Interview with Vikramaditya Motwane (exclusively for Storybaaz) Vikramadity Motwane needs no introduction. Director of Udaan and Lootera, he has set a trend for The New Age Indian Cinema. Recently we caught him in a relaxed mood, for a candid chat and explored his story so far. Tell us a little about your childhood? I am born in Bombay... I am brought up a mostly in Bombay... For a bit of it brought up in Nashik... We had a house there and my dad had a factory over there… so kind of shuffled back and forth... but mostly Im a Bombay boy... School here, college, work, pretty much everything. Which is the first movie you remember from your childhood ? There is no that ONE film, that I remember watching… But then I remember watching Sanjay Dutt’s debut film Rocky… a lot of Bachchan’s film… lot of Rishi Kapoor film as a child. There is no life changing moment as such. I remember Jungle Book also as a child. Ya. Is there any film that you have watched several times in your childhood ? The several times was Amar Akbar Anthony… too many time… more than Sholey. I was a big fan of Amitabh Bachchan, my sister who is two years younger, was a big fan of Rishi Kapoor. So that was a perfect film because both of them were in it, and we kept watching time and again. I remember every single song, dialogue… But ya after sometime I did see Sholey a couple of times and ended up falling in love with those characters. Did you watch Sholey in 3D? I saw the first 10 min in 3D… I didnt like the 3D at all… But I am probably going to see it later… just for the effect of watching it on screen all over again. Do you think 3D helps to tell a story? You know, if 3D is conceived in the right way from ground up, is a very very unique format… But so far, according to me, there are only three movies that are justified to be in 3D. Avatar, Hugo and Gravity. Beyond this I don’t feel any movie needed to be made in 3D. Its almost that, these films seem like they are been thought of for that 3D format. I don’t see the reason why the Avengers was in 3D… it’s fun, but it could have been the same film in any other format… same with Superman. Do you think that 3D is a coming technology for storytelling or do you feel that 2D will stay? Unless we can fix the 3D format right now… I don’t think the format is still here as yet… we are still struggling... trying to figure out, how we want to be doing it... the glasses are heavy... they make it unnecessarily dark. I don’t think that filmmakers have figured out how to use 3D as far as the visuals are concerned… like do some really cool stuff with it. Gravity is a revelation because you kind of walk out of the theater, and you don’t remember that you saw a 3D film or not, and that in itself is the biggest strength of the film. It was in 3D, but that was not the point... the point was the film. 3D really helped to create that world that they were trying to create inside the spaceship and outside the spaceship. It was wonderful and you felt you are part of it. In the hands of masters like James Cameron or Martin Scorsese you actually see what 3D can actually do. In the hands of lesser director, not yet quiet there. 3D conversion is something I am completely against. I don’t see the point of it at all. So you feel that Gravity is the best 3D film? Well yes. But Avatar is equally there, cause it was the first best example of 3D... and it blew you away. The first 20 minutes of Avatar is like, what am I watching! That definitely took me by surprise and shock. You knew that you are watching the beginning of a new era of film making, and something very very special. Besides film making do you have any hobby that you dabble with ? I like to read and watch movies a lot. I listen to a lot of music. I am a football fan, football fanatic actually. I wish I played a musical instrument. My mom made me start up guitar but after one month I quit and then tabla and I quit and I wish I hadnt quit... I wish she had been little more strict with me. Other than that, eating is my favorite hobby I guess. What kind of music do you listen to? I listen to all kind, but my favourite is rock music. Guns n Roses, The Scorpions, Bon Jovi and then it goes back into the classics The Beatles, The Who. A Lot of The Who actually. The Doors, The Stones, CCR. Coming forward it’s The Radiohead, The Killers, Green Day. Then there is Bruce Springsteen, who is my favourite across. I discovered him when I was in ten then I went back and heard pretty much everything that he has done. He is sort of my god in terms of song writing. Then I listen to Hindi film music, western classical music, fusion, and any music that is good. Now that everyone knows you… how difficult was it to find a niche for yourself in the industry? It was difficult cause it took a while for my film to get made, cause I was sticking to my guns. That I want to make the film in a certain kind of way. But in retrospect, I am also glad that if I had made Udaan and released it back then, I think it would have been a disaster, because the theaters werent there. I might have got ten screens 9.30 AM, matinee shows in Gaiety Galaxy and I don’t feel, that is the audience for this film. The good thing is that the film got a release in 2010 and got an audience that went to see it… it broke out in that sense. But then I don’t think that my case is anything special. We all struggle. Anurag has got a struggle as well, so has Ayan, so has Dibakar, so has Zoya Akhtar. Zoya being an industry insider, inspite of Javed Akhtar’s daughter had to struggle more than anybody else. In the end it’s always good... cause people see that you have an original voice and no matter how much they resist the original voice in the beginning but they want to embrace the original voice afterwards. Where do you see yourself