 Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Say something. Pinocchio. Pinocchio. Do you ever Go there. No. Do it. Nope. Has to do about lying doesn't it? No! Hey, welcome back to our show. Say hello to Corby. Woody's. No. That's what you call it. Whenever Pinocchio lies, he gets a Woody. Today we got, it's our last video of the day, Rick. Oh. Yeah, sorry. It's because it's the roundtable. Oh. You know, they do these every year. Yes. Film companion and it's a film companion roundtable. This one is the filmmakers. So we got Kamal Hassan. Oh, we got the director of Vikram. You had me at Kamal Hassan. You got the director of Vikram in Lokesh Kanga. Kangara. We got SS Rajar Mooli. Oh! We got, say this name. Swapna Dutt, who was Sita Ram, producer. We got Prithee Raj Sukumaran, who this year was the producer of Jhana Ganamana. We saw him in that Malayalam film that we just watched. Oh! He was the drunk and the rich guy. Okay. So that's him. And then we also got this director. He's the director right here. This name. Bouncing all over the place. This right here. Gotham Vasudev Menon. And he's, he did this film right here. Vendu Tananandu Kadu. And forgive mispronunciations. So yeah. Great. Big heavyweights. Love film companion. Sorry. SS Rajar Mooli and Kamal Hassan. Good grief. It'll be super fun to listen to, I feel like. Yep. It's just dropped and so Let's just get into it. And this dropped today. Awesome. So if you haven't seen it, go watch it on the original channel because some people like to watch it. Yeah. And if you don't want to hear us talking, like we'll make a couple points. Go watch the original video. It's up for you to do that. This is a reaction, and so we will stay stuff during the video. Exactly. If we talk through it, it's because not because we're not paying attention. It's not called our stupid watchings. It's called our stupid reactions. We react to what we see. Here we go. Everyone, so the first of our roundtables brings me to Chennai. I'm at the Taj Moolington News and so excited to have on our agenda, Kamal Hassan. SS Rajar Mooli, Lokesh Kanakraj, Kofnada, Prithvirad Subramaran and Gautam Menon. Now, it'll be our time for which all of us will have to humble ourselves. If we have to walk that far, then we have to walk together. Today, if I'm envious of anyone, I would say it is the Marjadam writers and actors. I want to do for the Marjadam industry what Raj Mooli said it for the Telugu industry. The originality, the stories, the acting. We're not the only ones to notice. Wow. That's my first response on seeing all of you sitting here. It is such a pleasure and such a privilege to have all of you on film companion. Thank you. All the guys got the black shirt memo, except him. Thanks for dressing up. Given us this year, it has been so exhilarating for me as a viewer, as a critic. And I want to begin with one of my favorite quotes, which is from Theodore Roosevelt. And, you know, he, which ironically begins with the line, it's not the critic who counts. And he goes on to say that it is the man in the arena. He's actually quoting Vince Lombardi. Whether he fails, that's so while daring greatly. And I think you are all examples of people who have dared greatly. You've taken risks that have happily paid off. Kamala Sahn's never taken a risk in his life. Always safe choices. Cinema, which has been a very nerve wracking. You all have made films that have brought people back into the theaters. So thank you. Not Roger Mouli. Who's got to see his films? I want to start with actually deep diving into that, into the art of the popular film. You know, right now, conventional wisdom is that Hindi cinema does not know how to do this right now. That's why we're so disconnected. Brahma Mastra. That's why so few films are running. So I want to ask all of you, as the ambassador from Hindi cinema, what is the first ingredient to making a popular film? How do you do it without condescension? How do you do it without compromise? Kamala sir, you have done this for six decades. Before watching English films, watch Indian cinema, Hindi cinema, Bengali cinema. That's your advice. That's my advice. Because when you say that Hindi cinema doesn't know, my greatest, some of my greatest inspirations are from Hindi cinema. Some of those who I respect very much are from Hindi cinema. There's something called Uttarayan and Dakshinayan. The sun shines according to the way the commercial world moves. Right now it's shining here. We hope we can keep it that way. But you will be, what do you call it? The luminescence will turn the other side also. It's about we have done, we've had or not all of us, but at least I have had my flops and dark moments when nothing works, but then it starts working. But when you start working harder, it works. That's what it is. I don't think there will be any secret formulas. Two things I would say is like basically having a connect with the audience and not getting too comfortable. If you get too comfortable, you'll get too complacent. What does he know about commercial success? If your film is doing good business at the moment. Yeah, don't don't make assumptions. Then you get to tend to get complacent. I think what commercial was saying, what happened was once the conference started coming in, took in the field and started paying high fees to actors, to directors or companies that need to, I have to succeed at any cost, has come down a little bit. The hunger has come down a little bit. And here that it downs out that that was not there, you have to swim or you're going to sink. So like he said, now it has shifted here. Now we shouldn't get complacent. Now we have we have good business at the announcement of films. So if we start getting getting complacent and the hunger goes down, then it's going to go the other way. But at the actually a question to have the connect with the audience to always have an understanding of what are their one day. I think that is important. I wish we really knew if Kamal Saran, Rajma Rishaswati, they don't know. There's nobody now. What's happening around? I think good grand year is working. Event films, obviously, right on song will come currently. Yeah, I will speak about myself. I made a very experimental film, which while going into the film itself, we clearly knew that there will be some audience that won't come and watch this film because of the plot, because of the content we put out as a gangster film. So I know straight away, like even at my in my house, they would probably watch a film like that, unless now it's on OTT and stuff like that. So I think going by looking at what's happening and I really wish we could do more of these ensemble films that location pulled off itself. I thought it was tremendous of so to allow space for other big actors to come on board. So if the big actors actually, I mean, I won't speak for three years. He's always done that. But Kamal Saran, allowing that to happen, like I'm using the word allowing because that was a huge, you know, decision I thought. And I'm not saying it's only because the location comes out here. But I thought I think that kind of is a big example for all of us. I think so pulled it off. I mean, he can do that. But here I'm hoping other actors will sort of allow that to happen. Good scripts and audience will obviously come to the theaters for the only two stars in the room, SS and I think so out of respect now. I've been constantly happening in Hindi cinema. That's nothing new. And then Malayalam cinema, Mr. Law and Mamati have acted so many films. All the good actors will huddle together to make a good movie. That is the spirit we are trying to bring about in Tamil cinema. He has already done it there. And you see that that's not a formula. That's that's a way of doing things. But what he said is the most important thing, the connect with the audience. That's very important. When Shantaramji was making Kotniske Amal Kahani and all those stories, he was directly man on the street. When he moved away, became a baron, film industry baron. He knew that his connectors going. So he went to Navrang Janath Janapayal Bhajaya. It's an it's another world he created. Being connected with the audience is important. I'm fortunate that I'm born in the Internet era. Otherwise, I won't even know because there's nothing called the QGM for actors where the kings go with masquerading to find out what's happening. There's nothing like that for actors. They're only here in applause and my producers and my friends will see to it that I don't hear any criticism. I sometimes wish that still exists. It's just we live in that era. I'm saying, so how do we come to know about your films? We go to the theaters, watch it and then pass the word around that there is a film and this is what he's done. So there was no reviews. We didn't do that thought he was saying he was celebrating Vikram because it's a generation who was shaking hands with him. Yeah, absolutely. Tell me, how do you all measure risk? You know, for, so for you to produce Sita Ramam, which is the sooning romance at a time when really no one's doing sooning romance, right? Or for you to