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Acting Legend Kamal Hassan Looks to the Future of Indian Movies

March 31, 2016 / 30:38

This episode features Kamill Hassan, an Indian actor and producer, discussing his 55-year career in cinema, his relationship with fans, and the state of Indian cinema.

Kamill Hassan shares anecdotes about his early career and the unique bond he has with his fans, describing them as his "elder brothers" and emphasizing their role in social service initiatives. He highlights his involvement in the Clean India movement and the importance of community support.

Reflecting on his career, Kamill discusses key moments that shaped his trajectory, including his unexpected entry into acting after a childhood accident. He credits his mentors and the influence of various cinematic styles from around the world for his development as an actor.

The conversation shifts to the challenges faced by Indian cinema, including the impact of commercial interests on creative storytelling. Kamill expresses concern over the lack of investment in scripts and the prevalence of nepotism in the industry, while also advocating for a new generation of filmmakers.

Finally, Kamill addresses the rise of digital platforms in India, sharing his experiences with DTH releases and expressing hope for a renaissance in Indian television and cinema.

TL;DR

Kamill Hassan discusses his career, fan relationships, and challenges in Indian cinema, emphasizing the need for better storytelling and digital opportunities.

Episode

30:38
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Joining us here on Wharton's campus is
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Mr. Kamill Hassan, Indian actor and
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producer and a legend of Indian cinema.
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Kamill, thank you so much for joining
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us. Thank you. My pleasure. You know
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before we begin, I just want to share a
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quick anecdote. Uh I went to college in
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Bits Pilani in India and uh I remember
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uh way back uh you know one of the years
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our Pilani Tamil association screened Ah
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Shanmugi and uh you know I remember
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before the screening a few students uh
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walked in with a big portrait of yours
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and they garlanded the portrait and they
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did an arty and then the screening began
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and no other film no other actor got
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that uh kind of attention. So I know
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those guys and I know they did it in
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lighter vein but I it also speaks
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volumes about your uh fans and how
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diehard fans they are. So can you can
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you say a little bit about your
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relationship with your fans? My
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relationship has been very different now
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I've become from just their entertainer
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I've become their elder brother and sort
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of a leader to them.
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I was not planning to lead the or even
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follow but it just happened that I had
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this enormous manpower
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going to waste or to politics which I
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didn't want either happening right so we
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converted all of them into social
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service uh
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arm and now we have about 300 to 400,000
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actual workers who could go out into the
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field and do things on command but only
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for civic reasons not political or
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rabbel rousing of any other sort. I see.
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So we are part of a clean India movement
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also which prime minister by the prime
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minister and we have been doing that for
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the past 30 years. Oh wow. So we being
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chosen as one of the ambassadors I think
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is more a recognition for me than a new
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appointment. So we've been at it and
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we're very proud that uh I think it's
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only because of those people uh the
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amount of money that has been spent. M I
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mean in dollar terms it might mean
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little but uh it's something like uh
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6 or 7 million
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but all from people those those
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currencies are wet with sweat they're
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hardworking some of them are laborers
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earning very little but they donate so
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we have created a habit of donating and
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serving among Even those who actually
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are making ends meet. Wow. So they they
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are uh it's sort of it's a reversal of
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roles. I've become their fan
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for all that they're doing to society.
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It's and we're working together and
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still hope to work together. No. Kudos
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to you. It's great to see you put that
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stardom into a great social mission.
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Yeah. When I told them about 30 years
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back that I'll be proud telling them I
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have done this. So please understand it
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might sound silly now but now they we
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are a team who have donated body parts
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donated eyes we are blood donors blood
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bank sch callers when they need blood
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special group people go out of their
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town to donate blood in another town
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and that that's what we have created now
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you know talking about your fans
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yesterday I had a conversation with one
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of your fans who's my mother-in-law
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and she is telling me that she's seen
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your first movie from 1960 when you were
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3 or 4 years old. Right. And I was
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amazed to learn that you've had a 55
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year career in films and you've done
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over 200 uh movies as you become it's
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become 57 now. It's 57 now. That's
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right. I figured you might have stopped
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counting now after a while. Well, for
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for obvious reasons. It's not good PR to
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keep telling what kind of citizen you
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are. Right. Right. Fair enough. Uh but
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as you reflect on on this illustrious
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career, what were the key moments or the
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key opportunities that that changed your
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career trajectory?
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Well, people here when I see actors and
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even today, not only Hollywood but even
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in they scheme, they plan, they sit and
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decide what they're going to do. I did
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nothing of that sort. M and if I if I
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tell you the uh kind of coincidences
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that happened that made me go from one
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to another, it's unbelievable. My I was
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just talking on uh serious radio and I
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was telling them that my when I given up
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in on acting because my father thought I
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should pursue uh school and uh stuff
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like that. I was seven or eight and I
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had an accident in school while fooling
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around. fell into the well of a stair
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three stories down. Oh my goodness. So
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that notoriity gave me
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a sort of visibility that took me to
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theater. So I was known as a kid who
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survived who fell. So he was also an
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actor movie actor. So somebody looking
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for a child actor for his theater group
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found me and he became my guru and I
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became like one among the family. Then
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he is TK Shanmukam the Dian of Tamil
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theater. Right. Right. Out after whom I
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named a film a Shanmuki. All right. Oh
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interesting. Shanmukam is his name. So
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he's he's mentored so many actors in the
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time. I I was one of them. Then I became
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a dance choreographer. Again another
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accident and I thought I won't be
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performing. So I went and joined as an