thirty years from now? How would you like to be remembered as? Hopefully working… (chuckle)… haven’t thought of it… as far as I am concerned, it is one day at a time or rather one year at a time… I would like to be remembered as someone who made good movies. Hopefully had a tiny role in changing the way movies are made or movies are seen, in the industry. What is the importance of story in a film? Story is everything. Really. You can have a mediocre director and give him a good screenplay and it will still be a half decent film but if you have a bad screenplay, the best director in the world can also not make a good film out of it. If you are talking about what goes into making a film, the three most important thing is 1st Script, 2nd Casting, 3rd Mood. And by mood, I mean everything a director does. The pacing you choose, the lighting you choose, the shot taking you choose, the kind of background music you choose. Whatever you choose, to define that, this is the space of the film. Casting is also as important. If you miscast, that just throws you off completely. But number one is script, because at the end of the day, people are coming to watch is story. Theyre not looking at technicalities. Theyre looking to be entertained and engaged. Theyre looking to go through an emotional journey when they come out of the movie theater and they go tell someone, you should go and watch this film. Its never about the director… It’s normally about the actor but even beyond that it, is about the story. Do you think screenplay writers get their due in the industry? As it easy to break into the industry as a screenplay writer? I don’t think writers are getting their dues as yet, whether in terms of money or respect or credits. And no, it is not easy to get into the industry as a writer. But having said that, out of the hundred script that I read, there are only two or three scripts that are great, producible tomorrow. There are ten or twelve that are good but need a little bit of work. Seventy five percent of them are really bad. So the fact is that we are not good enough in terms of our writing. Definitely our writing has improved over the years. I read a lot of good ideas from young people but they don’t know the technique of writing and screenplays, they dont know how to keep an audience engaged. That is something, which we need to improve a lot on. Its a double sided thing. You want more writers but you want them to know, how to write. I feel we still have a way to go before there is an average quality across the board. And only after that, the question of how good is your story and how well you can write. There is still a big gap between us and the rest of the world, when it comes to quality of screenplay presentation. Writers need to know how to structure and build scenes, how to get to the core of it. Lot of issues. When you talk about standardization, are you talking about the kind of standardization, that is there in Hollywood screenplay writing? I am not saying there should be a rule, that should be followed. Although I and mostly everyone I know write in Hollywood format. But after that... it is very individualistic. Even if you read the screenplay of the Coen Brothers versus Tarantino, there is a huge world of difference, although they are the finest writers in the world. Having said that, there is a basic format of action, dialogue, character that we do need to follow, as a basic. I have read scripts with pages and pages of action describing everything. Those are actually director’s notes. You have given someone to read, let them get a sense of the film. Dont put everything out there. Keep it light, keep it readable. Lots of general conflict issues… People dont understand what conflict actually means. What it means, is to get into the story. To have a conflict in the overall film. They are protecting their characters, because they feel that their hero needs to be hero. So there are all those issues. So the fact of the matter is, that those two percent screenplay that I am talking about, will get produced, it doesnt matter. The industry is always looking for good story. You read a good story, the world is going to know about it, immediately. And those two percent, are being produced because they are that good. If not from us, then someone else is going to do it, because they are dam good screenplays. So our writers should aim for that two percent. There has to be excellence. Writing is not easy, it’s a process. Sometime it takes years to write a screenplay because of figuring it out in your head… The story gets one shot at being written, but you have to get it right. And getting it right takes time. You have to be patient. Sometimes you cant figure out, one key conflict point for months at a time. Is there something about you that your acquaintances would not know about you? I think, I do come across as arrogant when people meet me for the first time… I don’t know why that is, I guess it’s just my personality. I am a bit too straight forward sometimes, so ya, sometime there are clashes in the beginning. I guess once people figure, that’s not a tension, they understand me and then we become very thick friends after that. What is that one thing that you would like to change from your past? Pick up a musical instrument, I think for sure. What is that one thing that you would like to change in the world? I think, the overall responsibility towards our society, I think we don’t have responsibility towards our society, in general. I am talking about whether it is to do with garbage, noise, our own space in the world, our own space in the society... helping our society, to make it better for the rest of us. I feel, we are very selfish, as people. What is that one thing that you would like to change in our film