create historical fiction about two beloved, you know, freedom fighters for you to produce and act in Janada Man, where, you know, you have this thundering climactic speech where your character is saying, this is not anyone's father's private property. This is our country. Oh, for you to, you know, sort of use that this yourself. Unlearn 20 years of filmmaking and create the gangster. She always does her homework. How do all of you measure how far to go on that limb and how long to stay in that location? Actually, I thought I'm here to listen to. I'm not here to talk. I feel the same way. I'd be just like, I'd rather just listen to these guys. To answer your previous question and as well as this question, everything starts with like the excitement and how excited we are, like as a creator, and it starts from the paper. And how I shared that excitement with the team and that comes next. And if that was done right, and I think we'll have that, like Sarah said, the proper connect with the people. And that excitement shares on screen and it will be shared with the people. So you keep sharing excitement, right? Yeah, absolutely. About risk. There is no certain, I mean, a measurement to ask the risk out. I mean, and what we do is actually will this work or not? That is the final thing that we'll do. And we share our scripts to other directors and fellow directors as well. And if that excitement still continues and everyone kicked about the project and I think the risk is a little less that it might work well with the audience. And that is the thing I do here. That's how you test. Yes. So what do you do? So, you know, probably I'm connected to your earlier question. I mean, you talk about a popular cinema. All these guys are making popular cinema. When we started off as, you know, when in Sita Ramam, it was not a conventional popular cinema. It was it was a rom-com set in the 60s, which is could be an RT. And, you know, in this particular stage post-COVID and this whole OTT wave. And it for the market, it looks super risky. I mean, you know, there's there's nothing so right about this film. But then I mean, when I heard the script, I remember falling in love and I remember crying. I remember having a tear down. I thought, I think I'm 80 percent of the audience. I like commercial cinema, but I also grew up watching. I mean, you know, in, you know, in, I, I, I raised, I go, I mean, I was raised in a small town called Vijay Vada. So that's like the hub for commercial cinema. So back when I was young, I remember there was not because I was here, but there was a Sagar Sangam and a Swati Muthya. Those sort of films came in and kind of put a super speed breaker for commercial cinema and it did how? Like, you know, so the sort that the love for that sort of cinema has been there. And then, you know, when you get a chance to make something like that, though it probably sounds risky on paper, I just thought we should grab it and, you know, stand by it and, you know, take it to the audience. Prithviraj, for you. So firstly, I have to reiterate what Kamal sir said, that since all of us are from the southern states, I get this question a lot about North Indian cinema not being able to crack the commercial cinema code. But there have been times not too long ago when we have sat around the table and thought, how are they doing it? How is MD cinema cracking this? How are they able to open up such huge overseas markets? And that's not too long ago. I'm not talking about medieval ages. So this I truly believe is a face. There will be one big hit. Maybe it's Pathan, you know, I know some of the newer films that are on floors right now, what those filmmakers are making. Some of them are really exciting in India, I mean. And it could just be that one big film followed by another big film. And the whole narrative will change. So I do believe that that is that narrative is that perspective is a bit skewed as we speak today. And regarding the second question, I believe risk is vital because in my career, at least all the films that I work very, very well have gone on to become very big. Our films that have scared me a bit. Our films that at least somewhere in the process of making them. That's just a uniform across the board for all creatives. That it's got to scare me. The ones where you're sitting back and you feel safe about it. Yeah, there's risk. It means there's some different. Yeah. You don't get great success without the possibility of great failure. That you treat your audience with respect. Amen. Yes. You have to tell yourself that it is them who you're making the film for. And that is where I believe the words you used on dissension and compromise come into play, because like Rajma only said, once complacency sets in, you know, once you start thinking, you can lead that you can make a film and hope that they will follow you. Then you're into really uncharted territory. I know Maverick filmmakers have succeeded in that role, but you always have to make sure you do not lose touch with the fact that you're conversing with the audience, respect them, you know, respect their intellect. Exactly. And assume the intelligence. My, you know, industry where some all time great writers have always told me like, like Lohisa, M.T. Siras, Renier, and all of them have told me that you need to be aware of the fact that you're conversing with people's the moment somebody watching a film starts thinking that from the screen, there are characters talking down to you. You know, then I think there is a disconnect. Yes. That is very vital. So this I think is in a nutshell what you should try and aim to follow while making mainstream cinema. You will fall, you will fail, you will take a wrong step. But that's how you learn. Speaking of your projects, OK, everyone here has made very ambitious things, very ambitious films, films with sort of scale. What's the one thing in each of your movies that just terrifies you, you know, that kept you up at night, that, you know, you know, that that in become the sweat beneath the feet of that moment for each of you, please, let's start with you. What about R.R.R. gave you sleepless nights? Um, I mean, as a whole idea. No, one, one thing like something one specific thing that gave you sleepless nights and how did you get over it? Now, one thing that we had sleepless nights was the animal sequence. Let's say the CGI. That is because we're shooting at night. That's good. I mean, that was funny, very literal. So the risk is like which whose perspective are we talking about? You have an idea, you are excited about it and you're working on it. I don't think any of us or any filmmaker in the world, once he is excited with an idea, will think that it is a risk. Because he thinks that is he likes it and people will like it. He's doing it. So there's no risk there. It is what the others think and what others think about it. They might or the market, as she was talking about, they might think it as a risk. And I think all of us are excited with the story. We get into it and in the process of making it, all of us will have doubts. All of us will have doubts whether this will work or is it working because filmmaking is a complex process involving so many people, so many minds. At some point of time, we are bound to have a doubt, doubts on whether this is the right thing or whether this will work or not. But we take comfort from the first excitement we had when we had the script and go forward. So nothing kept you up at night? No. It's a night shooting. The night shooting. You heard the night shooting. No, you heard it. Worries me, not scares me, because you don't get into this kind of business if you're scared. Right, yeah. It's a battle with commerce, so a battle with light, actually. So what worries me, it is because I'm Mr. K. Balchander's understudy, terribly worries me is slipping into mediocrity because of logistics. That can happen to all of us anytime. So that is one thing that I'm sure that worries all of us. Slipping into mediocrity for making adjustments for logistic accommodation, which ultimately boils down to money. So what a shock that the artist has his biggest concern that I'd make films for the money. Yeah, what is the formula? They couldn't be, but like the biggest fear is being mediocre. Passion and sort of that answer. I love the first step towards making your dreams come true. Because you cannot look at the bottom line number and get worried and try to start working your ideas around that. You get an idea, you know, or you don't hear people. Then the bottom line will fall in place. I'm going to give you a slightly different anecdotal answer, actually. Please. I mean, these are all absolutely likely points. So when I directed my first film, which back then in 2018 was my most biggest production and Mr. Mohanlal to the giant risk thinking that I would be able to do something like that. And we must think you're Lucifer. Yeah, this film called Lucifer. And I have not narrated. His first film was Mahanlal. As a director, producer, I think. So I say I finally met him and I narrated the whole film. And I gave him the straight half