25 Greatest Hindi Films Of The Decade | Filmmakers Adda | Anupama Chopra | Film Companion

subscribe to film companion for your film fix hit the bell icon so you never miss an update everyone welcome to the film companion a de sole companion has just posted its list of the 25 best Hindi films of the decade and I'm super excited to be sitting down with six of the directors whose films a feature on the list Zoe Arthur Anurag Kashyap chacón Batra Manish Sharma Shriram Raghavan should eat circa yes Karan and and we're on have a baby to give me that you were right I always tell my money they had a child it would be I think when I was making language about everybody told me clearly calorie Jack Cavanaugh Duty victory rather the Hager yeah your biggest artistic I mean I could he feel it what what on of course but now pocket he did it I was when he said yes I was curious does he understand this baby because no one's actually got the heroes [Music] one of the most exciting things that happen in the last 10 years is really this blurring of lines between what is traditionally considered mainstream and what is traditionally considered independent and I want all of you to come in on this that what is that struggle been like to tell stories and all of the films you made have pushed this of this blurring of lines Kapoor and Sons galley boys any of the films you guys are made of how challenging is it to go from that more sort of larger-than-life melodramatic tonality to a more understated place to a more observed sort of storytelling how hard has it been for in the last 10 years to push that envelope to get stars to do it to get producers to back it how tough is that particularly was a very year defining you because I think maximum number of debutante voices came that year I mean there was a scare they was doing each other they was the bum they was I hate love stories they was Band Baaja Baaraat there was you know all kinds of genres were there yeah I think your voices were coming in Ishqiya you know so I think in terms of this content film becoming a commercial film like how people phrase it now I think somewhere the seeding kind of started in a biggish way in 2010 before that there was that by chance there was a lucky lucky way you know there were films which were far and few in between and maybe the box office was not you know was not working the way it's working now in fact you know I think there has been a very gradual drought and 2010 was a very big you in that sense I feel because I also witnessed a take loosely so I think that change has come about in a very positive way now that's what I feel because you know we see content driven unthawed on doing what it's doing and behave oh and piccu all these films I think in terms of the business they have done the kind of acceptance they've had the kind of cinematic language they are setting all these things are kind of coming about together now but but how hard was it to do this you know when you guys made these films like you said you had had the stray movies but it had it wasn't like they were big successes so that people were like hard he took on I had you know I mean chuckle did you have to struggle to tell that story in that way I always was farmers are very fortunate to be surrounded by people who let me do things I want to do but having said that I have had friends who want to make commercial films and it's been equally hard for them so I think me getting a film made is hard in general getting a film made where if I mean when I was casting for Kapoor and Sons yes casting for what spot wasn't it was a challenge nobody was you know still open to kind of portraying a part specially of you know a hero wasn't ready to come in and play that part so I guess every film has its own challenge right now I thought I had written a film that I felt is more commercial in appearance and I'm going through the beats now so I just don't know it's every time a new thing arises which becomes challenging so I feel like as I said also I work with Dharma which is its meanst as mainstream as it gets but for me thankfully it has been pretty good the experience they understand what I want to say I've never had to really compromise on my voice and they've given me the space to kind of just do things I have the way I want to but I don't know any other way I won't be able to do it any other way right so for me the challenge is not casting and producing and budgets all those challenges and every film for me the challenges always not to compromise on the voice I feel the day I feel like I had to compromise on that is the day I have to really like figure other things out but if I can't see what I have to say with these challenges because these are working my challenges I don't think these are challenges that really get you stuck yeah yeah so you've always described yourself as the hybrid of mainstream and independent because you said you were raised in in a way where your parents exposed you to like I don't so it's Karen and I do not have a baby to give me that's basic you all right I always tell Emily they are a child it would be me there's a complete mix and add Bob Bashara yeah and I I think like I I write like that my work has been like that good luck by chance I think if I made luck by chance today I would not have a problem casting it I think the actors today are very different they approach the parts differently they are really excited to be in the gray you know they they're out of that black and white zone and it was very tough to cast and it was for hands first rock he shot rock on and locked by Charles together and the film was critically liked it was it like by the ink like the film was loved by the industry weirdly and made no money and you come out of it and you're like okay so I need to be a bit more viable and I need to like figure out how to say things in a way maybe that aren't that subtle you know but then coming to think of it every story requires that much layering a certain story will will be layered that much a certain story zindagi was less layered than luck by chance but then it was that kind of story but nobody in the industry likes in the game when I showed it at screenings they were like what's going on nothing's going on with the katrinak are dancing a cuchini or I and all the other people