industry? I would like to see, greater dependence on writing and script, than on cast and music, and the project system… While having great music and great star cast is very very important in the film... I feel having a good story that can live on and be spoken about years and years and years later… that only comes with good screen writing… No matter how big the stars and how good the music… there is always going to be THE MOVIE that you would talk about later… And that movie comes from the writing… And I wish more movies, spend more time in development and getting the scripts right… then by all means take the same amount of time in cast and shoot. What are your strong points and what are your weak points ? Probably because of my experience of working as an AD, the technicalities of film-making are my strong points. Whether it’s cinematography, whether it’s sound or back ground music or that kind of stuff. I know pretty much what I want from my shots and moments and scenes. I think my weakness is probably… the idea of not being able to be detached enough or subjective enough from my subject matter. I don’t think that’s just me, I think everybody has that problem. I think sometimes letting go of stuffs is a weakness for me. And I think my writing can get better… I am getting there as a writer... I don’t think I am a good writer, yet. But when you write and you are the director then it doesnt really matter if it’s on the pages, isnt it? The writer and the director have to detach themselves, from each other… It’s difficult... When you are writing, you have to keep the director away, because then you start getting too technical into moments and you are not looking at it, from the story perspective. Tell us a little about your close friends and the kind of role they have played in your past and present. Because I started working pretty early, when I was about 17-18 hence my closest friends are from within the industry. So there is Anurag and Vikas. They are my close friends and also my co-producers, so we are all partners right now. There is Kunal, who is my sound designer. There is Abhay Deol with whom I grew up in school and we spend a hell lot of time, post college, younger days. Smoking a lot, talking a lot, thinking a lot. I think a lot of who I am as a person, comes from my time spend with Abhay, discussing things and movies, and thoughts and philosophies and that kind of stuff. There is also my wife Ishika, whom I have known for twenty four years now, almost. We also grew up together. There are some school friends, four-five of us, who are very close from school. I think they all played a huge role. They all are extremely honest with me, about my movie and screenplay. I think that’s why I am always looking for honesty and some amount of constructive criticism to come on your work from someone who really wants to give it to you. So these guys have pretty much shaped who I am. Tell us a little about your family and the kind of role they have played in your past and present. My mom, is still working with me… she is my executive producer. She had put together a talk show in the 90s called Teen Talk, which is when I started working in TV and then I went on to making movies. So she is the reason I got into films in the first place and she is still around. My dad was very supportive, because he said, do what you want. In the beginning I sort of worked with him and when I discovered that this is more interesting road to follow, then he said, no issues. I stayed with him for all those years, when you are struggling and you don’t have a job. As a director you are trying to get your film made, so you don’t have a job. And my sister, who is two years younger to me has been really influential for my picking up on Hindi music over the years. She is a huge Hindi music fan. So lot of our childhood is spend, whether it is going from school to home or one home to another home, listening to AIR, Amin Sayani doing the Cibaca Geetmala, before that was Binaka Geetmala... over the years listening to that. Because she insisted, and we use to fight... I wanted my music and she wanted her music, and because she was younger, it was like... let her have her way. Kishor, Lata, Asha Bhosle, RD Burman that kind of stuff. Tell us about your relation with your grandmother? My grandmother though that I was doing a hobby. This is, after I had been in the industry for five years and I was working for 16 hours a day. So she asked me, when do you start the real work. I was like, this is real work. I am not getting paid as much as I should but it is real work. Which is kind of ironic, considering her husband had produced a film. Then after that I think she got it. This is serious stuff, so ok. Who are the writers and screenwriters you admire, nationally and internationally? Internationally definitely Coen Brothers, are definitely right up there. I think their writing is fantastic. There is of course Tarantino, David Mamet, Charlie Kaufman, Peter Morgan and Simon Beaufoy. Here I think I like of course Anurag’s writing, Raju Hirani’s writing, Zoya and Reema as a partnership is a fantastic writing that we have found… Salim - Javed of course through the years has been fantastic… Abrar Alvi’s writing has been fab… Gulzar Saab also has been quiet terrific. What inspires you to make a film? It comes from all sorts of places. A, doing something youve never done before and B, it’s the passion to tell the story, YOU want to tell. I have discovered over the period, one, give that story a month, see how you feel about it after a month, whether it still sticks in your head. If it does, then it is worth pursuing. And pursuing doesnt mean writing the screenplay immediately, it means, think about it, put down notes whenever you can, let it gestate in your head and