of the narration. And we laughed the whole thing. And he said, right, how many days are we shooting? So I think, you know, maybe 85 days, 90 days. OK, any idea how many days you would want me? And I'm thinking, yes, about 30 days, 25, 30 days. And immediately there was silence in the room, which is when I realized that Mr. Mohanlal is only there for very little bit of this room. I think just figure that out. And I think this giant production, which is a commercial Mohanlal mass entertainer. And that night, it kept me up, thinking. So how did I start calculating? Like, you know, so my film is going around three hours long. And I thought Mr. Mohanlal would be in the film for about 45 minutes. And I thought, hang on. I mean, so I started going back and thinking, has anyone else tried this like this drink commercial film with the heroine so little in the film? And that didn't keep me up for the couple of nights. Relatively, it worked. So now I can say that it was all part of one. That's what happens when it goes from the page to actual filming. All those guns, all those so many guns. The whole film kept us all up. It shoots only in the night. One hundred and twenty days out of 100 days at night. One hundred and twenty days. Did he say one hundred and one twenty were nights? Yikes. All three is the same person. I mean, like, he's my idol, my hero and the producer of the film. So I am hand-fiddling all the moments. And the biggest problem I had before the first day of shooters in my earlier films, what I do is to the main cast and show sir's reference videos, like all the other characters here. They're saying that I want kind of this character at all. I was thinking what I'm going to show this to you. And I did show all his previous films and said, like, sir, I want like this. And that was the most scary thing I was thinking. And then I, should I do this or should I do this? I have more options. And the biggest risk I mean, this guy I had was sir comes in very little time in the first half. I mean, during the intermission. Once upon a time there was a ghost. He's a ghost. So after speaking to some of the people, like they said, will it be OK with the people showing sir for the first time only during the intermission and not the rest? And that hit me so hard. And I was thinking I was scared a lot. And even sir was saying the shoot will get over like 10 more days of shooters left. So I said, should I start the dubbing process for the first half? I was thinking when in the first half, I was only one one. So what is it? And he said, use it all in my life. How did you break the news to him that you won the right in the first half? No, it's very easy to convince an actor who does good work. So. Oh, yeah. So that's not a problem. But what I like about him. Oh, he just gave us a push button. Yeah, because he came to the story. We were talking back and forth. Many stories of films we liked and all that. Then I said, why do you want to name it Vikram? We were talking about. He says, I'm a fan of that book. Then they talk weird towards what we rejected as the first story. Because everybody thought I was telling Rajmarthi's story. Everybody thought it's a very award-winning kind of story. It doesn't make sense kind of the time the director could have been right. So I didn't want to take the risk. So we put that story aside. I told him just an outline. Shall we work on this? He said, I said, wow, that's good. Not because it's mine. I like the way he went behind something to set aside what he has already prepared. He was open to a new idea. It's an idea. That's all. It's not a screenplay. It's an idea. So develop it. And he went and made a blossom the way it is now. And that was the best part for me because the time it took him to write the film is comparatively less to find out what he has not done in his career. So which role he hasn't done. So that was the biggest part for an entire team. We were working on two and a half months saying that, OK, and finally we found an idea and I said, OK, sir hasn't done this role. And someone came and said he has done it in Hindi somewhere. So I went and said, I am surrendered here. Please tell me if you have something that you have not done in India. And this is it. I'm doing a blue one. I've done it all. I'm working it, come on, sir. He's even been the heroine. So how are we going to do that? That's bad. So now what has kept you up? Mine's hilarious. I mean, you know, when we were putting this ambitious love story together, the markets and the Telugu market said, listen, after RRRs and Pushpas and all, these are all very eventful, super, superstar driven sort of films. And these, the mid-sized films won't work. And then I spoke to my comment counterpart and they watched the film. I said, this is too Telugu-ish. Then my Malayalam superstar hero says, Wapna, I think this won't work in Malayalam. I'm like, so where is this film? And fortunately, it did well in all the languages. So there's absolutely no balance sheet for the film. I mean, after a point, after two schedules, I stopped looking at it also. I mean, even if there was, I mean, because it didn't make sense at all. So you're trying to make the story and make a good film with the audience that's going to choose to accept it or not. I got them. I don't know if I can say that on camera. Please do. Ideally, my secret nights would have been about whether Shukla happened in the next film. Whether my hero will show up or not. Yeah, but this time it was like a dream. I went really well and good sleep was nice, like really looking forward to filming the next day. Of course, some of the action sequences were thrown down a bit and we didn't start on time. Ideally, these would have been sleepless nights, but we just sailed really smooth on this. And he did such a good job. Yeah, absolutely. He was fantastic. So speaking of heroes, one of the things I really liked in Vikram Thamsar is that there was no attempt to disguise your age. He's a grandfather. He just happens to be a world-class assassin, along with being a grandfather. You know, you've been a leading man for decades. Where is the Indian film hero right now? Are we mostly back to the larger than life sort of persona? Larger than life is what the story says. And as an audience, I always felt that actors should play their age. And I was dying to stop running around the trees. Even in the film, I would say, you want me to dance with? I used to mimic. The song will come and he'll say, then I'll show him my old steps. He'll say, okay. So, but even in his film, it's still younger than what I was, but at least it was believable. And after some time, Western actors don't discuss that as a problem. Being young is a stage in life. So you depict that if you're suitable for that. So if you are not, there is always a younger generation to take up that role. Otherwise... He doesn't view acting in terms of hero or villain. No, it's just roles. They'll be the same old doctors at your grandfather and he'll come in a wheelchair and treat you. So I truly believe that in my industry, Shivari Sahib started playing beyond his age, even as a young man. So when you're really of that age, you get a feeling you arrived at last. I don't have to use false white on my beard. My beard is white and it looks wonderful. Achieve a white color on a black beard. He'll tell you. But to achieve that gray, when I was a younger person, never satisfied. It looks very fake. Yeah, it's true. When the gray starts coming in, you're like hoping it's going to look a certain way. In a way... It takes years for it to finally... I've arrived. Yeah. I've got that kind of feeling. This is what I wanted to do. Play my age. For me, my hero has to look larger than life. If graying his beard makes him look larger than life, then I'll gray his beard. If you're making a film called Dronacharya, you can't have a black beard at the end. He has to start at my new waypoint. So it all depends upon how the character needs to look. So if tomorrow there is some character where I have to ask a commissar to play young, and he looks good or young doing that, he has to look young. He has to do what the character has to do. He has to figure out whether to dye his hair black or put something, do some excise or do whatever. It all depends upon what the character... How do you suspend that disbelief? And the audience has to believe. Luckily, a lot of actors nowadays, Ajit sir has left his grave a lot of years back. Now everyone is not worrying about being their age in the film. Yes, thankfully. I think one very important facet about creating these larger than life, especially in these massy action films, when you create a larger than life, so to speak hero, one thing I think you should not lose sight of is there still has to be a connect with the audience. We keep coming back to that word. In that way, I think people like flawed heroes better. Absolutely. One of the greatest examples in modern cinema would be the Dark Knight series from Christopher Nolan. He took a superhero and made him vulnerable, flawed. They did it with Bond too. Somebody who could feel pain, somebody who could