 hello hello how are you good getting on well thank you so much for joining us we um i guess you could say we've technically wanted to talk to you since the beginning of our channel ever you could i don't know if you know this you i know this because i've been in i've been in touch with with the gentleman in india that has mailed me regarding this and very diligently and has been very patient and i i love what you do and i have said yes so he has just been waiting for me to confirm a date and i owe you an apology but it's not because i've been last i've just been hectic and now here we are no no no thank you we understand all that it's just you might you could actually take credit for starting our channel the first thing we ever reacted to was the gully boy trailer which is what got us into indian cinema uh in that that's that subsequently we that was the first film we had ever seen in theaters for an indian cinema uh ever and now we've seen 400 plus uh and talked to so many brilliant people we wanted to talk to you for so long so thank you so much for sitting down with us it's uh a big pleasure for us uh but starting with um the the arches i know you're you were a big fan as a kid um but adapting a very american comic obviously that has a worldwide audience what were some of the challenges in adapting such an american um comic into and also india-fying it for lack of a better word yeah so i think i think uh yeah there were there were a bunch of challenges uh one was uh how do we take it and how do we make it ours uh and still retain the essence of what the comic was and what the comic meant to us as kids because we were reading it in the early 80s this was like a pre-liberalized pre-globalized india uh you didn't have access to anything really that came from the outside so we had indian blight and we had archie comics you know that was our portal to the west and uh uh we were like eight ten twelve when we were reading it like you know and then our tweens so it meant the world it was also the only comic with teenagers so you aspired to have that life when you grew up you know um in a sense so so for it so it was challenging because people like me wanted that nostalgia and they want to come in to watch a movie and they want that feeling that was they had as kids you know go down memory lane and at the same time it needed to be relevant to gen z that doesn't know anything about archie comics in india it needed to have that essence of that the western essence but it needed to be rooted in india uh so there were a bunch of um challenges and what it was uh we uh we we anglified it more than americanized it because there is a community in india called the anglo-indian community and that a lot of them stayed back uh after uh post independence uh uh you know they were born they set their roots in before uh pre-independence and when uh that happened a lot of people migrated to england a lot of people migrated to australia but there were there were there was a huge amount that wanted to stay back in india because that was their country and that's where they were born and that's the country they loved so they stayed back and they were the the anglo-indians uh and uh we uh put the the story in into that community and it kind of gelled really well uh a because we could retain the names uh archie andrew's veronica lodge regi mantel because that had to have a christian base so we could retain those names and the other opportunity was goa but we decided to go with the anglos because they hadn't been seen on screen as much uh they uh they were they were the the communities were based in hill stations as well which suited our story uh fine and there were places like makalski ganja and land door that have this kind of architecture and these communities living there so it it fit in well they have a robust food culture they love music uh you know they were uh the fashion was similar so it just gelled was where the challenge is not just obviously in the writing but what kind of challenges did you face with your production design and art direction in that regard i would imagine there were a few yes are we uh i mean we the fact that we based it in the hills made it slightly simpler because you don't have to deal with the kind of development an urban city has right now so that when you when you're shooting a film like say in bombay in mumbai or in calcutta where uh there is a huge anglo-indian community but the development is so much that to make it a 1960s film you're going to have to spend a lot more money so just taking it and transporting it to uti uh save saved us some of that and it's just prettier if you read an archie comic it's just green you know there's a lot of greenery in an archie comic that's meant itself to the story and to the design of it uh i work with susan meranji and she's she's an absolute genius and so she took she took the the comic but more than comic book we went with the storybook aesthetic so the reality is dreamy and it was like a dream that was slightly real you know and we went with that so we had the anglo-indian community we had old indian hill stations and we had storybook these were our mixture and we used a lot of 50s uh references uh as opposed to 60s because in india like i said pre-liberalized india by the time something happened by the time it trickled down to india there was a delay it wasn't like today where you have access