then eight months or a year later, start writing the screenplay of it. Let it just work in your head till then, let it consume you, let it be something you are constantly thinking of. But inspiration comes from all sorts of places… life, dreams, talking to people, a joke you crack and something connects somewhere and you say, oh ya it’s a great idea. In my case I think it comes from small small things that you pick up from personal experience youve been in, and you feel its a great milieu for a film, what can one do in this space… I am feeling angry about this, lets do something about this. Then for me, its easy to write, cause you know the experience and there is less of research required. What is the source of inspiration for Udaan? Udaan comes from a lot of places. The beginning of the film comes from my fathers life in boarding school and he comes back to a very very strict father. The milieu of the film, Jamshedpur, comes from my childhood of growing up in Nashik, which is a factory town, so I know that entire world. The young stepbrother element has come from my life, where my dad got married a second time and my speculation, what would have happened, if I had a stepbrother or stepsister to deal with. So those core elements come from there. There is influence in terms of music. There is lot of Springsteen in Udaan because there is lot of darkness in the town. The run away from an industrial town. There is a lot of, The Who’s music in there. There are a lot of images of this guy running, which is the angst which is natural to me, because of just the personality that I am. So you can’t pin point, it’s all over the place. What is it, you wish, you should have known before you came into the industry? Wish I had been more patient. What one doesnt know is, patience is what you really require in this industry. Now I know. And I keep telling it to every new writer, director that I meet. I wish I knew that. How are you different as an artist in the public sphere from the person at home? I’m very different. I dont enjoy the public sphere in the sense that Im a very private person. I’m very homely, I am very introspective and all those kind of things. But over the years, because you understand that there is a public persona side, so I have become comfortable and come to terms with it. I am not as nervous. Earlier I was extremely nervous about being in public. I couldn’t talk and know how to dress. But right now I am little more comfortable in my shoes, so I don’t really care what I wear. But ya, given a choice, I would prefer not to go out and be with my closer circle of friends. Tell us a little about your association with Vinil Mathew and how your recent film Hasee Toh Phasee came about? Vinil is the director, whom lot of us in the company has been admiring for a long time. He is almost a legend in the Ad making world because of his Cadbury Ads. There is almost this Vinil Mathew-esk kind of way of doing things. I think that is the reason why we kind of liked him. He had a script which he brought to us and we read it and we felt it was good and it had potential. Then we really went out to get his film made. There has been process with Vinil. He has been around for a while, to get his film made. But we made a film with him, because we believe that a talent like him, needs to be out there. Do you see a ‘New Trend’ in terms of story and films ? Definitely. Our films have become more interesting, sleeker, become more bigger when they need to be, become more interesting side-ways when they need to be… I think we are in a good space. We have big blockbusters which is also working and we have got smaller inde films which are also working, we have got the middle of the road, Lootera, Dedh Ishqiya which is also in the sense working… they are arty film but they are working for an audience which they never would have worked for, ten years ago. It’s a great space with all kinds of content. 2013 alone, whether it’s a Lunch Box or Ship of Theseus, or a Lootera, or a D Day, Go Goa Gone, or Kai Po Che, or Madras Café, Raanjhanaa… I mean literally look at all these films… Fukrey, Ghanchakkar, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag… Look at the range. And I am not even counting Chennai Express and Dhoom 3 and Race 2 and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and there are the whole bunch of blockbusters type, Ram Leela. But I am saying if you look at it… it’s so beautifully varied… and almost all these films have worked. Fantastic! What books have inspired you or influenced you in the past and present? I think crime books always inspires me the most… and crimes means going back to old fashion, whether its Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Eric Ambler, James M Cain… these are the writers I keep going back to. I don’t feel anyone writes dialogue as well as Raymond Chandler does. I don’t feel anyone sets up mystery as well as Dashiell Hammett does. Scandinavian crime like Henning Mankell is also something I like. Among a lot of modern writers, I like Murakami’s work. From the older ones Graham Greene, Hemingway are someone I love. I also love graphic novels, Craig Thompson. Within the super-hero stuff, there are so many like Scott Snyder, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Frank Miller, Alan Moore… I read everything. Which is the recent film, you have liked? Most recently American Hustle, Wolves of Wall Street, Inside Llewyn Davis, I liked all three of them. In Indian movies, I feel Ship of Theseus is the best movie that I saw in the theater in 2013. I feel the best thing that I saw in the theater, in the entire year, was Dibakar’s Short Film in Bombay Talkies. Which are the films your are looking forward to, this year? This year, I am very excited about Ugly… Then