in the focus screenings that were not from the industry were reacting to it the way I wanted people to react to it so it's a it's you know I mean I just realized that the only thing I know is I don't know anything I know what I want to make and I make what I want to watch and someone will I'll find somebody who like yeah yeah one of the things that she just said is actually some time the challenge is that people want to box here is a certain kind of filmmaker right and I think if you do bridge the gap between Indian mainstream some people think you are lost but interests that you are trying to make a film which doesn't belong here or there you need stars but it's not a story where you are going to project the message as stars right so you want them to be regular you'll be but they're like but I'm gonna start you know and that is where it gets really late but I love the fact that you can do this yes like I honestly people have come up to me and said run zeros okay with the golly boy in Breaux and I was like I don't know what you're talking about but he's then out of focus but I'm like but it's not his scene at that point right but but that's his intro and I'm like yeah but he's not run lead he's Murad and like when we spoke about it or when we shot it and we blocked it it didn't come up and that's all it just didn't come up like no one spoke up like no like he didn't come up for him it didn't come up for me if he thought it he is too smart you know he knows what he's doing he knows exactly where he fits into the film like it never came up for anybody you know but then you realize you're like oh okay you know so yeah so there's a but I feel like we're very lucky to be around actors that are going for it but should it you did that in Pico with an actor like they become it's amazing to me that after that success you made October which was even quieter and even sort of less of a shouty melodramatic film it was so quiet in fact that people like hey hey kiowa right what was the thinking behind that and and and did you feel that the success of peak who gave you that freedom to do that yes it gives definitely a quite a bit of it takes a little challenge that should you do it or not do it but I think that's the challenge that filmmaker will always have to take it for example your digital platform I didn't know how it's going to work but once I saw Roma and I got convinced that no there is a way that you know this digital platform may work and the day I saw Roma immediately that evening I went and saw Bicycle Thief and Petrucelli because I felt so connected to those two films because of Roma being there I mean I was just devastated and so happy Leda bustard yeah he meant this film can happen in this platform also yeah yeah so I think it's it's a matter of how you tell that story it's a matter of how much challenge you can take on yourself and how much you can challenge as a craft I think that matters and I think people are clever enough to watch your story the way it is I don't talk about the box office I'm just talking about cinema is a pure art form so let's talk about the box office right because along with this flowering of great sort of nuanced storytelling really wonderful films that speak to us there's also an increased pressure to perform because of social media right now the first three figures are now like a spectator sport everybody knows k-keep knee opening Galaga you know what is war done what is which is the biggest now what kind of pressure does that put on you as artists and how do you deal with it or do you not think about it at all and she'd um I have to insist you speak for example I'm not doing for example I mean when you know it's a crazy thing what these guys the producers they have a focus group for the script also so now they say okay if this actor is playing it it is this is the first day they are these all estimates approximate so whatever and Ashwin is linger your first days will be 1/16 based on what not listed his last film which was at that time many PR even do which had not done well I find all these things pre you know we are draft whatever you say so I you just don't think about all this really you just make the movie you've got a terrific actor now once the film is over I had approached quite a few bigger stars so to say for the movie but somehow either for whatever reason they could not do it or did not want to do it or whatever it is but I mean I am so glad he that if it had been with any of them it made the movie stone would have changed you know I don't know so some way I think it'll protect that the film totally and cement this things also help protect you to take you in a sense you know I mean so I'm willing to face all the focus groups and all this nonsense I don't care you know it's just some feedback you get it take what do you want and that kind of a thing you know but do you do any of you think about that first day do you especially when you I stopped thinking about it long in my eye I never get the first day so Mike went over here my wife I don't think about it on the first day all right I I think it's a very tricky place because you are part of the industry you're part of a business and you are taking money people are giving you money to make a sermon it's expensive medium you so I want the money the film to make money because there's producers involved I want the film to make money because actors are trusting me and the box office is where what makes them stars or not right and that enables me then to cast people or not so I am in the in terms of the business of various but am i interested in what the audience thinks of my box office not at all I am interested in what the audience thinks of my film I don't think this is the box office numbers of a movie I don't think anyone's business except the trains but everyone's business because people are Tom drawing the numbers they don't think media is doing it it's not what you do you go to a restaurant and ask them how much money they make are you right last month what were your collections do you ask the restaurant no you don't now you go then eat because you like the food so why should if it's like anything else I come to this bar I like the vibe I like the music I like the crowd am I asking them how much they made last night doesn't matter to