get hit. And immediately Batman became relatable. So I do think that people take more readily to heroes who sweat, bleed and fall. And that's actually taking the narrative back to what the great Salim Jal used to do for Baton sir. You used to see those great 70s and 80s films Baton sir used to play this man who people sitting in the theater used to feel like he came from us. He's a product of all our lives put together. And I think that's something even Rajmali sir does brilliantly. He does these magnum operas. Absolutely. Look at Pradas in Bahubali. You look at Tarak and Charam in Arara. At some point you feel like, hang on, they are larger than life. They are huge heroes. But somewhere the genesis is from amongst us. Yeah, I can relate to them. Even though they're bigger than life, you can relate to them. All mythology, that's actually a new formula. Yes. It is to start from the weakness. Start from his ghost. What troubles him and how he survives that. All the mythical heroes we have, either Ram or Karim. They have a weakness and Achilles heel. Yes. All of them have their weakness. If they don't have any, at least they'll put it in their body parts like Achilles. Exactly, yeah. That's why Superman has kryptonite. There should be that. Because we are not flawless, the audience. So they like to identify quickly with a man who's troubled with his weakness. And how he overcomes it. Either sub-world or crisis of all. Exactly. He either gives into it or he overcomes it. That said, there is a sort of currently this kind of wave of very big scale testosterone heavy film. I mean, Vikram was very testosterone heavy. At the end of it, I wanted to pick up a gun and work in slow motion towards something. Come to America. There's blood there in the streets laying on the ground. So your film, Manati also showed that there is an audience for a female lead big budget. Heck yes. But there's such a reluctance to go there. And of course, it is historical. It is all film industries around the globe are traditionally led by men. But how do we sort of bring more women center stage? Because invariably, when you have the larger than life hero, women don't get sideline. You know, though, I love Agentina and thank you for her. Yes. I agree with you in the sense that I understand that all these big ticket films are led by male characters now. But I also think we shouldn't lose perspective of the fact that these films are not really about actors, you know, to put it put an example. If tomorrow Raj Molliser decides to make a film with completely new women headlining all the characters in the film, it would still open huge. Sir, you're listening? He made a film with a fly, it had opened huge. So it was the filmmaker traveling. And when I say the filmmaker traveling, it is a content traveling. The writing is a challenging part. Absolutely. You know, to sort of motivate our imagination to see a kill bill is challenging. You know, that is hugely challenging. I'm not denying that fact. It is easier for a writer offer of filmmaking, at least for me, to imagine a big film with a Kamal Sir in the lead or Mohan Dal Sir in the lead, than maybe, you know, a Shoguna Chechi in the lead or, you know, or a Taboo in the lead. But I am also hugely excited about the prospect of something like that. I know that, you know, there is a very active discussion going on to do an official remake of Kill Bill in Hindi. I'm looking forward to that. But then again, it's all the larger perspective, our producers and mistresses ready to back a film like that. Like Mahanati, if it wasn't driven by them, I don't know if it would have sailed easily as a proposal by itself. Right. That's not a good story. All their work. So it was easy for them to believe in that content and put it out. But I know that you had difficulty in releasing the film in Thumbard and all that. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Besides, I think, I mean, you know, like they said, I mean, writing the characters, I think backing or understanding and putting these films together is a challenge and kind of taking it to the market is a bigger challenge. So for me, and you're talking about the hero, I mean, for me, it's very different because for the little work that I've done, for me, content is the hero. So let it be Mahanati or let it be, though Dhulkar is a superstar in Malayalam, in our language, where the mother language of the film is Telugu, he's not like a very big star. So putting that sort of cinema together and kind of taking it to the market and making it sustain for a week or so, to let audience kind of taste it is a bigger challenge today. So I mean, those could be the reasons that we probably don't see so much of content-driven cinema. I mean, you know, when you have a film about Agentina. Everybody wants it. Okay, now. Could have a whole fricking franchise around women agents. Okay, the films, all of you on this couch have created massive action sequences. Stunt people, stunt people, stunt people. Every second shot of RRR is like your jaw drops even lower to the ground. All the stuff you did, like I said, made me also want to pick up a gun and I'm a very, very pacifist like person. How do you design action? How do you design a story within that story? And how do you decide that we can show this amount of violence before the audience will shut up? I will never shut up to violence. When it comes to action, it is not just the portion as action. It is just a set piece. But the reason for the action, I mean, why a fight happens and what is the proper, I mean, lead for that is what that action is all about. Every film has the why. But a particular fight, if it works well, like you said about Agentina, what is the lead for that fight scene? It doesn't matter. And if you get a proper lead for that fight scene and it'll be a good action. And when it comes to action, I write action. Even before collaborating with the stunt directors, I write action. What does that mean? It's a dance. Say, for example, if in Vikram sir comes to the home and after Agentina has died, and he'll go look after the kid. And the writing says everything like the kid shouldn't wake up. And that's the idea. So what are all the other things that he can do not to make any noise? So he has to slit or cut the throat or do some sort of things with all the appearances that you have in the house. So you have to write everything. So that the action gets more special. And in that way, writing action is something that execs me and film. So you imagine it completely. Yes. But he'll now pick up this. I think that's the only way. Because just asking a group of clever stuntmen to enact it for you will end up like a lot of things put together unless you write the scene like in Besharupam. That scene, he is not composed. It's written. Only when you write, there is a story to it. And there should be a feeling to it. Otherwise it is WWF, you know that. Right. It's just a free-for-all. And they don't really mean it. Right. That's true. And actually it helps all the other technicians understand the situation. I mean, if you write that. So that, for example, if I'm saying, all you need is take a laptop and put it in a throat. If you are not writing it there, you can't get a dummy laptop in the sex. And it will go, it's going to take some time for everyone. In that way, they can also bring you, their input will be very valid. Like all the stuntmen, they give you input. If you have everything in paper, their input will be, I mean, a bigger support for the crew. How do you think of this, take a laptop, put it in his throat? That's what I do. That's what you do when you write. You're asking evil and nasty. You're asking a writer how they write. They just do it. I don't do this for anyone. So how do you act? Yeah. Now, you see, I was telling you about slipping into mediocrity. If you don't write a stunt scene, you won't be prepared for it. So last but not least, even the blood would look fake. There is a sequence in Vishwara Upam, where the guy tries to put out a gun where a slashes wrist and the gun goes with the hand. So you need to make that hand. And the slice will have to be, of course, later on in the mixing, we have to put 15 sounds for the knife, flesh, bone, all of it together to come together. And are you going to watch it from the front of the hand or the side of the hand? Because everybody reads the script. Lighting's reading the script. Makeup's reading the script. Right. That's true. And also, not like women or people like us who make the other sort of films don't like action. When I go back to YouTube, I only watch Bahubali action again and again. So it's not about someone flying. For me, it's about the hero saying, who's dying with me? Who's coming with me? So that's like a moment for me. So that's all. And there are two varieties. It's like sports, some like football, some like... They like certain kind of action, some like WWF. Some like mixed martial arts with gloves off. That's not, doesn't have a large audience, but now it's becoming larger and larger. Yeah. Plus conviction matters. With action, I think you have to deeply believe in what you're doing. Absolutely. You know, sir is here, so I will say you have to deeply believe that the animal will jump out. And I do. Yeah, and I did. Completely. I saw that scene and I'm like glad. And I hooted after the film, I'm like, hmm, hang on, what? Wait a minute, you don't care? Yeah. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. After that, we can have been told. Yes, yes, I did watch a fiction, right? Yeah, and how much violence, where you draw the line, I think it is completely intuitive. There is no grammar for it. There is no rules and restrictions for that. You just feel it. If it's projecting the story, it's not just gratuitous. And also, what are you trying to convey to the audience with the violence? Is it shock? Is it horror? Is it sadness? Right. It depends. I mean, in our, when Tarot is being looked at with a thong whip and he's singing a song that my intention is not to show horror or anything. I want people to feel sadness and the sadness should turn into anger and a proud movement. So how much we show is like, I don't think we can put any... Like Poku says below four months film, when the protagonist goes for the lady nurse's throat, I was crunching my teeth. I was doing this. I suddenly felt ashamed because I was a technician by then. But I'm not a commentator. The fact that he knows it was Milo's form and directed it? Good grief. What do you want to do with the violence? If you're making passion for the fight, where do you stop the violence? Right. You can't. You have to make sure that the people who watch the violence. Because the violence is intended to convey something. So the line you draw will entirely depend on what the violence needs to convey in the film. Yeah, I think it's because of the film. Like I made an email feature of a serial killer film. So I decided I will push that because I wanted the audience to be sort of... That's actually quite a lot of film, yeah. ...by what they see. It's a hunt for two serial killers. And if they don't feel that it's not going to work. And interestingly, talking about writing, I also write all my action in on paper. So I had this big action sequence plan at the end of the film, where after the entire film sort of ends, Sir meets these killers. And then there's a fight sequence that was planned. And the officer came up to the sets and we showed him the entire choreography and all that. And he called me and said, something's not working because I'm a police officer. And these guys are youngsters and they're serial killers. Why have a cinematic fight sequence between them? I'll do it if you want me to, but I feel something is wrong. So I asked him, Sir, what can be done? And I asked him, he said, finish it off in one blow. And that's what we did. I changed the entire action sequence around. As a matter of fact, the man comes and says, it seems you asked for my eye. Anyone who plucks out my eye and brings it to you, you offered a reward. Are you mad enough? That was the opening sequence. That's the opening sequence. That's one of the sequences that I go back to YouTube to see. An artist's heart. It's yours. I'll do it the way you want it to. But it would make more sense to do it this way. A lot of props were brought on, but then Sir said, something is bothering me about this long drawn out at the end of the film an action sequence where a police officer is taking on two youngsters. Yeah, they're serial killers, but I don't see the need for it. It's not logical. So I changed it around and they come at him and it's over in one blow. So I said, I don't know. So I'm not even a judge. He said, trust me, it will work. And in the theater, I could feel one silence there, which is what I needed at that point. So sometimes you have to change things around. I remember Sir saying after the final nourishment, I did to serve up with the come and he said, but that was the only time he talked to me as a producer. I think he said, everything is fine. Tone down the violence rain. So you need to do that. You know, listen to the producer or find the sensor board to tell you to tone down the violence rain. So a good producer does. And with the sensor board thing, I was so happy this time because Sir was like, I can do this. I have a lot of experience with sensor board because Mr. Mahal Chandra never visited. Because he'll get very tense. D.P. will shoot up. He'll get unwell because every frame matters to him. Invariably dialogues. And now looking at it, it's very silly what was removed. But I got used to it. That is my priming time, I think, where I learned. In the Tevar Mangan, which is the Viral Sats original, there was a wonderful shot. As a technician, I was happy somebody lops off a head. It's a top angle and the head rolls into it. It's an accident. We didn't plan it. Rolls quite close to the camera and falls. And we had an extension. I go and cry to the beheaded. Nazar said, are you happy now? You made me into a criminal like you. And the saliva bubbles out of that mouth. It's trying to say something. And slowly the eye flutters and closes. That they are moved. Oh my God. Wow. Oh. They removed that? Almost like the man has not changed his mind. Wow. Wow. I mean, whose mouth just like that? It doesn't matter. I am I. He's he. There's a smoke in the face and the bubbles coming out. Not words. And it's slowly turning pink from white to pink. And his eye flutters and one eye closes. And then the other. I'm already white and pink. I thought it was a brilliant shot. But the sounds are wonderful. Yeah, it sounds amazing. You know, all of us folks from the North have put too long just clubbed four film industries together as the South. Right? And these are very distinctive film industries. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone representing the Kannada film industry here. But you know, they technically had the biggest blockbuster of the year. It's very, the cinematic language is different. The story telling is different. Culture is different. Or does it bother any of you? Or does it just not matter? For me, when I was an assistant director, our producers, especially Dattigaru, used to her father, used to abuse and curse us. Nepotism. All the television directors, you bloody buggers. See how the Tamil resident directors have read it. See how they're explaining his scene. I mean, I'm not... Comparaphrasing. It's a carousel we all tried. And first I started with the hating romance movie. We saw, surely, I was an assistant director. Ah, what the hell? You give me that kind of money? Exactly. That's the first reaction I've ever heard. It took me so hard. I've never seen the horses being ridden like that. The mounting, everything. I told him that when we worked in Sagar, the first reaction to a movie was absolute green envy. But you were the first saying... All the acting directors, all the Telugu acting directors, we used to huddle together. Suddenly, one assistant director from Tamil Nadu will come in. It is in his chapels and he will go. He will go straight to the heroes and he's explaining, we are sitting outside this. I used to shout at my house, pointing out at Malayalam. But I think for a long time, each industry has their own merits. I thought, at least the directors, Tamil directors were always technically more savvy than all the other four industries. Telugu industry, we had, like I said, we had, we had more... Kind of weird that they don't have money right now in this. Probably just wasn't available. Understanding what the audience want. Malayalam cinema, I think, has the best writing. Today, today, if I'm envious of anyone, I would say it is the majority of the writers and... Most original writing. Ten seconds of this interview is going viral in Kerala. Rajmuli says, Malayalam is best. The dark period. The writing's so original. In Kerala, where I used to predominantly keep shouting, because I'm a great fan and I've trained in Malayalam cinema. He walked out. It was very dark. I said, you must be ashamed. What happened to my Malayalam cinema? Where has it gone? Kind of thing. Because they wanted to compete with Telugu. They wanted to compete with Tamil cinema. They lost their grain. Now it is probably, we can blame it on OTT or simply census coming back. I think some wonderful work is being done now. I told this on international stage that if something, we have to look forward. Today, this year, we have to agree it's the current cinema. After a long, long time, which was like the fourth standard thing suddenly shot up. See, an art film is very difficult to sit. You'll have to... It is like classical music. You can't nod and jive to it. But Malayalam cinema, I saw Nirmalim by M.T. That was his first directorial debut. That's debut film too, sir. Yeah. So I saw it four times. I went back to the theatre because it taught me cinema. Like Mr. Girish Karnat's Kadoom, which is an inspiration for Tevar Mughal. Oh, wow. Yes. I keep telling him that. So this is a virtue cycle. Answering your question, I understand that somebody sitting in a truck and might not be able to distinguish between a Kannada film or a Malayalam film or a Tamil film or maybe even a