 and we're recording. I hope it records. I do too. I do too. That would be unfortunate. That would be very bad. We are here at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles with the incomparable, the wonderful Ardost. Yes. Vishal Bardawash, thank you so much for joining us. Yes, thank you so much. It was so nice to see you. It was such a big surprise for me. I was not expecting you so much. I know. I saw you through the door. I didn't tell you before that we were gonna be here. But we're here premiering, theatrically premiering Kulfiya with Taboo. But the first question I wanted to ask was actually, from your first film, which was Mukti, right? Mukti. Mukti, which is a kind of scary, horrorish style. To now, how do you think you have evolved as a filmmaker? If you have? Yeah, I don't know. Definitely I have. But it's very bad to blow your own trumpet. So it's a difficult question. But definitely, I think I couldn't have or wouldn't have dealt a subject like espionage and the queer part of it. And so I needed a kind of maturity. And not I'm saying of the age, but the maturity of making so many films so I could deal with this kind of subject with dignity and with the pace which I wanted to have. Otherwise, when you make, when you are a new filmmaker, you are rushing through things. But here, I wanted to hold, even in terms of camera movement, if you see it closely, there's a language which I wanted to achieve where I didn't want to move the camera. There are no very few movement trolley shots or the crane shot. I wanted to hold the camera and let the drama play in front of the camera. And when you're writing the script, are you thinking about those things in the process of the writing? Or does that come more after the script is complete and now you're visualizing what's taking place with after you've done scouting of locations and things of that nature? Not even locations. Once, when you are writing the film, you're seeing it as writer, whether the drama is working or not, it's like backwards and forward. There's a lovely book called Backwards and Forward by David Ball. And he has taken Hamlet as the case study. And it's a very thin book, but it's my favorite book called Backwards and Forward, where you know. I'm writing this down. Yes, yes, please, but everyone has to, whosoever is connected with cinema has to read that book. Where he says that once you have written the script, you have to read it backwards. And it's like a cause and effect. So it tells you that this scene is not required or this part is not required. So when you're writing a script, you are seeing it as writer. And I mean, of course, you visualize as a writer, but when you see it as director, then the language and all those other things come. And on that, because you are a super-relative and legendary composer, what hat comes on first or is it different? Like, do you think about the music for a film? Like, you start with that first? Do you think about your writing first? Do you visualize it first? Or is it all, is there any actual answer to that? The music actually comes while I'm writing this script. So not before, never before. But the first idea comes, then ideas should excite you. And then that idea should translate into three-act structure and it should hold. And sometimes what happens when you have completed the script and you start to read the idea that idea is not there in the script. So then you bring that idea back. You tend to lose that, you tend to lose focus. So yeah, but the music happens while I'm writing. But mostly it happens while I have completed the film. But the whistle theme in this happened while I was writing the film. So I wanted to have a theme of a whistle. So it's a very messed up process for me. So when I try to look back at it and dissect it, I'm never able to do it. And do you not trust anybody else to compose your music? No, no, no, no, please. I'll kill the producer if she'll ask me to do it. That's what I thought. Fantastic. And the process of writing Shakespeare versus a spy through it? But it takes three minutes. Was it more challenging? This is a quick question. Is it more challenging to adapt Shakespeare? Or was it more challenging to adapt a spy thriller like Kufia as a writer? More challenging to adapt a spy thriller. Because in Shakespeare there's a whole dramatic structure you have. But this was based on a book which had a real account of an intelligence operation. So there was no three-act structure. There was no drama. It was a cold, clean, very detailed account of an intelligence operation, which was fascinating. But it lacked cinematic drama, which we brought in. Makes sense. Makes sense. And are we going to get another Shakespeare adaption from Vachal Bardwash? Or is it going to be in the comedy-ish style? Is it going to be another serious one? Can you say? So yeah, yeah, I can definitely say. But Shakespeare is like my fixed deposit in a bank. There's a lot of material. So whenever I'll be out of my pocket short of money, I'll go back to it. That's a fantastic great answer. I know. But you can make film on any of its play. It depends on the kind of mental state you are in at that point. Otherwise, you can make films on his comedies, on the strategy, on anything. Because every play is a very big idea it contains. Absolutely. And last question, because I really wanted to ask it. You can ask too. OK. Yeah, please. Do you even know why do you get such great performances out of your actors, from Shade, Port de Priyanka to Johnny Abraham, to all these actors who a lot of people consider their best performance as part of your films? Why do you think that is? Are you just that great? Yes. No, no, no. I'm not that great. Yes, you're right. You know, how do I put it? I'm not great, but I'm very aware of my foolishness. So I know my shortcomings. And I know my strengths. And one who knows that he's a fool is no more a fool. So I know that. And I think the direction is about not directing. Acting is not about acting. Yeah, correct, yeah. So directing is also not about directing. So when I stage a scene, I never tell actors that you come from here and you sit over there, or I just place them and I give them a space. And I ask them to own that space and show it to me how their character will do that. So now the people who have been working with me for long, like Taboo and of course, Yasir Saab and Irfan was my favorite. So they knew that I'm not going to direct. So the advantage of that, sometimes they do things which I was not expecting. So I don't open my cards. I ask them to open their cards. Sometimes I get very, very new things, very surprising things which I adapt in my own way and then guide them. So it's like that gives them their space. And when they get the wrong note, then you bring them back, that no, this is very bad. That's wonderful. Yeah, that's wonderful because that's the level of trust you have in them and they have in you. It's beautiful. And you have to throw them off also to take responsibility of their character. An actor has to take responsibility of their character. They have to think more than I do. This is what is expected out of actors. Sure, absolutely. Well, that was exactly what I expected. So I think your questions are finished. Yes, yes. Well, no, we actually have a lot more. We could talk to you for five hours. This is a normal interview about an hour, but we're not going to do that to you. You're going to ask one more thing. No, no, we're thank you so much for your time. Thank you. It was a pleasure. Go watch Kulfia on Netflix and come to the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Thank you so much. Thank you.