me why should the fair matter take this part of your marketing I know another did massively well in China because your producers have sent me a press release we say that it broke all right agreeably that didn't we cannot avoid the bomb at the most you can not take the pressure when you cannot avoid do you not take the pressure you try not to see I'll tell you it my first time it happened to me was I had no idea of this box of a sink till a generals going to be released and the film was whatever from good bad there was something that was working something or not one day the mother reads accountant that office the products producer office telling me we can be purchased monopoly got lucky they believe overall big 50 that's a llama tricky dicky little make more than I said that is an expensive medium yes but it's really unfortunate that cinema is an expensive medium I hope it was like another any other art form there similarly we could go and do a dance form and it dance or singing and it could've gone and gone to get to the people but yes I mean this see what she said key there's a balance to it you know so we'll have to that it's very important to have that balance because if we don't or if you are making a film then you're making a film you know if I have to think about the box-office then I think I don't think anybody can make that film yeah that they've started the journey with it's very difficult because they never match there is no way that what I'm saying what you say it works it's a different thing it's a it's it's a very different but um I'll say a jargon altogether but if you as a filmmaker if you're asking that you know if that pressure is that his external pressures are always there but you know as a filmmaker that the job is to not take that pressure deliberately and make your own film I think that's what has worked and all these cases the films that are adding all has worked against the tide of the what he says keep watch as banana it's also because I figured out long time back that in order to make a film one has to start working backwards my thing is I've even even write a script that's when I think like okay how much money do I need to make this film based on which do I need to go to us or do I work with newcomers will it recover all its costs by selling it to OTT is that pressure on me or off me so my films have started becoming same ever since I figured that much out to work backwards I'll do it in that just making that control cause all that it'll need to go to a staff then I'll go to us and if I don't need to then I don't I'll work with the new camera approach from of filmmakers point of view or producers who interview I think sometimes it changes you know that this is noted even through your very clear right in yoga you know but do you go with a certain conviction and you won't do back it up and in that more often than not I feel your farm will liberated ya discover Nadu which I mean you can have people nihilism go out there and I would say like if I talk about my first film as a director or as a producer I say listed both the times the same scenario like I think when I was making Band Baaja Baraat thinking everybody told me here you can are they Cavanaugh due to material or the Hagen which is very I could do film is not out yet okay so and while we are approaching the release date signs are clear that we gonna in fact Band Baaja was probably the lowest Friday Roger ever seen so signs were there which one anyone a gonna hit me or a trailer which me were erased Rajesh are the only picture area this is what people used to tell me another good show and then things did change and it worked out well but somewhere I would say like are the heart of strong conviction I never faced budget issues in my film because at a newcomer you know I think it was a very well spent in terms of whatever was asked for was given there was nothing any newcomer activist in egrants but as a coach me neither I think it was only about conviction and it worked out well so everyone's very happy but okay if it had worked out better I think there was clarity a Friday which neva right and all the film has to speak for itself you know similarly when Dublin like it happen unfortunately ayushman hard you know like he was saying you last Friday gets Arthur a cholita right and it was a conscious choice we did not even market the film properly we will like its Capuchin II a Friday now the film has to speak for itself because we did it once I think that's why we had that confidence and again it worked out well sometimes it happens also by sending Edward with it but I think somewhere you are aware that okay this is not even even when he hmm hopefully the film is before this do you know in the last decade he has directed four films and produced four helps Wow you've been busy okay so what's the biggest risk you've taken in the last decade uh no you didn't biggest risk yeah your biggest artistic risk in the last I mean it was 1 million I could totally feel it that was something that a film that I wrote and when aliens Megan with I there was a way I do film and I didn't do that film that way it sounds like you make some bits and parts and shoot and like marked places where a little clearer Bombay travel across and I had a budget of 15 20 and of opinioned then you got sold at a high price and this new company that was there and suddenly I just went against my grain to shoot the film I remember I was so lost because everything was so organized that I had to create chaos on my set to shoot because that's where I thrive when nobody knows what's going on I had to do that on method I give different instruction to everybody there's chaos and I small but I totally went against my grain and after that I've never done that since I have my life has been very sorted Susan I just know what not to do a very we made two things not unlike him we produce Howe directed I think the biggest risk I've taken is something I'm kind of still I'm dealing with it even now is after Kapoor and Sons came out I want to tell the OSHA story it's a story I grew up with and it's it's it's not a conventional story it's I won't tell the whole story it's a huge story I'd spent years researching it I've grown up in a house listening to him and it has to be told in English because a lot of it