Telugu film just by seeing it or listening to the sounds of it. It's okay. I mean, I don't mind that we are not distinguished like that. What would bother me is that if these four industries made an effort to amalgamate content-wise, I think our strength is that we create very different kinds of cinema. For sure. Like sir said, Malayalam cinema is its own... But it's all India. Soda's Tamil, Soda's Kannada and Soda's Telugu. And that's our strength. But what we should aim to do, I believe, is amalgamate the commerce of it. Which someone like Rajmoli sir, even location Vikram, Vikram is not the biggest hit in Kerala last year. Prashant with KGF. Malayalam is yet to come up with something. We will. I can assure you, we will. We have to amalgamate the commerce so that we have a bigger playing ground. We have a larger stage of films. Do you have one more session like this to do on the Eastern intellect of cinema? The Eastern part of... We don't even... I didn't even know there was a man called Ratanthiyam till I... I was taken aback. He's so small. Brilliant unexplored minds waiting there to come into cinema. The new film from Orissa? I forget the name of the film. I haven't... I'm yet to see it. Everybody's been talking to me about it. In fact, Prashant told me about the film. Yeah, so I mean... Orissa said... I don't know. He said it's from Orissa. We're going to talk about North and South. We have an unexplored territory. Let me know what he's talking about in the comments, please. Like the Wild West. It's a ready, ready East. Prabhas keeps telling me this. Prabhas keeps telling me this that... You know, we sit here and talk about Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil. For all you know, the next 500 crore people who might come from Orissa or Assam, you know... He keeps saying the same thing. Yes, they're capable, huh? They're capable. And how exciting would that be? Armists should have made them. That's the one I'm thinking of. I think that's the joy now. You know, the... everybody's... No, we are now talking as audience. As filmmakers, it's a very numb racking. Because money involved is... Yeah, exactly. As a filmmaker, I want my industry to do well. Something and suddenly Kanthara comes and making the movies that they're making. And suddenly, you don't need a big, big-scale, huge-scale film to do the big numbers. You know, even a small film like Kanthara can do. I'm so excited. Very numb racking. As audience, it's exciting. As filmmakers, we need to really go back and check again what we are doing, what the others are doing. We have to be on our toes. There is no resting. I have to add to that as someone from Malayalam because the next film I'm hoping to direct, we are trying to mount that at a scale that is not very familiar for us as an industry. So, I keep having these meetings with our digital partners, with our satellite partners. And in their attempt to try and make it a pan-Indian, which is a new, you know, in-fashion word, pan-Indian film, they keep asking me questions like, so, is Mohanlal going to be wearing a mundu in the film? You know, are the aesthetics going to be neutral? So, like the standing of pan-Indian? Yeah, like Ajay Devgan sir in RRR, can we have an Okindian star who are cameo? And then a Kanthara comes and then you're like, everyone is wearing a mundu. It really is not the style or the name. Authenticity. Probably. It is the content. I mean, like I said this to them, I had the meeting this couple of days back. I said this to them that, you know, before Bahubali, at least in Kerala, not a lot of people knew Prabhas. So, now don't make the mistake of thinking that it was the stars that made, you know, the film pan-Indian. It's always the content. And Kanthara is such a glorious example. I mean, I distributed the film in Kerala. It's a big hit in Kerala also. And actually I have to admit, when I saw the film before it released in Kerala, I didn't think it would take off like this. Have you seen Kanthara? Of course. The final shot where the dieting comes and hugs the whole pan-Veron. That's a cue for you to feel the same way about the film. You want to do this. Yes, yes. No, it's a brilliant film. So, maybe you should do a sort of masterclass on how you don't have to, you know, cast a star. How you don't, you just create a damn good story. Heck yeah. The market never listens to you. Not even to you. Not even to you. No, no, don't even try. You always try to talk to the audience. Don't try to talk to the market. Oh, nice. Oh, thank you so much. Stamp that on everything. That, it should be the mantra. Yes. Stamp that on everything. Don't talk to the market. Talk to the audience. In other words, pursue the passion, not the bottom line. It'll fall in place. There are only two ways. He just came. And they wonder why South is doing so well. Yeah. You know, work sort of across in the way that Telugu cinema has worked under us. No, but I think we have memory loss. Because Shemmin by Ramu Karyat crossed all barriers. My dear Kutchatan. My dear Kutchatan did that. It crossed all barriers. At least my dear Kutchatan was dubbed. Shemmin went as a Malayalam film. I went and saw it in Chennai. Didn't know word of Malayalam. But I saw it twice as a kid. But I suppose what you mean is that we have not been able to come up with a Bahubali or a KGF or even a Kanthara. I understand. And I'll be pretending if I told you that this is why we are not able to do it. I can't put my finger on it. You know, I... Once again that Uttarayan Dakshinayam. They've done it. Yes, for God's sake. I hope so, sir. I believe so, actually. Okay, tell me one film. That one Indian film that you saw in 2022 that you loved and said, damn, I shouldn't have made that. Gautam, you've been silent too long. Let's start with you. I think I'll see. Like Tiruchitram Valamalai's throwback to... Love that. Love. Yeah, my space. I wish I had done that seriously. A couple of things could have been done better but they're not to pick on anything. But I really like the way the film unfolded. I didn't see what... I didn't see what... ...Dhanush and Dhanitya and Dhanush. It was like a throwback to the old world kind of films that you haven't seen in a long while and it really worked in the theaters. I saw the response in the theaters and I really thought it was a small film, but... And all of us, whenever there's a good idea, we always think of a parallel plot. Yeah, sir. It spires a new idea. I didn't do it. Right. I loved Kantara. But my Kantara would be different. But I didn't do it is my only chakra. But it's been done by somebody. I think 2020 has been pretty occupied. Didn't think much of what else I could do because I think it was a lot on me. I mean, we have one film at a time or one film once in two years. There were four projects in pipeline for 2022. So there was nothing that I could think of. I should have done it, but yeah. Definitely for the numbers and for the impact, Kantara would be on everybody's wish list, I guess. Like, you know, wow. Like, how could they do it? You know, sir. Yeah. Locash. I wish I could have done this film in Malayalam. Tallumala. Yeah. Tallumala. Yeah. And Tallumala, I watched it like back to back two, three times. And I loved the edit pattern of the film and I thought it's my kind of film. I would have loved directing it. And earlier, I fell to Kayapuram Goswama. Oh, right. Yeah. Yes. I can't say the whole film, just Tallumala could believe it. When I saw the scene of the police officer giving a cigarette to the kids in Jana. Jana Ganmana. Jana Ganmana. And the whole setup of the scene, how it was shot, how it was made, the performances, the way it was written, I felt very jealous. I thought, why didn't this thought come to me? I'm calling the job. And one shot in Vikram, the last shot when the commissar is walking towards the camera, he puts the slide and then starts shooting the gun. This has to be my end. How is that the film? Sometimes I never have the gun in the mouth. So he has to remind me that I have to choose the gun. So sometimes I'll forget sometimes because keeping the gun in the mouth for a long time, it's not safe again. In the earlier, previous Vikram in 1986, Sir used to shoot the gun for the entire film. That was the idea to, what I know, it was asking back to that film where I keep eating chewing the gun. So, Lokesh, he's jealous of a shot. I hope that has something. I feel super proud now. Thank you for the joke. Thank you, sir. Having said all of us, after we made Apuraja's original version, Singhita and I came and looked at each other. He said, what are you thinking? Now we are ready to make this film. We should go back and make this film. That's what we all feel, I think. Another chance. That's why I guess we all do part 2s and part 3s. I'll come into the part 2s because there are many part 2s happening in this part. But first, tell me what is the film you saw? This year, on top of the films that I've acted in, I've produced 3 films and distributed 4 films. Were you asleep? I'll be lying if I'm sitting in front of a computer and doing all this. I'm lucky to have a company that runs by