there is this Marathi film, Fandry, which is out of this world and I saw it in festival last year… I am very excited to see Titli and NH10 and beside that I am dying to see Peekay… its Raju Hirani… so want to see what he has done. Which films have really inspired you? I think Indian film that has inspired would be Pyaasa… pretty much top of the list. Obviously the whole of Salim-Javed in between, Shole, Don, Trishul and Deewaar. Definitely they are very very inspirational films. Ya, Amar Akbar Anthony has been very influential. In the 90s, I saw a lot more of western films. In the first decade of 21st Century, it is Black Friday and Lage Raho Munna Bhai. In western films, it is all of Scorsese’s work. I love Billy Wilder. Kurosawa, Hitchcock… but what is most influential for me and many of my generation in the 90s is Tarentino, Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky… and these filmmakers breaking out, and creating this work… and you feel like wow, where have they been. So those moments, when you saw Pulp Fiction for the first time, when you saw Train Spotting for the first time, when you saw Fight Club for the first time, when you saw Seven… And David Finchers work is huge influence… Even small obscure works like Dead Presidents… Usual Suspects is another fantastic film… then of course you go back and watch all the masters like Kubrick and Billy Wilder. Billy Wilder is extremely under rated director… people have not seen very much of Billy Wilder. He is outstanding, he is probably one of the greatest filmmakers we have out there. What would you be, if you were not into films? I’ll be a Photographer. Is there any funny incident while shooting that you would like to share? The one I remember is when in Udaan, Ronit broke his nose. In the climax scene which we were shooting, quite early in the schedule and Rajat on the fourth take of fifth shot, he kind of hit out and wacked him on his nose and his nose broke and he had to go back to Bombay and get an operation done and we were stuck without him. I remember at that point of time, when everyone was serious, I was laughing for some reason… It was like why are you laughing… Because you are getting screwed so might as well enjoy yaar… you know… I remember going out to shoot the day after that… and my most memorable day of shooting was going out… suddenly I was like this filmmaker who has been working to a system so far and suddenly that system breaks down… and suddenly you are free to do what you feel like… Ronit is to go back, so I said, let’s just take Rajat, take the camera… let’s just go out and have some fun… and I think that is some of the best footage that’s there in the film… the railway tracks, the slide dump or the water tank shot… and I felt we should do it more often… those are not humorous incidents but for me those are the memorable days of shooting. You film was shot on stock or digital? Both Udaan and Lootera were shot on stock. Udaan was shot on 16mm and Lootera was 35mm. How is your experience of working with Deepa Mehta, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Anurag Kashyap? Sanjay was like film school. I leant everything from him, working two and a half years, 25 hours a day, 8 days a week... Literally. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was actually the last film in India to be edited on steenbeck. So no video assist on shoot and you are actually cutting on film… that experience of learning how a film is cut and how a film is made… what steenbeck means and what film actually means… all those experiences… really helped. Deepa was great… just to see the western way of working was actually an eye opener for me… coming from a Desi-way of working, suddenly the whole first AD, second AD, line producer, production manager, the walky-talky… that entire setup was just like wow, what is this! This is amazing! The organization of director’s space. How do you shoot a film like Water in forty two days. Why do we take hundred days to shoot a film. The efficiency that a western crew is a learning. With Anurag it was always like seat of the pants. It was like, let’s do it. He knows in his head, he is very very planned… but the approach is very seat of the pants. Let’s shoot something. The fearlessness that he has, is a great influence on me. So ya, I have picked up a lot from everybody… and it shows in my work ethics… One thing that I learned from Deepa was, that they blocked every morning… so everybody comes to the set on the same time… and you block all the scenes that you are going to do the rest of the day… I think that is a great exercise and we don’t do it over here… because everybody knows what to do… from the director to the cinematographer, to the lighting technicians, to AD, to the actors… everyone knows what they are going in for the rest of the day… while you are lighting, they are doing make up, they are running through the scene in their heads so when they come back on the set, everybody is set. What’s the news on your next film ‘Bhavesh Joshi’ with Imran Khan? I am still writing it. Quickly give reply to the following questions : a. Three words that describes you. Angry, quiet, emotional. b. Three things that you always carry. Iphone, notebook, pen. c. Three interesting things in your room. Superman action figure from Udaan. The license plate of the contessa car from Udaan. My notebooks. d. Three things that you like. Food, mountains, beach. e. Three things that you dislike. Violence, pollution, and people not giving a fcuk. storybaaz.in/2014/01/interview-with-vikramaditya-motwane.html FACEBOOK PAGE : https://facebook/storybaaz.in © 2014 Storybaaz. Lokiish Todi. All rights reserved
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 08:33:04 +0000
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