happened in Oregon but it's with Indian caste at the forefront and I knew that it's not gonna be an easy story and when I spoke to a few people the first three actually this is not going to happen this and I still don't know if it's gonna happen to others so I flew to Sid Dillon and I met Sheila and I bought the life rights without knowing if I can make it not make it because I was just like this is a story I was if there was one story I was born to tell it this way and so so I'm still trying to figure out how to get it made at this scale that I want to get it me and without again as I said compromising on what I want to do with it you can't do this you know dance and song with it there's no way you can do that well so it has to be as I said so much of it is going to be in English so I'm still figuring that out so I don't I hope it pays off but if it doesn't pay off I always tell myself I told myself this about last December that even if I don't end up making it the time that I've spent reading about the time people it has changed me as a person it has made me feel like that I feel I'm all grown up also filmmaking now seems really small compared to what these guys are doing back in the day they've built a city on their own right and I'm like I'm still trying to figure it out to make a movie and conversation happens talking to Sheila and because it was taking so much time to kind of get this together and she's like how much money do you really mean and it was you know millions and millions of dollars and I was like you know Sheila roughly around this term much as you that really is that kind of money in three months that we'd we realize that you know what doesn't matter look at these people they've lived their life your life is made is made from experiences you know so the risk and the payoff and all of that it's just up and down of what you'll get with it but I hope that my my happiness doesn't depend on whether it happens or not so that's the lonely yeah I mean I don't like now when I look back some things have worked out well and some things happened maybe I did take this but in that moment I felt if I didn't do it this way I'd be taking a risk you know like if I went another way like it wouldn't work like like like to sell the music like to sell to music company the artists that were on golly boy it took a bit you know because they are there 54 artists they've never done a film and they're all the youngest is 16 like they were all like nobodies but if I had done it any other way it would be a risk so at that point I'm like I can't take a risk because this is the way he but yeah I don't feel like I've taken maybe now in hindsight but at that moment it just feels like that I think yeah it feels like if I don't do this then you know so actually one big actor I didn't want to do a movie my first film and he offered me a movie and it was like it would have been a quintessential blockbuster and I said no so maybe that was a risk but I think it panned out so I don't think I don't I don't think I've taken us at all bantha yeah I don't think so no no she doesn't I don't know I remember when I will on the sets of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and I saw the way she was making effort man I'm coming from no money from scoop filmmaking to moneyed filmmaking I'm I was looking at hansard why are you doing this is Ana don't envy man and me my privileges like my privileges annoying Allah wants to produce my film and ease that I said but how much will you give me for art and costume in using art and costume doesn't get money or butter yeah I don't know I'm gonna describe this very different a king a risk future I did all my films myself so there's no risk actually yeah so far I think all the families no I think it's all I did it myself so I was pretty comfortable doing the army he just when I did myself he went with his cameraman and there's hardly any crew and I just called Jakob and I said Joe come on want to do a film he said yes I am doing shooting a document in India I'll come and shoot so so far I've all the films that I have done I have done it myself so it was I was not dependent on anyone you know I have depending on money or anything or I just went to the actors I told them the stories they came on board and they came and be on the set so actually speaking I mean risk you know in my case maybe in future I'm gonna take some risks for sure by working with the studio the other what about you what ERISA buted I don't know what like you said like a lot said not even you have a certain that you spend a lot of time on expensive and it doesn't work it sort of makes you most extreme little closer towards everyone know of some sort you know you don't care about those things anymore and you're going to go yeah okay thank God you are nothing at all you can make your own so that's like nothing can top that anymore there is no list the risk I'd mean even that began say it was no it was like I was most excited about it and I'm still kind of I think there are all good things but the point is something at the point is how in a big firm you slowly systematically get sort of go against your own thoughts and your own thing and yeah and you're getting co-opted and all this is not that you're doing it angrily or sulking Liam yeah you say used by the whole thing in yeah and we are talking about sequels and so f is one's telling me give okay after four films I'll give nothing to I will get another we know again we'll give it to me I'll I already had like four films I had a Bombay quadrilogy all scripts done written yeah Kia bumper and selling is kept and will do Raman Raghav will do something else and Ramana goes ready to go budgets were done the film bombed I took the script I made it Robin Drago 2.0 that's where it came from I said I rewrote the whole will 2.0 version I have went to first Madhu and awesome I said how much money will you give me now to make a film and this I'm talking Monday of the release me that if I don't tell you who what the script is and I don't the conversation just tell me a moment that I'll get make a film now right well I don't have to go and get a star and I don't want to share the script though he's a few novels I said three and a half girls i sat down with my line producer I said I want to make it look