itself. But I've been privileged enough to have the opportunity to associate with some great work this year. But yeah, one film that I saw and I thought, man, this would have been so good if it was Prathiraj Productions' Malayalam film. It's counteract. Because it's so close to our culture in Kerala too. Totally across the border. Yeah, I mean, we have so much of it, especially in the north of Kerala. North Iyam and all that. And I told Rishabh this. I told Rishabh, I told Hombale, the producers, that this is one film I feel jealous of. Sir, were you jealous of anything you've seen? Everything I saw in 2022. That's fantastic. That's so funny, including Vikram. I remember when we met in Cannes, you said to me, you see everything is competition. But like a trampoline, when the next person jumps, he pushes you higher. Yes. Oh, how nice. Because I asked him about working with, you know, two other, in fact, with the third cameo of Surya's as well. I said, how do you balance that? And you're the producer. It's so easy for him to say to location. Right. Can you just up my, can I have two more lines in the first half? I could say anything. I don't know. But those days are fortunately over. That's right. That's right. Look, is you saying something? Look, I would say it in reverse. Like, don't know what to wait for me. Really? Yeah. He's very clever, you know. So, if you're working, if you're working with other actors, they're obviously talking about him. You understand the master plan. Talking of masters, Mr. KB is a very bossy for us director. I mean, he'll give gullies if it is deserved. So, he directs everything, including flower wages, anything curtain moving, everything has to be for an orderly scene. So, there'll be six people and actors are limelight moths. They'd rather die in the light. So, I would do this or do this. He'll curse me from there. Your chance will come. You cannot steal the scene. It's just not your scene. Shut up. That's fantastic. That's what I learned from there. In doing sets, like, this is what happens. Like, Farhan will be playing, Professor will be there for at least 10 days continuously. And once he's gone and when Sehwinder comes, they will make sure that what the other person has done is not in the presence. And that happens with almost all the actors in the film. But I'll try to show it to Sehwinder. Sir, these are the other people I've done. He never watched it. You see, no, I'm not watching it. And that becomes a practice. And I was saying, okay, how to make him watch the scene. But he never watches. And after a point, I said, sir, today I need to cancel the shoot. Let's do it tomorrow. He said, he asked me why. I showed Tina's 10 portion. He said, sir, this has come out very powerful. And I'm changing all the choreography now. So we need to go practice. And yeah, it feels so, so. I finally showed him what Tina's like. Okay, let's see. I come from a time before monitors. Very comfortable. I trust the technicians. Had to watch the dailies. As a matter of fact, even your focus. I don't know if they had dailies in India. I bet he's been around since before the dailies. So I come from those days. So it's a lot of trust. So on that note, let's go to the sequels. Because apart from Sita Ramam, where for Dhulkar's character died, I feel like everybody here has got sequels happening. Right? I'm there in the film. You're there in the film, sir, yes. That's right. I'm not going to sleep any more. Someone's here in front of the actor here. So I want to know, I know it's early days, and none of you are going to part with some state secrets. But I want to know, Lukash, where is the next installment in this universe that you're creating with Vikram? Where is it at? Tina. When we see some part of the bullets. Again. Right now I'm doing the film. I'm working on a film. And after that, it will be, I have to sit and talk with sir first. No, no, we have made that promise. So it's for us to keep it up. You have made a promise in the film. Absolutely. I will hold you to it. We need to see Rolex back. And I will be. So I'm keeping one promise. Indian tube is on the floor now in the sunny. You have many promises to keep. So it's going to be Vikram 2 and Kairi 2, probably Rolex as well. So it's the universe, right? So you have all the list to do all kind of films, like which of my character you want to make a sequel or prequel or whatever you want to do. Ah. What fun. For the next 10 years. Ah. Which character do you want to do a prequel on? Come on, baby. You have let out that there is a RRR sequel happening? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like initially with the RRR success, we were dabbled with the idea of a part 2. We had some good ideas, but never a great one. So we left it at that. Then recently about few weeks back, one good idea stuck, one great idea stuck and we thought. Ah, that's good to hear. At present, we are just in the writing stage. So I had to write it. Then only I can talk about it. Wow. But that's cool. That's wonderful that he's got the great idea. What's his dad? That's the writer. You are making a commercial sequel. That's wonderful. Trying to. But there was so much of material that we had. Yeah. And this film itself was like two hours, 50 minutes. So we decided we will stop at some point and it's a journey that could continue. We thought the film does reasonably well, then we will do it. It's done. It's done well. So we thought the writing is in place. We have to get into it now. I think to let you know, Simbu wants to do a film in between and then come back to this. So I'm just waiting. And Janagan Manu will also have. Yes, hopefully we do have ideas of doing a sequel to Janagan Manu, which will also be sort of a prequel. You explore this character before what you saw in Janagan Manu. But the immediate prequel that I'm sequel that I'm going to be involved with is the second part of my directorial. Of course. I hope to start sometime in mid of next year. It was always, in fact, when my writer, Mr. Murli Gopi, and we first thought of the material for Lucifer, we thought it would its best said as a 12-episode series. But those days, series in India that when Malayalam was unheard of. So we just took one part of it and made the first part. And we said, we'll keep quiet. And if this does well, then we'll talk about the next part. Fortunately, it did well. So that's the one I'm going to be shooting in terms of sequels next. So yeah, let's see. How fun. I think it's very exciting. I'm going to end with a question that I'd love all of you to answer. You're all in positions of immense power within the film industry. What if in one change, you want to use that power to bring about in the next few years? Swapna, can we start? Great question. In terms of business or in terms of anything? Anything in the entertainment ecosystem. I mean, nothing like it, if we can kind of, if we can convince our stars to kind of do more content-driven films, for sure one. And second, I think the affordability of watching cinema on bigger screen, if we can bring that forward and if we can get audience to watch films like how they used to watch back then in 80s and 90s. Wow, life would be great. That's what you want to say. I agree. Amen. So I have to say with so many of the films you all have made, I did see that. You know, packed halls, it was and such a, that collective experience is just so energetic and so exciting. So yes, absolutely. To that, sir, what would you like to see? What would I like to see? I don't think I have the power to do that, but I want to see like how we have stars. Each industry has stars and star directors. In each industry, there are like four or five star writers, like how Selen Javed was used to be. If the star writers, like everyone are waiting for the writers to give them the script to make it. Sure, that doesn't happen anymore. No, unless the writer is the director, right. That would be great. I think India would be one of the greatest film industries in the world if that happens. Well, your dad's a star writer, but you monopolize him. He was saying to me how you rejected Bajangi Bhaijaan because he came to you at the wrong time. And then a little later, you said to him, you should just wait in 15 days. I would have made this film. So you get the best of him. Yeah, I did get the best of him. We need many more writers. Yeah, I'd also like to just come back and just have thought, how interesting it would be if film makers collaborate. If Dautam Sir writes for, you know. Yeah, that'd be like very fascinating. I was going to say that, actually. I hope people like this collaborate. Yeah. I mean, sir, it covers your collaboration, you know. For me, I love films. I've never felt jealous about a film. I mean, there's only respect to everybody who said that, you know. I learn from every film. And I know we'll keep saying this not because Sir is here, but like Loket said, my stunt sequence is not wedrive after watching a lot of Sel's films, actually films like Sapya and Guna, but the action is so real and understated. I love watching what Raj Mohli Sir does also, you know, in the theaters. But