 Talking about boycotting things, I don't officially do like a boycott, but there actually is something I am purposefully not going to watch on purpose. Okay. That I originally had thought I might watch, but I have decided I will not watch it. Hulu's movie about Mike Tyson called Mike, they not only didn't consult with Mike Tyson, they not only didn't get permission from Mike Tyson, they not only had him not contribute to the story of his own life, but he's not getting a cent and he's pretty pissed off about it. And I like Mike Tyson. So I'm not going to support that film because Hulu should have been done right by, you're telling the movie of a person's life. You should at the very least have run it by them and given them some, they're going to make money off of it because it's his life and no Mike for Mike and he's hurting financially. We all know it. Hey, welcome back to our stupid reaction. I'm Mike Tyson. Yes, you make that. Would you like that? What? Someone made a movie about you. Yes. Didn't consult you. Yes. Didn't ask you for your permission and didn't give you a cent. I love it. And it's called Corbin. That's a hot name. You'd be cool with that. Oh, I'd be horny. Liar. Anyway, total liar. Today we've got an Amir Khan interview. He just did this interview with. Is he in the news recently? I don't know. Is he promoting something? No. He's with Baraj Waj Rangan. That's who's interviewing. Got it. And so he's, this is obviously about the Laos thing, Chandra. And obviously a lot of people have sent this to me. He said it's a really good interview. He goes over a lot of stuff and it's really. This is nice. It's not so. Um, has he always done press junkets for the films to promote and done some interviews? Because it's my understanding. He's not a big fan of doing interviews and he doesn't go to award shows. But he does. I mean, obviously this is his film to promote his films. He'll do that. But just like a standalone interview in between films, he has nothing to promote. He's typically not going to do anything. Yeah. Here we go. It's great, by the way. This is by and large, a really good. So what you see from the coming of the skin is all real. So I had grown my own beard. Then we wanted a bit of length and, you know, so we added some extensions and all that. Okay. So when, um, this is a little bit of an ageist question, uh, you know, one time you're the heart of the nation. QSQT is happening. You went to each other and all the young here and we love, you know, there's this whole bunch of people and, and you know, now suddenly you're all this, like this, uh, you know, this defining person, who's every film becomes this thing that, that something that people wait for your kind of this, uh, elder statesmen, if one, one wants to kind of, oh, I didn't see what you know what I mean. Yeah, it's also an elder statesman. Heck yeah. You know, that at one time you're doing all these romantic roles and, you know, having fun and then now you're probably romantic role and if it forwards, yeah, you know, the father or the, you know, like, like, uh, kind of a senior kind of, and there's also more responsibility, I'm sure, because the, the films that you've chosen have also become more, I won't say serious necessarily, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But hoping and entertaining. Yeah, they're very entertaining. No, it's not. We're not, but they've also become more, how do I put it? Uh, hefty, uh, in terms of, uh, uh, you know, what they say, as opposed to cameras, I can't move, uh, dugs of Hindustan, just kidding. I love that he jokes about it. Well, you know, it's, it's been a journey. And actually to be quite honest, uh, as a person who started, uh, you know, quite young, I started as the age of eight, joined my uncle as an assistant. So my journey has actually started from there and quite honestly, I'm 57 now. I was 18. So in one more year, I would have completed 40 years in the industry, not as an actor, but in the industry, I would have completed 40 years because I worked for four years as an assistant first. So it's been, I think, 35 years almost now. And, uh, I still feel that I do not feel that way. What you're describing is not how I feel. I feel like I'm still very much 18 years old and I'm still excited about what I'm making and we're just trying to get it right. That's all we're doing. It's just trying to get, we try to be honest to the story and the material in the script and try to, you know, bring it out as well as it can. But we're doing it and what's in it? Each film is challenging. Each film is a new film. Each film, you learn something new and every film. Is, uh, comes with a new set of challenges. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you, you're never the master. Yeah, that's what I feel, no matter how experienced you get. Unless you're in a certain shop. Yes. Last thing, as you rightly pointed out, I've been working for 35 years. I have to having worked for 35 years. I should find it reasonably comfortable to do a film. It's very difficult. Adwet, you know, as a director, I mean, I hats off to him how he's taken this film and really, you know, brought it to shore. Probably been my toughest film. Right. Yeah, most challenging. Yeah, part of that question was also addressed to me because, you know, when I was in school, uh, Camisa Kamathak was a blockbuster. Okay. And it was running for 25 weeks and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it just now, it feels like, you know, that, like, I'm still in school. Yeah, just like you say, you feel just like 18. I feel like, oh my God, where does time, where does time go? Where does time go? Yeah, you know, you're suddenly like, oh my God, I've been doing Amir Khan. Yeah. This yesterday, it seemed like I saw him in Camisa Kamathak. That was partly interesting as well. Yeah, sure. You know, you see, you grow, you know, and when you kind of grow with an actor over the ages, it took you a long time to acquire the rights for this, for this, for eight years. Yeah. About eight years. So you stuck to it. I mean, what took so much time? Wasn't the negotiations or? No. Well, you know, it's not nice to go into the details. Right. But we approached Paramount, of course, which is the company that owns the original, who has made the original. Right, right. And initially, I was not able to, you know, they said you can take any rights from us to remake because their sister concern, Vaikom, was actually helping us. I'm talking about 14 years ago. And there was a different management then, not only in Paramount, but also in Vaikom. At that time, for some reason, it wasn't working out. But I, being the kind of person I am, I persevered. I went and met various people. I flew to Germany, to Berlin, and met Spielberg with the hope that he might put in a word to, you know, Mr. Zemeckis. They're very close. But anyway, it took us around eight years, finally, when we were given the rights. But something told you, I want to make this one. Well, I had never, I mean, I've seen Forrest Gumbel in 94 and it came out, right? I saw it in the theatres. I remember loving it. So I saw it a couple of times in a short span. I had never imagined you can make this into a Hindi film. I had never imagined. And when Atul and I met, and he is a close friend, Atul Kulkarni, who's an actor, and he and I did Rangde Basanti together. So exactly 14 years ago, in fact, 14 years and a month, so a little more than 14 years ago. It was in the month, it was in August, it was in July, 8th of July. If I'm not mistaken, to be precise, it was the premiere of a film that I produced called Jaane To Ya Jaane La. And we invited the whole industry and all of that. At the end of that night, a few of us were sitting in my house and Atul was one of them. And we started discussing about films and he said, what is your favourite film? And I said, one of them is Forrest Gumbel. The conversation got over, I forgot about it. Two weeks later, he calls me up and says that I've written a script for you. So I said, but you're not a writer. He said, yeah, you're not a shot. I said, okay. He said, I said, what have you written? He said, I've written an Indian adaptation of Forrest Gumbel. I said, what? In two weeks, he said, yeah. He said, my schedule got cancelled. I was supposed to go the next day after we spoke. The next day I was going for an outdoor, it got cancelled. So I was at home and sat down and wrote it. So I didn't have high hopes from what he had written. For some time I was busy. I said, yeah, I'm exact. But since I was not having too much hopes, I was not really following up with him. Rather, he was following up with me. And actually what happened is that I heard the script. That's when I realized that that's when I started. That's so interesting. When I heard the adaptation of Forrest Gumbel, I wouldn't have the confidence either. When he heard it, when he had it like a table read of it, I have to do this. So that time I wasn't thinking that, you know, oh, my God, you're taking a classic and you're trying to remake it. I didn't even think of that. I just thought that here is a material and I have loved it. And I don't know how much has done this, but now what I'm hearing. To me, it feels like an Indian film. That's how good the adaptation is. Good. I would have not even known that this is an American film. You know, if you if I had not seen that, it's a new film for me. Great. So I said, I want to do this. And then the journey began of trying to get the rights and all that. So it took us a while. So one of the things that Forrest Gumbel really did to America was was when it was released, was present a very idealized version of America that that that you didn't because, you know, with Tom the Tom Hanks character, Forrest Gumbel represents these America, like, you know, like, that you don't need to be cutthroat or super intelligent or super talented to succeed. You can be very basically decent and kind hearted and simple and nice. And you have core human values and also succeed. Do you believe in that personally? I do. I do. And I think that is one of the things that attracts me to this material is that it's a story where we are used to watching our