like a film how many days do I get to shoot if I'm making a film in this much is it twenty days I said okay I'll write the script that I can shoot in twenty days and I work backwards and that's how the film was in chapter and because if I didn't do that I've seen a lot of my friends and the film's don't work don't come out of it for two to three three years yeah and it has it I'm is the from my most attached to mumble no I'm most attached to it will always be like this to it you have the reels in your house yeah yeah everything I have I have kept everything you wanted heirloom I a different cut the fastest that moved on to my next film was when a filming mark yeah which was not by chance made no money 2009 it released 2010 I was shooting zindagi I've never moved at that pace ever like it I just needed to immediately get on who you have to get back on the horse as soon as possible I think nobody and it is very important social seeks out everything and then we are from Khartoum okay my tea is not dealing with this no skidoo Tahu Yadav adios how do you with this what I have in mind wait what's fine your biggest risk oh oh I mean I suppose my biggest heartbreak but I am Not sure it was the biggest risk I actually that's the reason I wanted to make you wanted that before that but yeah I mean bang Bahji happen because it happens told me that a very ambitious and a big concept so you should attempt something I mean in those many words is a smaller and then we'll move on to it I want to make this one it cannot be a force field and I was are you to one another hate to bother so when that happened then you know Band Baaja came from somewhere I don't know where I was not thinking about that at all in the movie even I was thinking about was fun so while making it or the excitement of ferritin whatever was happening was actually I was just living my dream honestly I was just too excited and in hindsight I mean one understands whatever has happened what happened but making of it I would not call it a risk but it not working I mean that something which is too personal to me and yes it is taken time but risk I would I wouldn't say mangoes it is you know I think each film you made somewhere you feel the risk not I mean of all kinds of pressures you know you have a personal ambition with any film that you do of of a certain kind would you achieve that would you not keep thinking about these things but I think the making is a risky business here anything you get into here you're asking something so yeah I mean that's a new baby really you know what you guys you were saying so you know they run we didn't even discuss entry short K or any of that oh and yet yet you know there is there is I think a sort of a hurdle because stardom is so outsized in this country you know because the clout they have is so outsized in comparison to filmmakers right with with a film like fan way I thought it was amazing in the way you got Shahrukh Khan to sort of poke holes into his own mythology but at some point I felt like the film felt the need to serve that mythology and which is where it kind of then fell apart oh how much do you think actors in this country and the a-list actors who have the clout to get stuff made because here that whole Hollywood victim of if Tom Cruise likes the script it's a great script it's still true right if a star likes the script it's a great script and it will be Greenland how much have they evolved have they kept pace with you all as artists are they willing to take the risks that you all they say for example of a sudden bid was willing to take a risk is my Hidden Imam a method and what happens is when everybody is trying to figure out well the number one reason that came up in their research what they didn't like about the film was his hairstyle now that can't be like you know someone in the head you're like really number one reason was his hand appearing evening yeah you like I gave up Authority nyan a metal BTech scribbler puzzle Gator from the guy I did my gerbil ha Kiowa what did not communicate you really the research market research team says here so you don't have an answer to that so actor also start thinking sometime you know he was taking so many chances he was he was again so many chances yeah yeah and then comes a point where you have to go back and to the table and we put yourself back together again so you can again take chances but on the other hand with Butler put in October the second chance is the same which a park can be KU Deepika is taking chances I just not her doing things but I think oh heck it is a very personal thing if you succeed taking chances you take more chances and you fail taking chances yeah you go back to your safe zone yeah yeah because you have to have a caddy because you don't want to do anything else yeah so that that's that's just the thing I think actors are willing to take chances if they feel that confidence in the director who's come to them with the script you know they feel safe in that person's hands they will they will give in to that and I feel that's why we there's a way out you know with should its actors are willing to take that chance if they are they feel they're send 60% there they'll take that 40% leave so it depends on multiple factors but as I said if if your chances have paid off then you take more chances well I use my audition for you to get another well it was I'm not an audition it was more like a informal can over thing but uh you know I but I don't think I trust very very I mean they're not like vastly improved I mean mm I mean I sometimes don't even approach somebody who's know hugely successful simply because I just feel keep this may move moving can be done in 15 or 20 clothes and made Nick Nick it may not make 200 or whatever the last film made you know but what she was saying that the sheer joy of wanting to perform a thing or something that as if that is not ingrained in you that when the factors or directors any wonder that it was like then how are you going to get out of there then I'm trying to convince you here please do it you still know they're in too many of them not too many wrong even when what well of course but lop already did it I was he said yes I was curious does he understand the story because no one's actually got the hero's art you know so I