my first thought is, oh my God, I'll never be able to do something like this. You know, but what Sir has done, I want to sort of emulate that. So for me, it's about collaborations. I want people like this to come together. I want with me to be in Sir's film and, you know, where industries kind of merge. Yeah. I don't want to suffer, but those lines will sort of vanish then, I think. That's the way this amalgamation and all that. And it will be Indian cinema. Right. If the film from Malayalam is in a big Telugu film, now it's happening and I'm really happy about that. Are there any film institutes, alumni here? No, Sir. No, Sir. So we are all hunters. Yeah, you are a film institute. You are a film institute. What I'm saying is, we are all hunters and gatherers. We don't know where our next meal is coming from, where our next technique is coming from. I think my dream is to create a place of learning for filmmakers of all faculties in cinema. That's not being done. And I want to do it here. I always thought Hyderabad has taken away the pride of Chennai being a national film making centre. Bombay is a Hindi film making centre, but Chennai was a national film Nagarithigaru. Made in the Telugu Tamil films. Aviam made films in all languages. And Ramayana Hyderabad has made films in almost all Indian languages. And Gemini Vasanth Sahib took Chandralakar throughout the country. So there is a place among the stars for Chennai and I want that to happen. It's not about me personally doing something. Collectively, as they were all saying, so that we come and talk and learn instead of teaching. That's so lovely. That's very much. I want to do for the Malayalam industry what Raj Mohli said with the Telugu industry. Yeah, I mean I just want to be able to create something that gives all of us the guts and the belief to dream big and to really put conviction behind our vision. The more I hear stories from Prabhas about how Bahubali won, especially he was made. I mean, I am so in awe of this man. I can only imagine the pressure. It was completely uncharted. Yeah, uncharted territory. That kind of scale, that kind of effort. I'm not saying that I want to create a Bahubali in Malayalam. I would love to be involved in some capacity. I'm an actor, I'm a director, I'm a producer, I'm a distributor. In some capacity, I would love to be involved with the movement in the Malayalam industry that makes us break through. We have great content, great filmmakers, great actors, great technicians, but I'd love to be part of that one big step which we are yet to make. Absolutely. How fantastic. I actually don't want to use any power. I'm actually doing what I want to do. So, after making all the actors I'm associated with, they let me do what I actually want to do. But with all these people saying that an institute kind of thing would be great, something great, I think. Because if it were we have, I used to have a conversation with Fad Fasil when he was making the film Malik. He don't know how to film it. Like they faced so much struggle in shooting in a sea. So, at that time he directly called sir and asked how did you shoot when a nagging was happening and all and said help him doing that. And when we people have access to all these people so that we can help others. Any kind of learning stuff. If there is an institute kind of thing and that would be great. And for any debut kind of filmmakers or like these people coming in doing the masterclass that would be something great. And I wish I was looking forward to see some. That would be beautiful. Well, until that institute happens there's film company. Way to bring it back. Way to bring it back. And we will try and take it across the board. I know I said last question but one last question sir to you. You said in an interview that you don't have to be a sage to predict the future. If you are dedicated to the past and to the present. And aware of the present. And aware of the present. You can almost guess the future. So what are you saying for Indian cinema in 2023? We will become world cinema. Which we have already. He's there. Yes, we when I say not just two people. Generally they will say that India produces film. Like we said that of Sweden once. France. When Goddard Chappahall and Eric Romer and all came. And then the new wave. We said that of England. We said that of America. Now it'll be our time. For which all of us will have to humble ourselves. If we have to walk that far then we have to walk together. How long? Well said. That is such a lovely note. And thank you everyone. And let's continue to walk together. What a beautiful, beautiful round table. You and I find so interesting. The entire thing was fantastic. Glorious. You could listen for hours and hours to brilliant filmmakers. From all directors, producers, writers, actors obviously. And they were all wonderful to listen to. But the fact that in their respective areas, every single one of them would be a sir, right? Correct. Every single one. And a man. Yeah, and a man. Yeah. But there's a hierarchy that happens with if you have Kamal Hassan and somebody like SS Rajamuli. I feel like if, let's say, I'd see if it was like Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan and Amir Khan and then Amitabh Bakshan was in the room. He was, he would be the sir in the room. Even though the rest of them would a thousand percent be sirs. Of course. If not more so in other ways. But I love the like, these are all very well established people. Of course. Like she said, they all are very powerful people. But like there's just this thing that happens in a room when you have somebody like a Kamal Hassan. He's an industry on the room. He's an institute. Yes. I love the respect that they all gave to those individuals. But I love that they're all, they're all artists. And so they all know that content is king. Correct. And it's not the box office. Obviously they all want the box office. They are the people that should be concerned with the box office because they're the film makers, right? That's what we always say. Audience really shouldn't be concerned with the box office. And it's not the measure of a good film. No. They're the ones that should be concerned. Right. But they're all like, it's the story. And you're artistic integrity. Integrity, that's the key there. Yes. And everything that Kamal said is no surprise the fact that his biggest fear is mediocrity. Of course. And if you want to know why South Indian cinema is being so well received. Look at that room. Yeah. And it is, it's artists. I'm assuming it was scheduling. But the fact that Mani Ratnam. Yeah. It would be another sir in that room, obviously. I bet there were probably a couple of others that just, their schedule didn't permit it. Couldn't allow it. Yeah. And in fact, getting them together was probably a small miracle. Yeah. Scheduling wise. But so, yeah. He would have been another sir in that room, obviously. It's so encouraging and it's not a surprise. And this isn't to pat ourselves on the back. It's just something you notice when you love the art form. To the two things. One, Mali Alam has magnificent storytelling and creativity. And you heard how everybody's envious of that in a healthy way. And then the second thing is that I agree with his final statement there. What we've been pining about for four years now. When we first were introduced to Indian cinema, we were like, the world needs to know because it's that good. It's not just big Hollywood members. And it's time has come. It's time has come. Yeah. It's as large as Mali's big part of that, obviously. Huge. And it's just, after awards season, the world and Hollywood especially is going to be looking at India going, what do you got next? Yep. What do you got? Yeah. The fact that RRR is about to get nominated for multiple Oscars probably. It's going to really open it all up for everyone to be excited. RRR is a lot of people's, like obviously people thought Slumdog was an Indian film back in the day. I know. But that was probably the closest most people in the West had ever gotten to Indian cinema. Exactly. Even though it's not an Indian cinema. Right. It's the closest they got. Loaded with Indian artists. Yeah. But that's the closest they ever got. And I guess back in the day it might have been Lagann maybe? Maybe, I don't know. But sadly, you know what it was? It was Gandhi. It was probably Gandhi, which was once again not an Indian film. Not an Indian film. So the fact that RRR is like everybody's, a lot of people's first ever Indian film, they're now learning it's not a Bollywood film. Right. It's, hopefully it'll become Indian cinema as a whole, which would be great. And it was fantastic. They're dropping more. There's more that dropped too. There's like, I think one that's more Indian film, which is like Kieran Johar on your Kashi up. More film companions. Yeah. Wonderful. Brahma. I don't know if it's film. She's a wonderful, wonderful. But fantastic, fantastic round table. As good as it gets. It was a pleasure to listen to. Hope you all enjoyed it. And let us know what other videos, what you thought about this video down below.