition is the numbers ok this hero is doing that number that he was doing this number it's just that the people are now very loving and forgiving also post Covid they want to come to theatres they want to watch films and films that make a difference in this in today's political scenario is also being appreciated so I see it is the audiences who are driving us to make I'm saying it in a very positive absolute absolute anyone else Karan look at where we are right now I mean you can look at the directors on your own and you know that's so much straight I mean you know five years ago you would not have a round table like this and today it means that we are talking about Indian cinema we are talking about films made in Tamil in Tamil in Tamil in Kannada in India in every language and I do agree with with Vetri I feel like there's a celebration in cinema halls all over again I've grown up in single screens I've grown up in in all the single screens of Mumbai and going in watching films as a celebration like watching entries and getting the whistles and you know dancing to songs and coming back and wanting to go back again and I feel like post Covid just like like he suggested it's like I think the three years of just like bottle has actually made them want to enjoy and celebrate almost revenge watch like and that's what's happening and now everything joyous not just larger than life joyousness that's coming from the moment the celebration the celebratory nature of Indian cinema I think all those movies are really like those audiences are back in throws and they're going nowhere at one time we were we were over for us like you know we should shop and just start going to streaming services but that's not true because now streaming services will tell you that they're struggling with kind of numbers and subscriptions because now everyone is going back to cinema halls and look at the resurgence of talent that has just come back when you see I specifically mean like in the cinema and including Rajni sir's success that he has got with Jailer for about 5 years seeing Sunny Deol at 866 give his biggest hit of his career Anil Sharma you know literally see people like see Vinod Chopra make such a massive hit who's known for such prolific work and there's been a large sabbatical you know and now he emerges and like just look at the year it's just like it's it's almost brilliantly audacious what's happening we have so much more to come this year will go down as one of the most profitable careers of Indian cinema if you just see the numbers that just means there's a huge appetite for celluloid again there's a huge appetite for community viewing and yes we learn so much from the power of the digital medium and there's so much talent that comes from there and that we at cinema leverage but that magic of the large screen it's going nowhere that is the best notes but thank you everyone and again thank you for the movies go back and make many more thank you everyone thank you thank you thank you for having us tackler job with her interviews yeah I cut it off yes she does it's it's it's not easy to do a round table with that many people I was thinking about that interviews are an interesting beast if you've never done it before it's an interesting beast in it of itself because you have to let the interviewer do the do the talking but you have to ask him enough questions but you also have to be aware of if there's going to be a lull and you have to circulate questions that would intrigue this person to make them interesting obviously we've been very blessed with the people that we've been able to be interviewed but a round table I don't even know if I would like doing a round table interviews we like to do are very in depth we really like to dig in to this person's artistry and you can't in a round table even though it's a wealth of knowledge but each person gets to talk three to five times right right in an hour and a half interview you get to talk about three maybe to five times yeah it's interesting to catch some of the perspectives I do like agree with you that's why we do what we do the way we do it 15 minutes that's why our interviews are 45 minutes long you see them any less it's usually because of production yeah that's the only reason but yeah there was a lot of really interesting stuff said there a lot of really good filmmakers something that was very interesting to me they did talk about each other's film but I think at the time when she was talking about a film you wish you had made in recent memory that's come out no one mentioned the current addition to the Oscars yeah I don't know what was going on with that I get people there was a lot of people that did like that film but it's not one that should have been sent you could have named multiple people here from this year on this table that I would have rather you sent their film absolutely then in 2018 but yeah I don't know his name but the one that made the part one and talking about like he's supposed to have said like three quarters I think it was four quarter and then it went up to 60 was it 60? yeah and Karen Johar's mind just exploded as a producer yeah comes out 40 to 45 ADs that's insane are you kidding me? I mean it all worked obviously because that film is brilliant on a big film I'm talking Doctor Strange you may have four to five yeah yeah that was good night that was absolutely insanity yeah yeah and there were so many interesting things that were said that's why these are difficult as well to react to because they say so much there's so much over the course of the interview in an hour or 15 ago that you forgot you forgot exactly what they said but there's so many Nelson like but one thing that is common with all artists is that even though almost nobody knows exactly what they're doing no yeah like obviously they have an idea I think people they're talented at what they do and they