heroes and our protagonists have different kinds of strengths. Some of them are physically strong, like the Avengers series. You know, these they are physically strong. I can sometimes your hero is moral has got moral strength. He fights for the underprivileged or he fights for people's rights. But here is a hero who doesn't fight. He doesn't have any great physical. It doesn't even know he's a hero. Yeah. He just is a simple guy who's innocent and he's very pure of heart. He doesn't have any negativity. And I wanted people to experience the power of innocence. I'm using the word power. It's not the way I want to use it. But innocence brings so much with it that you don't need power of the man. You know, that's what I felt. And this story really tells you that it's very it's a very positive film. It makes you believe. It makes you believe in the goodness of people. It makes you believe in your own goodness. Right. Right. You know, it touches the good in you. Yeah. And that's what I like about the material. I touched the good in your mom. Nice. Tom Hanks is a Southern American. He's from Alabama. What made it feel right that this character should? Oh, sorry. I thought they were literally saying Tom Hanks was. Well, actually, it's like already placed him as a Sikh. And all of that was already in place when we received it as a is a script. We were already reading a Sikh character. We were already, you know, he was part of the script. And so it was felt very natural to us. So none of us questioned why is he a Sikh? It was very organic to us. But now that I think about it, it's probably Atul probably placed him as a Sikh because technically he could be any one. He could be a South Indian and be any character, very rightly said. But I think I did that because in our timeline of, you know, recent socio political history in 83, 84, that was a very key time. That was a very difficult time, I would say, you know, and the Sikh community went through a lot of difficulties at that time. So by placing, making him a Sikh, I think what Atul was trying to do when he did that, I think rather well, is that he gives by making the lead character a Sikh, you're actually investing your emotions very strongly in the character, in the incident. And then from there, when the film goes on, you know, you're I think that's why he made it a Sikh character. I think now there was a time when pan-India cinema basically meant Hindi cinema. You know, movies like Aarathna and Jarun Ki Baaraat and your own Kamte Kamath, as I just said, had Silver Jubilee runs in Chennai. You know, the songs were hugely popular, but not this some kind of little bit of a reverse thing is happening. Do you sense is this as a movement or is it too early to comment on anything? It's certainly a movement. And I think that it won't it may not be like a thick, solid movement. How we are imagining it. But I feel that with covid coming in with people not going to theaters or other they could not go to theaters. And so they were consuming entertainment at home through OTTs and other platforms. And as a result, all of us ended up seeing content from other languages. You know, after some time, we started consuming content from other languages, which we heard about, which we heard was good. And that is something new that happened. You know, suddenly I was also watching different languages. So similarly, the Hindi audience had started watching, I think. Films from the south and enjoying them, liking the characters, liking the action. And I think in that time when these films came out, you know, it was all of that put together. Right. And of course, I've not seen, you know, other as yet, but these were films that kind of watched it very deeply with an audience and really entertain them. Because otherwise, you can't have this kind of success. It's a huge success. So it's it's really nice to see that a Hindi audience is now open for content. I used to always feel that a Hindi audience is not very open. You know, they don't watch films from other languages, but now they started doing that. And that's great to see that Hindi audiences are open to watching films from different languages and appreciating them and loving them. You know, that's that's really nice to see that. It speaks well for the Hindi audience that they are, you know, wanting to experience entertainment from different languages. I said this in China also when I went there, when people ask me, the Chinese people are watching your films and all that. So they asked me, how about India? Do they watch Chinese films? So I said, not really. So far, of course, we do. We have all of us are big fans of Jackie Chan. We've also, right, you know, so it's not like we haven't. But it's not a regular thing, especially the serious one. Certainly not in theaters where you have the biggest business of a film from India coming out of China. That's not happened yet. But that's happened of Hindi films in China. You know, the Chinese audience has been open enough. So I said, you know, it speaks for the Chinese audience that as people, as people, they are open enough to receiving