to everything uh so we were still in the late 50s when it was 1964 so yeah we went with that so a lot has been made about your cast in this film my my question is more um we've seen your entire filmography thus far um you're one of the actually a few actors of india that we've actually seen their entire filmography um you've worked with so many brilliant actors so many veteran actors yeah i've been very now going with a bunch of newcomers um young newcomers at that so was that nerve-wracking as a director and i know you've praised them obviously with their performances and you're excited about them was it nerve-wracking though starting out with non-veteran actors i mean i did have uh it did cross my mind that this is going to be harder work and it did cross my mind like how am i going to do this because i'm so used to a base on set and i'm so used to actors that just come in like deliver and house is going to work out i did did feel that but uh i just had to the only thing that was different was the prep uh i think there was just an extended prep uh and uh we put them into uh they did three acting workshops different workshops for different reasons one of them was with me uh the reading of the scenes and the other two with two other uh theater based actors that uh theater based coaches that actually train actors and work with actors uh they did a lot of opening up stuff because it's a musical you need to sing and to believe that someone is singing they need to sing uh when we're shooting and it can be very intimidating to do that in front of 200 people with the camera in your face so they went into the moon classes so they got used to hearing their voice uh i mean archie had to learn to play the guitar uh uh meer who plays jagat had to learn to play the drums the girls had to learn to skate uh they had they had an entire bootcamp plan for them and what we did which i think really served us well was we took them through the technical aspects of acting so the cinematographer did a full workshop with the kids telling them what the technical aspects of acting so it's it's you have to hit the light you know you have to catch the light you have to hit your mark you have to know how to be when you are giving a shoulder when the camera is behind your shoulder and an actor is in front of you how much can you move uh what is a wide what is a tight uh so it's a more time so by the time they came to say how do you walk over a track right yeah so you know these kind of things we don't think about but when you come on to a set they can intimidate you you know oh you didn't hit your mark you didn't hit your mark that can throw a young actor off they were so clued in then we had continuity we had the script supervisor come in do a workshop and continuity what does mean we had somebody come in and tell us set protocol the first ad this is your call sheet this is what's gonna happen this is where you go first this is what it means to do this this is a five-minute warning this is what so by the time they came to set they were stallions they were just their pros they're gonna they're gonna yeah they're gonna go anywhere that they're just completely trained that's awesome that that is that is such a huge gift that you gave to them and in all sincerity it sure is because yeah to all of you yes yeah because you realize that you know you get on to set and now it's the same now it's yes now you're working with an actor in the same manner that you're used to and they are completely they they they felt secure you know they felt they knew what they had to do they were they were very clued in they understood the crew really well and I think it served everybody really well and now I'm spoiled because they came in like fully professional without any baggage it was also their first time so the enthusiasm the excitement the wonder uh you know and there was no stress there was no uh date issues this issue nothing they were just there available and I think they're kind of spoiled me a little it may have may have but it shows just in the trailers that we've seen that's one of the things that was impressive to to Corbin and I was every one of them seemed particularly grounded particularly still when they needed to be and I bet when we watched the full thing I bet you also got a level of camaraderie and fellowship with each other as a cast with all of that training they went through together yes yes yes yes that was that was the biggest thing because they spent so much time together they actually came out a gang you know yeah and they are a gang and it it's it's lovely to see because they were we were also on location that's another thing that when you shoot on yeah and nobody's going back home you just end up with each other and we spent four months together and it shows in the film you know I mean today is actually Auguste's birthday at 12 so we're all going out yeah yeah that's great so one of the staples that I've found in most of your films is outside of just being high quality and usually it's there's like powerfulness behind it but there's usually a overwhelming sense of happiness especially at the end like you I feel like you like to make people happy why and is that like a conscious decision while you're writing I I don't know you know I mean I do have I don't I think the only film I've done the two films I've done as of now that are not overtly happy at the end were my