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In India, it's tough to shoot a period film outdoors. You cannot find mud roads without wires, signage and billboards with ads of mobile phones even in rural areas.
Vikramaditya Motwane
In 2007, I probably wrote four screenplays in the entire year. Every three months I was writing a screenplay.
If we go back to the birth of 'Superman' and 'Batman' in America in the '30s, they were created because of events like the Great Depression, crime and Al Capone, among others. Everybody was corrupt back then, and if you can't have a hero in real life, it helps to have one in your fantasies.
Everyone wants their film to do well and I am no different from them.
I have not understood till date why we censor adult films. If someone over 18 can get married, produce children and drive cars, why can't they watch a movie?
My earliest childhood memories are just of me falling and getting injuries.
I think Raju Hirani and Farah Khan are the only two filmmakers who can balance the multiplex audiences and the single-screen audiences.
I love writing but it's a real pain. It's a miserable process - very satisfying but very miserable.
I've never lived anywhere else in my life, I have a massive love-hate relationship with this city. I grew up in the western suburbs in the '80s and for everything we had to go to south Bombay - so you lived the whole city, in a sense.
I would love to direct a documentary film if any good subject comes my way.
Make movies that you want to go and watch in a theatre.
My father is a Sindhi and my mother, a Bengali.
Multiplex cinema culture has created a level-playing field for directors where small budget movies are able to break even, even make profit.
In a certain way, I believe 'Trapped' is far more accessible than 'Lootera.' What makes it accessible is that it can happen to anyone. We all have a fear of getting trapped in a certain place or being locked out of our houses.
I love the new Marvel films, but I am not crazy about them. It is no longer a sub-genre or a fanboy genre. It has become so mainstream. You cannot say, 'I love superhero movies.' Everyone loves superhero movies now.
If you are irresponsible as a parent and don't know what your kids are watching, that's your problem. It's not the creator's duty to create every show in a way that a six-year-old can watch it.
Graphic novels are all about fantasies. Superman and Batman started it. It's like a reaction to environment around you. You desire to do things in comic books or films what you can't do in real life.
I hope I never get complacent and continue to give my 100% to every film I make.
When you are working on a movie, you have to ensure that the journey of characters ends in two hours.
I've come to a point where I am less nervous when I am supposed to start a film. I am still super nervous on the day but I've lost a lot of my fear about what kind of perception people have about my film.
Writing takes too much patience and it takes too much out of you for me to want to attempt it too often.
You have to be honest about what kind of films you want to make.
I read pretty much every graphic novel I could lay my hands on. Not only 'Batman' or 'Daredevil', but random ones like 'Black AF' and '100 Bullets.'
I had problems my entire life trying to make films. Problems come but you have to find a solution.
It's always a challenge to adapt a novel for screen, a visual medium.
I relate to all kinds of film.
It doesn't matter how big the film is - if the story is not good, it will not be accepted. Stardom can maybe pull audiences to theatres but beyond that it is all about content.
Of all the films that I have directed, I think 'Lootera' is the one that could have been better.
I like the films that gain awareness at the end - a sort of breakout moment.
I take criticism very positively if it's genuine.
The more shows that there are, the better it is for the industry. The writers are busy, if the writers are busy, the actors are busy.
Post my parents' divorce, when I was 10, my mother, Deepa Motwane, took up a job as a line producer with documentary filmmaker Shukla Das, who was a cousin of hers. When I was 17, she did a TV talk show and I helped her with research and assisted her as she was also producing that show.
I am not afraid of slowing down moments - if you have the right emotion in the right place at the right time, you can have any length of film you want.
I knew exactly what I wanted out of my actors - the film stars Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha in lead roles - and how each shot should look. A large part of 'Lootera' has been shot under tough conditions.
But a lot of 'Bhavesh Joshi' comes from the 'angry young man' - the Bachchan films of the '70s or the Sunny Deol films of the '80s, where there is someone who has been wronged and wants to do the right thing.
Adapting a book is the most difficult thing because half the time you are wondering what to remove.
Give me a story which I connect with and then I am going to do it.
You can assist another director and learn the ropes of the craft over the years, but becoming a director is about finding your own voice, so you've got to experiment.
The most important thing in a love story for me is the intensity and passion that my lead actors bring into playing their characters.
Harshvardhan Kapoor is very sincere, somebody who wears his heart on his sleeve.
The job of any artiste is to open the eyes of the public to their surroundings and make them aware of it.
Censorship is a stupid thing. There should be certification, and not censorship. People are smart enough to understand that if a film is meant for kids, then kids will watch it and if a film is meant for adults, only adults will watch it.
Both 'Udaan' and 'Lootera' were largely rehearsed. With 'Trapped', I left room for improvisation.
Horror movies make a lot of money in India.
What I loved about the 1950s is that there is an aesthetic to even the average film. The way the camera is placed, the way characters move, the way you dressed the sets, the respect for craft and actors, I do miss that in today's films.
It does hurt that your parents are not together and they are fighting. Looking back, I grew up a little quicker than I would have normally. I spent half the week with my mom and half with my dad.
Indian audience has a mindset that a movie which does well at film festivals will necessarily be slow and boring.
I think vigilantism is a pipe dream, because the larger need is for a justice system that works. Now, Batman cannot be Batman without police commissioner Jim Gordon, because every time he catches a villain, he tries to send them to Gordon. So, the idea is to help the justice system to work. I don't think it can work in real life, though.
'Udta Punjab' has a brilliant script.
You want your film to be seen by the largest audience and stars help in facilitating that. Star-power does work.
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