material from other cultures and falling in love with it. That's such a beautiful quality. Right. So I think that as we go along, as you said, you know, do you see this as a movement? I said, as I as we go along, I'm hoping that this happens more and more that we get to see films from Bengal, from Maharashtra, Gujarat, you know, which are different languages, but they are entertaining the whole country. Right. And that's what will be lovely to see as it goes along. You have an affinity for Bengal. The thing is that the Masala Pan that was missing all of the regions and I worked for a long time, audiences were starved for it, especially the Hindi belt audience. Sure. And that when I say Masala Pan, I did not do necessarily mean Amitabh Panching, one person and sending him flying into the air. But also the Salim Javich side of dialogues, the rhetoric, the slightly larger than life quality, sentimentality, the melodrama, the mother figure, all those things that made up what what like a diva, the Trishula, whatever it was called. KJF, in fact, is very influenced by the diva and Trishula and all these films. In fact, the boy starts off by shiny shoes, you know, like like Bachchan and Divar. So so that's the theory that the audience is also true. I agree with you. That is also true. I think in Hindi, we've also started making films, perhaps a lot of us as creative people are perhaps not so much in touch with what the larger mass of audience wants to enjoys. And as I agree with you, it did not be action. Like you said, it did not be action. A film like Dangal has been liked by a number of people across the world. In fact, and there is no action actually. I mean, there's a sport is the sport of wrestling is not used as action. So it's a drama, essentially. So so you're right. I feel that if the story is universal and I'll tell you what I mean by universal. By that, I mean that emotionally it touches the hearts of a larger group of people who watches watches it. So like you said, a mother, son emotion is a very deep rooted emotion. So somewhere, I think in Hindi cinema, also we as creative people have started selecting, perhaps films which are more and more niche. Now, I feel that every filmmaker has the right to choose what he wants to make. And of course, he should make what he wants to make. No questions asked. But then we also should be aware that if I'm choosing the subject, it is a niche subject. I must be aware of that. I must not imagine I'm making a mainstream film, but actually I've selected a subject which is actually one interest and the people will not most of the masses may not even relate to this topic. So that has been happening also. You're right. I agree with that. So when you see like many movies flopping, but a Gangubai kathiawadi or a Kashmir file succeeding. So the masses, what is what the audience is rather? What is the kind of message that they're saying? What are they saying? Like, I want to see which kind of movie? Actually, the audience is, I think happy to see any kind of movie. Okay. When you're promoting a movie, you kind of tell them what it is. Suppose I've made an action film, I will promote it as an action film. You will see the trailer also. So you'll come to know what genre it is. But what I'm saying is irrespective of genre, there has to be an emotional connect, the universality, emotional connect, even an action film. As an audience, I won't be interested in an action film with this just action happening. You look at Gajini, it's an action film. But why is the action happening? It's happening because of a deep emotion that you feel as an audience of this real love story between Kalpana and Sanjay Singhania. And when Kalpana gets killed, the action is happening because of that. And that I want to see as an audience because I'm a spoiler, spoiler has been brutally murdered like that. So that means essentially a love story. Real spoiler. Brutally. His heart is a love story. Kalpana is the heart of Gajini. So I'm saying this is how, you know, I think South Films and South filmmakers still have that, you know, they are very connected to their audiences. Perhaps we have lost that connection. Perhaps we need to relook at that. And the South Films are teaching us that. So it's interesting that you just named the characters. Do you remember all the names of all the characters that you played? Quite a few of them. Yeah, I remember most of them. Do you remember the one where you did with Juhi Chala? Where, you know, there's something kind of Chris Farley. Oh, my God. You remember the one where we, yeah. No, I would not remember the name of that. No, I wonder about the one where you said juice. That's my film act. My father produced and directed. Right. Wow. It's not a film that I was very happy with. So the films I'm not very happy with. I tried to forget it. One of the things that makes a star a star, whether it's it's a Bachchan or the three Khaans or Siddhavi or Madhuri Dixit or Raj Kapoor, Devan, whatever. Is the theatrical pool that they have, that is pretty much what because they say that I can pull that many full