said key y'see I mean this is actually a damn difficult decision take but somehow I think he was just sort of enamored by Breaking Bad and whatever we were talking and all that so he took that chance you know but it's already if that's a ski thing he did I mean yeah but I don't think too many actors are still kind of know like when you see her when you think when you talk about Tom Cruise any of these foreign actors I mean you see the Brad Pitt doing some crazy wonderful stuff you know you don't ask you to really make that movie or how much did he make only things don't enter a head the other this conditioning has happened because of this whole box of his figures becoming so mainstream very very what has happened is actors now and most often now have this cool thing did like something they want to do it but the second mind starts talking to them telling them will it work or won't work yes yeah earlier it was I want to do this because I really want to do this at the joy of wanting to do something it's not the sole reason for them to make her you know but it's all one small difference I found was I mean started to being little but I found the female actresses are much they're more aggressive in terms of their risk taking yes yes than the male actors that I that's lost any of my experience I felt that they are more ready to take the challenge and not worry about the looks not worry worried about the baggage of being an actress so that difference I have seen a lot in the ten years but this they come with lot of insecurities which is which is part of this industry itself I think I think people have made it into a because we are not subsidized yes as soon as we get subsidies we will have no problems nobody will mean risk anyone get something so I think for a filmmaker it's a extremely important to get subsidy so that he can be free it was the world but I'm not here I'm saying you know not worry about anything you know I think you are adding equalize with the Idaho DD I think that's given a so raise that you know at least your film will be watched yeah you don't worry about the monies for the Friday Saturday's but someone like she said some money is going to watch it with Weiser audience so that's extreme let's talk about shake the two of you have done long forms narratives you're producing a documentary now that will go on Netflix how do you think that is going to shape the landscape you know should with you were saying that it's going to you know you don't have the pressure of the box office but what is it done to you as storytellers to tell it has been a lifesaver for me really yeah because for me it's like a joke about it earlier like when you talk about people thinking day one I don't think here one because like when somebody comes in start selling in they like my film and I know my film has been released about worried about yeah because that's how it will win which is I started getting messages texts call some about films like yellow boots or ugly and all then after they came on Netflix people started writing to me that's really like and based on that there's a whole lot outside with him but funding started coming to me from outside and I'm making my films same way then I was making but I have much bigger budgets now and I have absolutely no answer ability I'm working with the ranked newcomer and it is all because of the kind of audience have realized this because there was it used to be a job that Kamal R Khan used to crack you know nuraghes hit on social media that whitter hit it's coming to iterate so my thinking like if people are talking about you on social media they're also watching the film on social media and it took me long time to understand that my audience because the film's might be little complex or they are speaking to an audience that's a working audience or a college-going audience that is not that doesn't have the time to stand on a Friday in a line to buy a ticket that audience will eventually fight find a way to watch your film at their own convenience and this has made it convenient for them and because of which I don't have to struggle for funding this ODT has totally changed my life it's totally seen my life because only my audiences everywhere yeah and now I can simply make a film based on what acquisition would be made on this film for OTT no I'm saying even theatrical based on the acquisition by OTT I walk backwards like that and I'm certainly in a much better space I'm in a much better space and I don't mind because if that's where people are going to watch my film I would go straight there because I want people to watch myself and it also empowers me in terms of I can be even more complex and more dense I don't need to explain so much yeah I don't have to alter my way of looking at the world so for me it's been life changing so what about the romance of theatres because that have most-loved and films that have impacted me the most a cinder seen on laptop screen not in theatres I'm a big fan of Woody Allen have not anything that has all my favorite films of onions from the 70s and 80s I was even born in the seventies and have watched them on a 13-inch laptop screen so for me as much as as I love the experience of going to the theater I think a bad film doesn't become better than a good film doesn't become bad just because you are watching in something else I still watch a lot of stuff on the iPad and I actually find that experience more intimate than to go in a theater and be eating popcorn sometimes actually I'm more zoned in in on an iPad screen then I am in a theater so for me it's that has never been a problem in fact I want people to experience what I make the way I experience being on an iPad and I want to make that kind of content so we are for me for me OTT is is is a great platform it gives you a movie more life more shelf life you know meaning you I could have loved a hill different from the 90s but you did who in this order of VHS or go buy a DVD the moment you wanted to watch it now sometimes I'm sitting home at night I wanna watch something I just go watch 20 minutes of that film so for me that is amazing and I I actually love that kind of experience with the film it's more there anytime for you you know whenever you want to go out reach out to it it's right there and I love that so that's