short films which is last movies and ghost stories yes but I think I don't know what it is I think different cultures go to the cinema for different reasons I think and I think in India people like being lifted I think people like they like to know that life will work out you know they like a sense of celebration a celebration of the human spirit I think they react to that really well and I grew up in India watching that cinema so it's very important for me be it's not to say that films that are not don't have happy endings or films that are not are not things I watch some of my favorite films are films that are like that are real mirror to society and and and and dismal and but at the same time they stay with you and and they give you a side of humanity you don't want to face but you do face you know so I love that as well but I don't gravitate towards that when I'm writing somehow I I I like that feeling that I like the high I like the the larger than life high that you know you're in a theater and you're watching something bigger than you and you come out elated I like that feeling there's something to it you know it it's and I feel like I have a huge platform as a filmmaker and I am on some level putting out consciousness into the world and I wanted to be positive I just I don't know it's just a choice it just happens you know it's wonderful yeah yeah it is did you we noticed in the trailer there were some similarities not copies it's a compliment there's similarities in the trailer to the same feelings that we have gotten in particular things in cinema like grease hairspray even high school musical were any of those things in your mind conceptually through the process and did you give any of that to the cast to research yes grease for sure I mean I grew up and I grew up on the older musicals not high school musical that was a way after my time but yes grease for sure and I think Johnny Nogarelli it was a reference for the regimental character which is the jacket the T words and Johnny Nogarelli especially definitely and you know we we the fifties the men here the boys here used to use a drill cream but we couldn't yeah we couldn't get the permission to use that name so as the hack tip to grease I put grease on the gun so definitely those films were a huge part of my growing up yeah yeah um when you're let's say working maybe not as a writer and director or maybe when you're doing one what hat do you find harder to take off if you're not doing that exact one the writer or the director hat uh I feel um you know when you're if they have such different processes like the writing process you're it is very uh insular and it's uh you're alone and it's a quiet process and it's on your time and your turf and you know I work with Rima Kakti and I work with Ayesha Divitri I work with two writers on this but it was a very uh it's just two three people and then you write alone you know when you write but when you're directing it's it's the circus you know they're like 200 people on set everyone's in charge of something you're answering questions all day and both are very addictive processes you know uh I can't do I don't if I had to pick so it would be very tough for me to pick one but when I'm going to direct a film then I think the director hat sometimes also comes on when I'm writing like because you start seeing it a little visually you know uh so I think the director hat maybe yeah you know yeah yeah uh are there any things we can look for in the production design in art direction similarly to I understand in belly boy you made a very conscious decision to not use pollutes right are there any things like that without spoiling anything are there some things that we can notice that aren't evident like we already talked about some things in production design that are very specific you want us to pay attention to uh no but I think what you'll get a sense off is um uh an old style a camera uh like the very classic style of filmmaking uh I think there are a lot of full frames uh in this film uh we've that was my question was framing yeah there are a lot of full frames there's a lot of wide lensing in that way uh which I think harks back to films of that era you know the camera moves slowly the camera moves when it needs to move uh there are there are there are a lot of why it's it's like very classically short in that sense uh I think you'll get a sense of that I also did use uh uh uh the comic book uh as a visual reference because a lot of the archie comic start with full frame the characters are full frame walking or they're full framed in a thing and I don't know if you're familiar with uh an American artist called Norman Rockwell uh yes yeah he was a huge uh reference point uh uh for the framing of it because he was a cartoonist and then his cartoons I mean he just he then he they became art you know and yeah yeah so that those were reference points and we had a very strict palette because uh I used the same production designer that I had in Gully Boy so we had a very strict palette and a lot of it was a 1950s palette with certain pops of color and we didn't we didn't shift from that uh and uh what else can you notice I think um I think it's very idyllic I think it's a storybook I think if you look at it as a storybook uh it's an immersive experience because you'll think that you're in a slightly dreamy version of everything yeah sure sure sure