seats, full seats. Or as the Americans say, you put butts in seats, you know. So that's the start. We do say that. That's one of the ways to measure stuff. Measure stuff. Yeah, that's like, like, whatever the thing is, at least the first day goes like this is really first weekend, first day, whatever. But now that that that, you know, people, the movies are kind of your oddity has come into play. You know, there are a lot of people who kind of go in either way. Do you think that kind of stardom that you guys enjoy? That is not just you guys. When I say you guys, I mean, you, the previous generations, Skafella across like across like across language, do you think it's going to become more difficult to see that magnitude of see that depends. According to me, we've been making a simple error. You see, when a film, there's nothing wrong with OTT as a platform, it's very nice and it will actually compliment cinema against it. No, no, no, just hear my whole answer. I'm saying that OTT actually is not a challenge to cinema. But we are making it a challenge to cinema. What we are doing is we are saying that our films will release in theaters, but you don't really need to come because in a few weeks, you can see it at home. How do you explain? That's why it used to be three months before you'd get it on OTT to come to the theater when you already told me that just wait a few weeks. I'm coming to your house. You don't have to come to the theater. That is the error that according to the great point I agree. Our films, of course, must come on OTT and audiences should watch the film on OTT also. But we must give the audiences a clear choice. If I want to watch a film in cinemas, then I come to the cinema and if I don't want to watch it, no problem. Then I have to wait for six months for it to come to OTT. Which is what is happening then. At least the audience has a choice and say, oh, I don't want to wait six months. I would rather watch it in the theater. I may have heard good things. Now, what happens is if a film is very good and I come to know it's a great film and I'm told, please watch it. My answer today will be that it's OK. I'll just wait for two weeks. I'll watch it at home. That should not be the case when a film is being appreciated, when the film is being loved and it is in cinemas. And then you tell your friends, a great film, going to watch it. He must feel that if I don't watch it, I will miss it. Yes, agreed. So I think that is one big factor in the collection. You can't speak in truth here. Not just in Hindi, but in every language. The quicker you go into OTT, it doesn't make sense to me because you need to have a clear demarcation between the platforms. Right. You know, and if that is not there, then common sense tells you that for economic reasons, for bandwidth reasons, for time reasons, because when you go to a theater, you need time. Yeah, you need a certain amount of money. You need a certain amount of bandwidth to actually go there, book the ticket and travel. If all of this is going to is all of this is required to come to a cinema. That is the given. Then you cannot have it coming on OTT so fast. If it's coming so fast, then cinema doesn't stand a chance. Cinema doesn't stand a chance. So it's in our hands. As filmmakers, we have to decide. For example, I make sure that my films don't come on OTT for, you know, six months. I try my level best to do that. For this reason only. So, Dangle is not none of my films come in two weeks like that. And I'm trying to make that more and more, you know, and I'm hoping other people also do that because it's not just if one person does it, the whole industry has to do the same thing. Audiences across the country should feel that because cinema is a different experience. Obviously, you know, you're watching in a dark space. There are people around you. It's a collective experience. You laugh together, you cry together, you cheer together, you know, as opposed to sitting alone and watching it on your laptop or on your phone also nowadays. It's not the same. If I'm going to enjoy myself, then I have to ask myself, will I enjoy myself on a five inch screen? Or will I enjoy myself on a large screen with the sound? We work very hard on the mixing, you know, so it's it's the. I mean, I make films for cinema. That's where you'll experience my work and it's how it is meant to be experienced. So I think that's a big difference as well. We need to not have come on OTT so fast or we can make a film directly for OTT. I don't mind that. You can make a straight for OTT. Now, if you're coming in theaters, then you have to have a distance. Now allow me to present a counterargument. It's a really great point. It's a great point which we sound a little naive to you because I'm not a business. No, no, sure. Please. You're a big star armor. So people will pay big money for your for your movies, even if they come six months after OTT. But what I've been hearing from a lot of producers is that the later that they release on OTT, when it's the second tier or third tier stars or whatever it is, the OTT price drops, the price