how I experience online as I said Woody Allen films is that a DVD at all times sometimes watch a movie like 20 minutes every day so no one's afraid of the digital no no I don't think they are interchangeable like this for me at all I think that completely different experiences like for me watching a show or up with something that I do on the laptop it's like it's like a visual book I can read a chapter one one chapter a night I can dip in and dip out it's like a book it's a visual book I mean nothing replaces a theater experience for me there are certain films I will never watch on a laptop like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and I'm gonna watch it on a laptop I want the screen I want to be there I want it to be larger than life I want to be in a dark room I want a collective experience or Joker I'm not gonna watch it on my laptop like so I mean even when I'm on an aircraft and I haven't seen certain tools I wanna watch it like I'm not gonna do that you know so they're very they're different films there's certain interpretations yes you can do it but they're very different experiences one is alone with you at your time the other thing is that it's going out there being a theatre it's it's not it's not it's not the same at all at all then nothing replaces that nothing I'll take a little forward to this actually I just given small yeah anecdote of my first film yeha release so you did a lot of research you did Laura for Grammy we all do Laura lot of man Earth in one film so it's I mean this without goes saying that so after so much of hard work you finally see a film released and it's in a big format you go to the theater Friday it's released you're on a high I can't tell you the high of course we all know you know you know how you're watching the film fine Friday goes Saturday goes sunday goes show start decreasing so and you know you are in on the top of the you know first film is released and after one week you see one small show there I run across I go and watch this and there are five people on the theatre then next day you go there one people or two people you know and you slowly you think that's it you know you fearless yeah haven't you feel so so blank I can't tell you solo after doing of three or four years over and then I asked my coworker next word then Jakob said have you have you kept it in our lab or have you kept it it - have you restored it I said yes I'll give them but then what I mean how will our didn't see it I mean in that were so you feel so low I can't tell you after one week of release of film he said 'keep that's what that's it and this is no idle common theaters and then I are called Jakob Jakob no evil come on the television so said they have so they've asked for a new cut of it I said what is that cut so he asked me so I said they're asking that you you make it completely bright and give it to us you know you brighten for the television but I am NOT shortly there is no blacks in the Furby of black sir no there is no white cell or glass we like bleach bypass so he did that and you know it looked awful in the first airing on television you feel sometimes that very it's all gone all the magic of four or five years have just gone in one week or two weeks so I think what Oh tea tea has done is it's given me a shelf it's given me my film or shelf I can be assured all my life my film is there yeah I can't tell you how low a director feels when the helm is gone to the theater yeah it's like it's sitting alone it's sad no smoking I remember the last ocean has fun Republic and few people called me as like it's the last show the whole first week the last show the film is not gonna be there and we went to see in the last show and I remember sitting in the cinema I don't mean tomorrow the film is not going to be anywhere and in that experience like I can't forget that how empty of me yes and you know emptiness is sometimes I do I take a big theater and do my DCP screenings for some people so that I can also see it in a people it's it's really it's a it's I can't explain it explain the experience of feeling the other thing with streaming platforms is that enabled all of us to consume a lot of non hindi cinema that normally you may not see because you're playing in some outlying theater somewhere and now it's all subtitled it's in your home I mean I've fallen in love with Malayalam cinema I know I know you've always been a great fan but you know it struck me watching a lot of this stuff that's that so many of the most innovative films in the last ten years have actually not come out of Mumbai you know if you look at the baahubali franchise so come along Nina it's so super deluxe side out I know a lady young Emily Diaries village rock stars no no this could be Julie got to now you know um why do you think that is what what is it about this industry I was speaking to Donna talk about you who said that that there's just too much money here is that problem no I don't think that I think part of it is that the part of it is the money game that's what I'm saying the mean if you start saying box office box office box office - wear your gear do you not doing stuff for storytelling anymore but it is also yeah there's also think because you're familiar with everyone the element of surprise Hindi film industry will not hold for you and when you see and when you see a film that's coming from there you don't know the filmmaker nothing it just pops out on its own in the film only you already know of what is being made it's a world or entering when you watch those films as the world you know so this way you will probably open in it by all but not be surprised by it right but I think not man Julie's like unbelievable coming up on nellyville' I'm just saying why isn't there more innovative work happening here given our resources given um you know a massive brand that Bollywood it do you think I don't know but do you think that our audience is wider within the country and therefore to try to cater to so many different it's not enough if that comes out our dumbing down there is why you are they they are very familiar with the world you're creating right if I just compare it with the last five years let's say I would say the percentage would be little bit of shun so it is a tumult coming out lately yeah yeah I mean