Characters are not created on paper or laptop alone.
Mani Ratnam
Art is something in which you are never an expert at any point of time. It's something you hone all the time and something which is elusive all the time.
The thing is that when you make a film, it is such an intense experience. It's like being married.
I am a big fan of sleek action films.
The journey of filmmaking is so amazing. You start off with great confidence, and develop insecurity at the time of release. When you are ready with the finished product, you are constantly wondering if you have been honest to the story you started out with, if you got what you wanted. One is too close to the project by then to be objective.
In a film like 'Kannathil Muthamittal,' I can't have a Rajnikanth or a Kamal Haasan. If you have a star, the expectation of the film is different. So, you cast according to the subject of the film. Some films are best done with stars because it gives you a base on which if you can get the correct performance, you can reach higher.
I don't watch my old films like 'Roja,' 'Dil Se' because I only see mistakes. I see five minutes of the film and I am scared I will start finding mistakes in them.
That's the beauty of Mumbai. While some parts have grown rapidly, there are places like Churchgate that have retained their character.
I used to wonder how anyone could treat a fellow human as God. I never understood why they would do this.
Seeing any film after I have made it is difficult.
I enjoy making all kinds of films. I love action films, war films, period films, adventure films.
Whatever film you do, even if it's a children's film, you do with the same amount of sincerity.
When I am making a film, it's very instinctive, it's not preset.
What is film-making about if not romance?
I am more comfortable with Tamil than Hindi.
Can I call up any actor in Mumbai? I can, and they can say wrong number and hang up!
Sometimes in a large family, you get taken to a movie and there just isn't enough space or not enough tickets and you get left out. Those are the movies you remember because you never got to see them!
Every time you make a film, you want to do it in a genre that is different from your previous film, so that there is something fresh about it.
A film is between you and the audience. The distributors are the only people in between us. It is a straight equation.
Any good film you see gives you enough motivation and adrenaline rush to produce good content, while a bad film can get you so angry that you produce even better content.
I don't know why my leading men have grey shades. Maybe I am trying to explore that side of me through them.
I'm not saying that every song has to be an all-time hit or the greatest ever music. That's not what you should set out to do. But you have to find out what will work best for a particular story or theme or backdrop, and discuss how not to make it a cliche or fall into such traps.
Format is just the language. Content is the only thing that is important. Form is like handwriting. Whether you write in a scribble or clean handwriting or type it, the content remains the same. You want to write in clean hand, in a kind of a clear format only because it is aesthetically pleasing. I can scribble, that's also fine.
A written word gets preserved in so many forms. But movies which comprise of both audio and visuals have to be done with care and a lot more details.
If you look at any film fest, the setting gives it colour. Be it Goa, Cannes or even Berlin in the winter, the setting makes these festivals special and gives it a definition.
It doesn't matter which genre you're working in, you try to find an honest relationship within that space, and say if it's the romance genre, within that you have to find a story and characters that resonate with an audience.
When you break new grounds and try to do something different, it's always a high. I remember the first time we did a whole song in slow motion with lipsync for 'Geetanjali.' It was not prevalent at that time. We just had a method and we tried to do that. We weren't sure whether it was going to work, but that is the kind of risk you take.
I wish I had gone to a film school.
I don't have to stand back as an outsider to look at society.
Education is so important.
With each film, you are still trying to get the length and measure right. And failure is all about others' perception of you. When you have one success, they think you know it all. But if you fail, they think they know it all.
I work with actors who fit the bill. I have worked with Abhishek in 'Yuva,' 'Guru' and 'Raavan' because he was the perfect choice.
What I feel is great acting might be rubbish for another filmmaker. There is no right or wrong way to do it. It all boils down to the trust between an actor and a director.
Actors are the most important. Performance is what matters. Nothing matters more than the actors; they have to perform. No one else can give life to the characters. Audiences must believe the characters as real and the moments as real.
Movie criticism is very subjective and everyone has the right to voice their opinion. You go to a movie and decide whether you like it or not.
I watch films, so I know what it is to be there in a theatre as the audience. So I always want to communicate with them when I make films, but that is not the only thing. I also want to say something which I feel deeply, and which I feel I can connect with the rest of the audience.
When it comes to casting for movies, it is a priority that you cast right. The guiding principle must be what is right for the movie, that is the basis you cast someone, not because so-and-so is a friend.
It is usually the setting that decides whether a movie can be made in two languages. If the subject is rooted up North, then I make it in Hindi. But if the subject is common, then I am open to making the movie in multiple languages.
Censorship should never go. But we can always give a little more space to the director.
When I did my first film, I didn't have formal training; I didn't work under any director. I really didn't know how to make a film.
I grew up on the commercial film format. I have grown up all my life watching films and they have all been mainstream commercial cinema.
I liked Guru Dutt, the way he used songs and the way he shot songs. He was a class apart.
Mumbai is the most cosmopolitan city.
Bilingual films come with a certain inbuilt practical problem with respect to the setting of the story and the dialect.
Roja,' 'Bombay' and 'Dil Se' weren't planned as political films. It was a phase India was going through and these things affected me and found their way into my work.
A song is a burden that you carry happily.
Let me be very frank. I make films keeping within the mainstream and my cinema is popular cinema. I love it this way.
I am glad that we can make bold films, different films within the commercial market and still do well.
Language, I think, has nothing to do with film-making. It is how you make your point and whether you exploit the visual medium maintaining a certain standard that does the trick.
Unfortunately scripts don't chase me. I chase them. I struggle, battle, discard, pick it back, struggle further, plead with it, curse it, cajole and try to be clever. But it is invariably the script that rules.
