1. Why is that you turn a deaf ear to many of our questions?
Ans: I only answer what is worth answering.
2. Why don’t you make movies for society’s good?
Ans: I am not into social welfare. I am into self welfare. The Gaayam song is a great piece of work but if you zoom out and observe you will realize that when we constantly blame the system for not serving the people it escapes out attention that many times us people are worse than the system and that is because we are the ones who create it and conveniently forget about it.
3. Have you explored digital media to have revenue for your archives?
Ans: Worry about your own money.
4. Given an opportunity, would you live your life exactly the way you have up till now?
Ans: Every second of it.
5. Because of your quantity your work quality is suffering.
Ans: Thanks for the gyan.
6. I can read how your brain works.
Ans: Congrats. I have been trying to figure that out myself since long.
7. Please define luck.
Ans: Whatever it is, since it is not in our control by its very definition why waste time thinking about it?
8. Why the fuck “good in parts” we want the whole film to be good.
Ans: I think I screamed myself hoarse answering variants of this questions. So here goes once again. No director, let alone me, would want to do a film which is good only in parts. By the time you finish it that’s how it turns out. Unless you make a film yourself I guess your thick head won’t understand this.
9. Do you believe in Che Guevara?
Ans: I don’t know who he is?
10. Cool down. Dil pe mat le yaar.
Ans: Well… if you are so dumb that you didn’t get the humour in my answer you deserve to watch Aag again.
11. Let Aag be. Let him be. Let us be.
Ans: Thanks for the trouble you have taken in writing that long piece defending my case. But sorry to say this – but you have to understand that I have an allergy to mothering, brothering and patronizing instincts.
12. I have written some scripts. Would you like to read them?
Ans: NO.
13. I think people misunderstood that scene in Nishabd when Jia runs her legs up and down Bachchan’s leg under the table.
Ans: I am not sure misunderstood is the right word. I would say they could have watched from different perspectives. People who watched it through Jia found it cute. People who watched it through Bachchan found it sexy and people who watched through Revathy found it very offensive.
14. Some of Woody Allen’s quotes remind me of you.
Ans: Thanks for making me realize that I am not the only weirdo on the planet.
15. Don’t create false world around you.
Ans: Ok sir.
16. How can a person living in this country say that he does not like it?
Ans: I like the country all right. I only dislike people like you who live in it.
17. How does one deal with fans?
Ans: There is no such thing as fans. Every human being lives for himself and for his own gratification alone. If an artiste entertains them through his music, acting etc, they will appreciate and pay money to him or her one way or the other, and the day someone else does better they will move on. After Shahrukh entertained them for a decade when Hrithik came in with Kaho Na Pyaar Hain it just took them one day to tear off Shahrukh’s posters and put up Hrithik’s. And then later when some of Hrithik’s films bombed they went back to Shahrukh. So what fans are we talking about? They will just be there as long as your work interests or entertains them.
The other kind of fans who stick on to their idols irrespective of their work are those who strike a self identity with a feeling of belonging to the said celebrity. They will be in the category of a cult following which is very akin to following political ideology or forming a radical group. This is particularly prevalent in the fans of South stars. They develop a tendency to defend the star and get blind to his work.
Versions of this you can see, for example in someone ardently defending R.D Burman’s music forever in his life and he won’t even allow both himself and anyone else to even let another music director’s work to be spoken higher. What he will be protecting here is more a part of his own personality than R.D.Burman’s work itself.
I used to be obsessed with Jaya Sudha a Telugu actress in my teens and I used to hate any other heroine’s film working better than hers. So here it is not the work of the artiste anymore but it is my sense of belonging.
18. Do you prefer to let go one arrow after the other without making sure it will hit the target?
Ans: I think you are a little dated. I prefer a machine gun.
19. What will you define as fresh ideas? New ideas?
Ans: Not necessarily. It could be a new presentation of an old idea or an old packaging of a new idea.
20. Should you not go to a hill station and think?
Ans: I don’t think from a place. I think from my mind.
21. My humble request to you sir, don’t make movies just for the sake of it.
Ans: And my humble request to you Sir, please understand that if I don’t have the intelligence to understand it myself your lecture won’t help me either. Instead of that my humble request to you, Sir, is to spend that lecturing time on bettering yourself in whatever you do, that is if you do anything at all in the first place.