yeah on um this is on on a different topic of another film of yours uh we had just in October watched um ghost stories yours uh Kieran Johar's uh Ananya Ragh's anthologies we'd seen the other ones as well and it's clearly evident that there's talented writers and directors in India that can do really good pure horror why don't you think that genre is explored that much in India though I I don't know why because we've done some amazing uh suspense thrillers certain types of powers and I mean we love ghost stories like I mean we grow up on ghost stories we have a lot of folklore we have a lot of go everyone has a ghost story you know every every state has their own story so I don't know why they haven't converted there have been at least in the Hindi film industry while I was growing up certain ghost stories that became cult films and um films that you stayed by I mean Rima and me had worked on one which is was a suspense thriller but I mean it was all slash ghost story which was Talash uh if you watch it it's called Talash uh and but you're right we should have more because we like them yeah well one of the things as we we wrap up our time with you and again thank you we have long wanted to to to connect with you as guys as as Corbin said at the very beginning uh you're not only responsible very much so for the channel by reason of gully boy but there's two deeply impacting things for me personally because of because of gully boy one of them is my wife Indrani from Phukata saw the gully boy reaction and then she DM'd me on Instagram and long story short we're now married and she's here and that was because of the channel oh my god matchmaker matchmakers and I don't I don't know if you've ever seen that oh my god oh my god that's amazing that's because of your film so thank you thank you that's the best thing ever um yes absolutely um as uh as we end this here I want to end it with some uh rapid fire questions like we're um a different show um so just answer these to the best of your ability uh first and foremost coffee or chai coffee um uh do you do you drink at all yes okay favorite alcoholic beverage oh I like wine I like red wine if if there were to be another anthology made from Bombay talkies love stories and ghost stories what would be one of the next themes you might explore uh I think I I think love I've never made a love story I would like to make a love story I've never done it never made a pure love story no okay uh favorite classic Indian film uh I think I would say guru that's what satyajit rays any specific one there's no one specific one I mean I would take the apu trilogy oh I would take uh guru that's car escape pool yeah yeah yes and a favorite classic Hollywood film godfather nice I mean if I have to go back then I would say uh I mean there's so many yes godfather was the first thing that popped to mind so I'll stick with that yes what annoys you uh what annoys me uh I think people um uh I think people being late annoys me I think uh you know not being punctual that annoys me and I think people that don't really um give their job their best that annoys me um what's some of the worst advice someone ever gave you that I should uh uh I you know because this is what's working now and that's what I should do oh you know these you know like right now this is working and this is the right guys and that's what you should make that's not good advice mm favorite archie character growing up they kept changing by the day I mean I had a thing but I think uh maybe I picked Veronica and what um why do you make movies I don't know I can't do anything else I have no other skills so this is it uh I love movies I think I make them because I'm an audience and uh I just haven't ever wanted to do anything else so if today I had to shift career I don't know what I do that's absolutely I I don't believe that at all but uh also thank you so much for sitting down with us we've wanted to talk to you like I said for for a long long long time we talked to a lot of your friends as well on your ag and and uh Vishal and a bunch of these different people um and so we we're so happy to finally get to talk to you we're so excited we're in Los Angeles oh you're in Los Angeles so if there's a screening in Los Angeles I'm gonna get someone to get in touch with you so you can go watch the film yeah oh the theater that would be absolutely fantastic thank you so much otherwise we should we should do one of these after you've seen the film absolutely yes we would love to absolutely yeah we have a lot of other questions we'd love to ask yes we have a whole list but uh thank you so much for sitting down with us we are excited for your entire filmography we love but we are excited for everything you have coming up you're one of our favorite directors in the world uh and thank you for sitting down with Rick would you like to say something real quick yeah I just concur with all of that if you've seen anything we've said about you you have repeatedly proven that you are an extraordinary and I use that word specifically you're an extraordinary director and writer and there isn't anybody else in the industry and I don't mean that just in India I mean just the entertainment industry globally there's no one else that will me see your name is attached whether you're writing or directing that excites us more than you so thank you thank you really really love your work thank you