know how to do it but they can't be like this is how you do it like I know what I'm doing I have talent but I'm kinda winging it it's kinda like space exploration it's we know what we need to do to get there but we don't really know what's gonna happen until we get there and we're gonna have to make adjustments when we're there and we're gonna have things go catastrophically wrong and have to adjust things will go right we never expected to go right yeah and yeah uniformly directors repeatedly will say two things they're beset with doubt questions anxiety on a myriad of levels and at the same time know they must convey strength and leadership because the rest of the team is looking to them to guide what's taking place exactly I feel for Kieran Jar when his dad was bragging about him too oh my goodness that's like you don't even have a film yet and he's talking to Monty Rottenham it's like if I was with my dad for some reason he was produced on my first director of film and Monty had come in and he was like he is such a good director I'm like shut up I do not say that to Steven Spielberg, Monty Rottenham imagine our dads walking up to Meryl Streep or Daniel Day Lewis and saying he was such a good actor you would be dad shut up shut your mouth right now please say I'm a shitty actor so they'll be impressed just shut up just shut up it's great that he's a parent should brag about their kids yeah of course I would do that with my you know 100% if I was around say for example Hans Zimmer I would proudly say my son has incredible musicality and to which he would be like shut up I could be dad shut your mouth shut your mouth so it's good I'm glad it is and it's always fun I mean anytime you see film companion and you see her name attached in an interview sit back relax and enjoy cause every moment's gonna be engaging and teach you things she has some really good questions I do find her quarks hilarious me too she has to laugh at the end of a at the end of a sentence like to fill the silence if you will I think it's a little there's a little and I'm sure I'm sure I have ticks in interviews Rick has ticks in absolutely but you can see them on other people when they're doing it right and it's just it's a nervous habit cause you want to fill the silence you want them to be like oh yeah that was valid but again she makes it look easy oh she does that is a very very difficult thing to command a round table and give everybody equal time really really hard to do yeah Nelson is another really great director and what he's able to find it funny that he's like I don't I don't know what I'm doing I'm like you do you do and he has a beautiful style all of them do have their very unique particular styles about what they you know what they create I bet Kankana even though she's now this is obviously that was her second film but it's a short film so maybe one and a half films right into directing and she's sitting with all these directors I'm sure she fell out of place a little bit even though obviously she is a director and has a lot of experience on screen as an actor I'd probably be more comfortable in the in the actors because she's she's a brilliant actress but yeah that was interesting Karen Karen just can't turn off his producer producer hat no that's his primary hat so funny and I don't I don't think and what he said was true I don't think love has changed like if you're telling a love story I think you tell it the exact same way you told it because you just they're in love in the 20s and they're still in love now the emotion hasn't changed obviously how you date and the circumstances yeah but that's not the primary thing you're interested in you're interested in the story and the bond and the and just going to the truth yeah going to the truth of it I loved that one thing one takeaway was the description of forgotten is his name you'll know when I make the quote she said it's very obvious or he said it that no he said it that when he's making films particularly a love story and things of that nature that he wants to observe not intrude yeah and I thought that was a really astute observation and differentiating your shots because it's it's a big differentiation yeah to be observant with the lens versus intrusive and there may be scripts that from time to time require that kind of intrusiveness for example Joram requires some intrusiveness yeah you need to be intrusive to put you in the situation whereas other movies like court are more observant yeah and that differentiations and really really important yeah conveying story definitely a record-stopping moment wow anyway if you're still here and you stayed awake hi thanks for being here mother and the sound effects keep all coming and they will never stop never stop anyways a brilliant as always so many good films this year looking forward to and it's such a difference because they were right in the past years past two years everybody's like I guess cinema's gone and like people supporting it from the two years past to covid and then this year just came back with a vengeance hallelujah in all industries yep and not just in the Hollywood no everywhere um thank god which is funny because it's the first year that uh disney didn't come out with a billion dollar it's it's been wonderful and that's the same too with marvel in dc the movies that have been attracting attention have been the the movies that have greater artistic excellence yeah for the here in Hollywood that's for sure yeah I mean you're going to see nominations for films that in the past might not have been considered in that prospect so it's been a great year cinematically anyways let us know what other videos we shared let us know what you thought about this and any of those films that they mentioned in there that we should yeah that we need to see especially for the smaller lesser known ones let us know what those should be down below