of the movie keeps dropping. They don't offer the kind of money that they do when it's still hot, so to speak, the film is still hot, so to speak. So I think that's another reason that many films choose a shorter window for what is your as somebody's been in this business. But I don't agree with that. I'm sorry. Yeah. See, because a film does well based on how well you've made it. If a film connects with people, it'll do well. OK. And if it's on OTT or on cinema, if it's a good film and it connects with me, I want to watch it. OK. If it's not available in cinema, I'll watch it on OTT. Right. And when the publicity spread that it's a good film, wherever it is showing, I will watch it. So I feel it's the quality of the film and how well we make the films that will finally decide everything. That's the bottom line. That is the bottom line. My bad film will not do well just because I've raised the number of weeks well. Right. It has to be a good film to begin with. Then the next decision comes about OTT, direct to theatre around that. That's the next level. So what happens is that if a film doesn't do well, most producers feel OK, now that it's not done well, let me not hold on to another 12 weeks. But let me, I'm getting some money. Let me take the money and give it. Short-term thinking. You will get that money right now. But in the long term, you're harming yourself. And the industry. And the industry as a whole. So our ability to work collectively, you know, we are doing Pani Foundation. Me, Mkiren and Satya, we worked for the last six years, we're working in rural Maharashtra. And we're working in trying to help people with water and agriculture. The reason I'm telling you the story is that one of the key things that we as Pani Foundation do is we try to bring a village together. Because when a village comes together, it becomes strong. And any problem in front of them, they are able to handle together, whether it's water or any other challenge. If they are together, they can handle it. And we've learned that. In Pani Foundation, we've seen that happening. It's the same thing. If something affects all of us, and I think only for myself, then that won't help everyone. Like you said, that's short-term thinking. It's a short-term thinking. What is good for everyone is also good for me. I have to understand that as an individual, not just in cinema, in life, I feel. What is good for me may not be good for society, correct? So I must do what is good for society. Because eventually, what is good for society will also be good for me. You know, that's what I feel. So when you embarked on this Lal Singh Chadhar journey, you just said there was this gut feel that, because you heard Aathol's script and it just affected you a great deal. Now, after the whole movie's over and you've seen it, that gut feel, does that still stand? So I'll tell you what I feel today. Now that the film is complete and we are a few days away from the release, I have to say that when I heard Aathol's script and for that matter, us as a team, Adwet, being the director, me being the producer and the entire team, when all of us had just the script in front of us, then Adwet and all of us had a certain vision of what the film would like, what we would like it to end up being. And that was the start of the journey. Today, we have come to the end of the journey. When I look at the film, I think that what we set out to make, we've come quite close to that. I'm very happy that Adwet has a director, though he's a young guy, he's just made, this is his second film, it's a tough one. But despite that, he's managed to bring in the ship quite well and I think all of us as a team, very, look up to him as a person who has led us in the right direction and he's made a film which all of us feel is very close to what we wanted to make. So we're very happy about that. Now, of course, we are waiting to see if the audience is interested in what we wanted to make. We get to know in a few days. How do you do this, Amir? How do you consistently or almost always consistently pick relatively untested, unknown talent and kind of identify a spark and then that was not visible earlier, but in your film somehow it's magnified. I don't want to name names, but I think what I'm talking about, you're relatively unknown directors. Oh, okay, directors, yeah. Well, when I'm selecting films, one of the things I look at is, of course, the script. It has to connect with me. One of the key things I look at is who's a director. I give a lot of thought and importance to the fact that this director is the person who's going to lead this process and that's a very important decision for me. If I'm not comfortable with the director, if I don't feel safe with the director, then I tend to hesitate. But for me to want to work with a director or to completely trust a director, I don't need the director to be 10 films old or should have given 20 hits. No, if I feel that, if I feel you're capable of telling the story and narrating this well, and if I have that confidence, that's good enough for me. So in my career, I've worked with a lot of newcomers, new directors, there's John Matu, Matthews, Farhan, Dil Chhattai was the first time. Lagaan, Ashok, while that was not his first film, that was his first film that actually launched him into his career. It was his third film, I think. So yes, I have worked with a number of new directors. Untested is what I would like to do. Untested, yeah. But I test them. I make sure. Give them an example. No, no, nothing like that. It's just by talking to the person, I spend a lot of time with the people I'm about to work with. And when I get the confidence, I go for it. You once had a Mahaparat project. Dream, I didn't dream. Dream, okay, yeah. If you want to. You started the project. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But now given that, this is the season of mega projects in every possible language. Everyone wants to go pan India and the budgets are just out there. Do you think it's time to re-dream the dream? It feels like it's the right time. But you know, Mahabharat, you cannot time it at all. It has to be beyond that. When you're making Mahabharat, you're not making a film. You're doing a Yajna. And you have to approach it like that. You don't approach it like you're making a film. It's not a film. It's much deeper than that. And I don't know whether I'm ready for that. So let me see. But it's something that really excites me. Nice. So you still, it's there some kind of a mind. Yes, yes, it is very much. Right. I'm afraid to bring it out into the four because I don't know whether I'm ready. See, Mahabharat will never let you down. You might let Mahabharat down. So I don't want that to happen. Right, yeah. So I hope that, that Lal Singh Chah does another success for you. But, you know, you've also kind of at times gone wrong in your calculation. Sure. Like in, sure. Yes, yes. Tell us about your shitty film. Do you kind of have this enormous process of what went wrong? Oh, yes. I give a lot of thought to what went wrong. Because you see, a film that doesn't work is an opportunity. It's a great opportunity to learn. Because when you make mistakes, you learn exactly what has gone wrong. And you know, it's, so all, I'm, whenever I'm today, it's not because of my successes. It's because of my failures. In the early years of my career, I don't know whether you're aware. So Mereho is the name of the film. Yeah. You asked me the name of the character. Okay, yeah. So Mereho, I remember it, but you asked me the character name. I always remember the name of the film, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah. So, Suraj, is the character called Suraj? So, yeah. Just look up online. If I'm not mistaken, Mereho, the character is called Suraj. That would be amazing. Yeah. I hold my failures very close to my heart. Because I have, those are the ones that have struggled the most. Those are the ones that have not succeeded. Those are the ones in which I've, you know, Shiva, sorry. Those are S. Shankar, Shiva. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And you didn't say that you'd like to forget the film, is that you moved? Yeah. But failures really teach you a lot. And I think that, so I value my failures a lot. And regarding Lansing, I mean, we'll get to know now, but I feel that I'm just hoping that it's a film that, you know, touches people's hearts in the way that it's touched our hearts when we were making the film. Nice. And if that happens, I'll be happy. Yeah. So really looking forward to the film. Yeah. I'm watching it on an IMAX screen. Okay, thank you. Because, you know, just the... I wish we got an IMAX screen. The thing that appealed to me about Forrest Gump was how it kind of took the scenic shot out and went all over America. Yeah. And you've done this whole Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Yeah, it's a large screen, exactly. Large screen, yeah. I think it's a large screen. So I think I want to see it on a large screen. Great. I hope you like it. Thank you so much. Yeah. It's always great when people you admire actually seem like intelligent filmmakers or artists and they really, really care. Yeah. Because you could tell. He's exactly how I anticipated he would be. Articulate. Caring. Caring. Very introspective. Introspective, intelligent. And yeah, I fully agree. I didn't like it when movie theaters and OTT platforms changed availability of movies on OTT after they left theaters. Yeah, obviously they did it for COVID. Yeah. And that changed. The thing I do like is like, let's say it does a theatrical run and then they put it for a full price. So like if I wanted to watch everything everywhere all at once right when it came out, it was like 20 bucks. So it was still an admission ticket for me to be able to see it. It wasn't like it's on Netflix or anything. That's a great idea. That is, I think, a happy medium. I agree. If I still want, because I can't go anywhere. I have two newborn twins and a toddler. I can't go anywhere unless it's an Indian film because it's my job. But if I want to watch current stuff, I want to still support it. But the only way I can do it is at home. I'm okay