Ans: I only answer what is worth answering.
2. Why don’t you make movies for society’s good?
Ans: I am not into social welfare. I am into self welfare. The Gaayam song is a great piece of work but if you zoom out and observe you will realize that when we constantly blame the system for not serving the people it escapes out attention that many times us people are worse than the system and that is because we are the ones who create it and conveniently forget about it.
3. Have you explored digital media to have revenue for your archives?
Ans: Worry about your own money.
4. Given an opportunity, would you live your life exactly the way you have up till now?
Ans: Every second of it.
5. Because of your quantity your work quality is suffering.
Ans: Thanks for the gyan.
6. I can read how your brain works.
Ans: Congrats. I have been trying to figure that out myself since long.
7. Please define luck.
Ans: Whatever it is, since it is not in our control by its very definition why waste time thinking about it?
8. Why the fuck “good in parts” we want the whole film to be good.
Ans: I think I screamed myself hoarse answering variants of this questions. So here goes once again. No director, let alone me, would want to do a film which is good only in parts. By the time you finish it that’s how it turns out. Unless you make a film yourself I guess your thick head won’t understand this.
9. Do you believe in Che Guevara?
Ans: I don’t know who he is?
10. Cool down. Dil pe mat le yaar.
Ans: Well… if you are so dumb that you didn’t get the humour in my answer you deserve to watch Aag again.
11. Let Aag be. Let him be. Let us be.
Ans: Thanks for the trouble you have taken in writing that long piece defending my case. But sorry to say this – but you have to understand that I have an allergy to mothering, brothering and patronizing instincts.
12. I have written some scripts. Would you like to read them?
Ans: NO.
13. I think people misunderstood that scene in Nishabd when Jia runs her legs up and down Bachchan’s leg under the table.
Ans: I am not sure misunderstood is the right word. I would say they could have watched from different perspectives. People who watched it through Jia found it cute. People who watched it through Bachchan found it sexy and people who watched through Revathy found it very offensive.
14. Some of Woody Allen’s quotes remind me of you.
Ans: Thanks for making me realize that I am not the only weirdo on the planet.
15. Don’t create false world around you.
Ans: Ok sir.
16. How can a person living in this country say that he does not like it?
Ans: I like the country all right. I only dislike people like you who live in it.
17. How does one deal with fans?
Ans: There is no such thing as fans. Every human being lives for himself and for his own gratification alone. If an artiste entertains them through his music, acting etc, they will appreciate and pay money to him or her one way or the other, and the day someone else does better they will move on. After Shahrukh entertained them for a decade when Hrithik came in with Kaho Na Pyaar Hain it just took them one day to tear off Shahrukh’s posters and put up Hrithik’s. And then later when some of Hrithik’s films bombed they went back to Shahrukh. So what fans are we talking about? They will just be there as long as your work interests or entertains them.
The other kind of fans who stick on to their idols irrespective of their work are those who strike a self identity with a feeling of belonging to the said celebrity. They will be in the category of a cult following which is very akin to following political ideology or forming a radical group. This is particularly prevalent in the fans of South stars. They develop a tendency to defend the star and get blind to his work.
Versions of this you can see, for example in someone ardently defending R.D Burman’s music forever in his life and he won’t even allow both himself and anyone else to even let another music director’s work to be spoken higher. What he will be protecting here is more a part of his own personality than R.D.Burman’s work itself.
I used to be obsessed with Jaya Sudha a Telugu actress in my teens and I used to hate any other heroine’s film working better than hers. So here it is not the work of the artiste anymore but it is my sense of belonging.
18. Do you prefer to let go one arrow after the other without making sure it will hit the target?
Ans: I think you are a little dated. I prefer a machine gun.
19. What will you define as fresh ideas? New ideas?
Ans: Not necessarily. It could be a new presentation of an old idea or an old packaging of a new idea.
20. Should you not go to a hill station and think?
Ans: I don’t think from a place. I think from my mind.
21. My humble request to you sir, don’t make movies just for the sake of it.
Ans: And my humble request to you Sir, please understand that if I don’t have the intelligence to understand it myself your lecture won’t help me either. Instead of that my humble request to you, Sir, is to spend that lecturing time on bettering yourself in whatever you do, that is if you do anything at all in the first place.