I was one name that's coming to me right now but I'm saying yeah the the volume might not be that much but it's definitely little better and I feel the voices that we have who are capable and they have intention to do this kind of work I think they might end up choosing a platform like Netflix or streaming or Amazon or whatever so I think the content will come maybe northern was here too I hope it does if not then you know I think it will find its face it's going to morning Newton is their you know their arson is there you know but but yeah I mean if you take fossils filmography I'm we won't be able to nice that kind of a thing as of now but but yeah I think it's getting a little bit I I think it they will be lot more coming up the other thing also I feel I meet many know filmmakers who have made films also and pretty inexpensive and interesting films but they get in the know was lovely yeah but how much they get a release because there are big films they're coming and you see okay why am i paying like I want to see another movie I remember that movies also 300 bucks and this are the big moves oriented blocks so something is wrong so you say okay like I draw the wait and watch it you know kind of a thing unless they're really what like delicate flower to watch and I will watch but uh it was running last week when giving mommy was going on so I think that is one thing that hinders but it I mean finally I mean resting all these excuse every if you want to make up a little make it and as good feel good agree I will find its audience that is for sure okay last question I want ask you what is your ambition for the next 10 years what is the next decade looking like number two it I see I think I just want to wake up every morning thinking about earful that's all I want to do and I think it has happened so far touchwood and I hope it continues that's what it is you know he's only been working on yeah I mean I think I just mean little more prolific and learn from these two ways to do me right so that's the main thing you know because sometimes you just wait and you kind of figure I take my own time which one's coming after that told me he said key oh but you found the secret now so you don't really worry I said what is the secret he was right about secret you let me put three hundred years that's really big in three years for charge this time you told it from my side and then try and make whatever some kind of fun terms relevant I actually want a very very perfect scenario where I can make political films named politicians like the West's even the president or the prime minister or the minister or anyone or the White House or the CBI or the CIA anyone and with the with with the right freedom of expression I can make those films in future I think we India needs that we have not made political films yet where we have been absolutely true to our you know yes so I think I I would want the next ten years we make films which surpasses all those influences and we really make P or political films which are which can name anyone so I want next ten years like that I know Bob is the only one making I mean not what you're saying but he's at least maybe I tried but I could not and in a name in what class cafe I did I mean it was I didn't imagine that in a country like this I'll make be able to make Madras cafe yeah on the on this South Asian nation issue but yeah I could but I would want to still make that film naming people me um I've started a company me and Rima call tiger baby so I think the next ten years would be developing and growing that I think we want to work in every medium I definitely I definitely want to push female voices I definitely want to be able to have an identity in that sense for women and stories to come out and I think for myself I want a near perfect film I want to make one film that I can see and be like I wouldn't change a thing like this is it normal anyone likes it or no I wouldn't change it in one film in your filmography you just want that one but I watching anything even though I didn't I I didn't screw it up you're not that one you feel like you screwed up pally-boy I'll never tell you where but I'll tell you where but what you could change VM said such smart things taking away can I pitch in way that sound stupid if I could survive ten years with the kind of stuff that I would like to do I'd be very happy I think I'm at this point very nuanced and insignificant to change the bigger picture I really just want to make films that I would like to make and hopefully take those baby steps and then you know go for the bigger change you know I've been working non-stop Emily I may be next I'm 200 films on eros sometime I won't take a year off and do something else and then come back nothing I'm back for like four years so how's that for stardom young boat for the next four years I just what do anything that's I need a break and I need to plan my holiday hey it's a good problem to have you know Suraj Connor told me this once keep it at Kebede tzadikim complaint market you could accompany Organa Pillman bahadur shah's it's a great idea counting on the diver could be calling America okay thank you so much this has been so much fun and the only reason I'm stopping is because they're saying it's been over an hour you need to stop asking questions but this was wonderful thank you so much please keep giving us all the great stories that you have been thanks [Music] hi hi if you liked this video please subscribe to from compatible with me if you like Zoe's video please subscribe you to prevent know if you like this video please subscribe to come company [Music]

Channel: Film Companion

Views: 825,090

Keywords: film companion, anupama chopra, filmmakers, hindi films, Bollywood, cinema, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Sriram Raghavan, Shoojit Sircar, Shakun Batra, Maneesh Sharma, gow, gangs of wasseypur, gully boy, andhadhun, piku, Kapoor and sons, band baaja baaraat, Ranveer Singh, anushka sharma, Alia Bhatt, manoj Bajpayee, Ayushmann Khurrana, radhika Apte, Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, dharma production, october movie, pink movie, zindagi na milegi dobara, companion, film, tabu

Id: 5LcrxIKfVng

Length: 55min 30sec (3330 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 18 2019