paying the full price admission ticket at home so you can still get the support for that. And if you want to watch it again, same thing. You have to get an extra ticket. Obviously you can drop it for free on Netflix or wherever you're dropping it. Right. But yeah, I 100% it because I just, I think it was just announced Fafas film, even though obviously it's a much smaller film. So it's very different. And so now a lot of people probably got an opportunity to see it in theaters, which is unfortunate. But that is now on Amazon. Just what? Two weeks later. Two weeks later. Yep. Very different. That one's a very small film. Unfortunately, it didn't get a wide distribution. Yeah. And that's its own issue. But like stuff like RRR, I think RRR waited until May, I think is when it dropped. So it was March to May. So it was two months. And I think it did well for it. Yeah. And it's still running theatrically here. I think two months is actually good. I think anything beyond three is a little too long. Once it's left screens, not three months or six months after it's been released. After it's left screens. After it leaves screens, two months is fine. You don't need to go much longer than that. I think if you go much longer than that, you do lose. You risk the momentum. Yeah. The momentum. Even make it, you know, a month. But nothing shorter than a month. You're gonna see how it is because obviously he just signed a deal. He already got a deal with Netflix, I believe. It was. It's gonna be six months. Mm-hmm. For Lowsing. Yeah. However you say the name. It's gonna be six months. Yeah. Before that's on. And they paid him handsomely. I think he's like already made back the budget or something like that. Just based off of that idea. It used to be, if you didn't see a movie when it was in theatres, you didn't see the movie. Yeah. What an awful world. Or then you'd have to wait, like once it left, because movies used to go to Showtime and HBO, one of the first cable movie channels, but it was a long time after a movie left theatres before that thing. So you had to go see the movie. Yeah. If you didn't see it in theatres, you didn't see the movie. I do think it's, you know, obviously there's many different reasons why, especially India does it the way they do, because we've always like, it goes on OGT so fast. COVID even sped that process up even more. It did. Two weeks. Yeah. For a massive film. Yeah. To go from seeing theatres. So obviously the economics for a lot of people, it just makes sense. They're like, this isn't like a KGF or RRR. I'm just gonna wait two weeks. It'll be on Netflix. Right. Why would they go to the theatre? Absolutely. We can say you should go to theatre and support it. Right. People's economics are different. Yep. They're like, I can afford a Netflix subscription. I can afford however many rupees it is to go to the theatre this month. It's just, I feel like, he's right. I feel like they're making it really hard on themselves with how fast they're putting stuff on OGT. I agree. There's people, example, there's people I know who, for both the movies, Maverick and Elvis, who, they went and sought with me based on word of mouth and my recommendation, because they didn't want to wait, because they knew they'd have to wait when it left, there'd be this limbo land before it went to OGT and they wanted the theatrical experience. So, yeah. I agree. And there should be uniformity. Yeah. I wish I could see the top gun in theatres. I just, I won't be able to. And so that'll be one that I will be having to pay for in 1999. And I'll watch it on my big screen with my surround sound. It'll be fine. But, yeah, it was really insightful. I actually really enjoyed this interview. I would love, obviously, be able to talk to Amir at some point. I mean, people have asked, because there's like, I know, Jaby interviewed Alia and then there's another one, another reaction channel, I think there is a smaller one, but they interviewed him. But they did it at a junket. And so, they got about five minutes. A few minutes, yeah. Five to ten. I don't, even though it'd be great to talk to Amir for five to ten minutes, I would much rather hold out and wait to talk to him for our allotted amount of time that we like to talk to people for. Yeah. We like to talk to people for like 30 minutes. Just so we can get a deeper conversation. Yeah. Even though it would be great to talk to Amir for five to ten minutes. It would, but I just, I feel like if I'm given one opportunity in my life to talk to Amir, I want it to be substantial. I agree. So that gives you a little introspective of why I don't do press junkets. Also, we're not there as well in India. Yeah. It would be easier. Have you ever done like an interview at a press junket? No. It's got to be a hard job. It's got to be. Because they're exhausted. Yeah. They've just done a hundred other interviews. Yeah. But ten thousand other people. Yep. Anyways. Yeah. We're looking forward to it. We're going to boycott it first day for a show. Let us know if you're going to boycott it as well. First day for a show. Let us know. Josh!