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assistant choreographer in movies. I was
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only playing sound for rehearsals. Then
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they found I could dance and then he
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took me in and my boss at that time
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became a director like how Bob force say
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from choreography to film direction. He
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he also graduated and so along with him
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I latched on became an assistant
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director. I was all this happened
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between 16 and 19. Wow. It's probably
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the perfect time. It's like going to
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film school, but I wish I had gone to
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film school, but it was finding my way,
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which was very bad. But then I wrote my
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first screenplay when I was 19.
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And the director of the film thought I
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should star in that because I understand
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the character best. So here I was and
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then my mentor
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uh Mr. Baljander found me and I told him
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he liked me and I told him I'd like to
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become a director like you sir one day.
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He said don't be a fool take up take up
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acting. I see you becoming an actor and
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I was wrong and he was right. And um he
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said you could become a director
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whenever you want because you're trained
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for it. But this is something else that
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doesn't happen to everybody. So I see. I
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did 36 films with him which is Wow.
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So you're you're talking about doing 36
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films with him. So clearly he's a person
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who he's like a father to me. Right.
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Right. Are there other uh people or
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maybe other films that inspired you? And
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I asked because you've been an
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inspiration to a lot of actors and
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directors. So I'm curious to know what
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inspires the person. Quite a few like I
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thought the my world ended with Tarian
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and Divipumar's
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this is the where the sun sets this is
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where the moon rises kind of
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limitations. Then later we saw Brando we
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understood Brando. Mhm. Then Orson Wells
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and stuff like that I see and then my
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horizon broadened further. Then you saw
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European actors. We thought then
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Hollywood is the zenith. Then we found
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that various pockets of genius that you
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where even Hollywood picks up from right
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then we got introduced to Japanese,
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Chinese,
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uh, Dutch cinema and they've all been
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inspirations in my career. I see. Now,
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you talked about how you didn't have
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training and and you know, I wish I'd
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gone to a film school, but you also were
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trained as a dancer and I can see how
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your experience in performing arts could
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uh be a source of inspiration for you as
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an actor. But tell us a little bit more
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on what you draw upon as an actor. Is it
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sheer instinct? Is it the dance
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training? What is it? No, dance training
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can be only one part like if you see
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Christopher Watkins, I never knew he
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could even dance. M that's not what I
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admired him for. It was a surprise when
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he could dance. So dance could be just a
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part of right of uh your acting
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progress. As a matter of fact, Fred
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Aastra, they always talk about his um
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dancing. That's right. Or Jane Kelly for
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both of them were good actors too.
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They didn't focus on it as much as they
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did dancing. So I think cinema itself is
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a very versatile medium. To be serving
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that medium you have to be versatile.
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You'll have to know so many things and I
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enjoyed it and um since I grew up my
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eyes open to cinema. I probably
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understood like how a child born with a
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computer environment plays easily with
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it than a person who saw the advent of
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computer coming in and slowly touched it
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and got used to it. Uh it's like today's
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ch children who take up an iPad and
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start playing the baby games on an iPad.
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Right. So you grew up with cinema,
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right? that that that's probably one
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little
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uh sort of help in the gradient that I
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got. Right. So let's talk a little bit
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about your movies. You've made some
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amazing films like Nikon uh which I saw
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for a second time just uh this week uh
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and was blown away by the intensity but
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there's so many other the list is so
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long. Michael Madan Kamar Rajan Aveshan
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Mmogi Saga uh in Canada which is the
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language I speak Rama Shama and many
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others
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uh where I mean I'm curious to
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understand how you go about selecting
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your films I mean you've had this uh
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amazing set of films and I'm interested
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in understanding what is the process
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that goes into deciding I'm going to do
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this film and not that other film
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it's it's complicated but it's very
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simple also the way you select the film
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films to see,
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you know, and some people pick the right
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movie all the time because they've been
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doing only that. They love it, right?
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And they say, "Not this one." And you're
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wondering which one to pick. And there's
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this wise geek, a cinema geek who tells
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you, "Go to that one because I think
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it's going to be good." It's it's still
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a chance. It might but that's that's
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what I uh obey that audience and me. I
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think ultimately all directors are
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trying to become that audience they once
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were right where you could totally
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concentrate on the center of screen one
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the moment you become a technician you
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start watching the corners shakes a
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little you notice it pans a little you
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notice it so you're not actually
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immersed into the watching of the film
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right other details sort of crowd your
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mind so most great directors are
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simplifying
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their job and becoming the audience is
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probably the zenith of their
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wish list, you know, to become that.
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Right. Right. You just gave the
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perspective of the director or the
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cameraman and and you yourself have been
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a producer. You've uh directed, you've
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written. Uh could you tell us a little
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bit about what got you into producing,
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directing, why did you decide to do it
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yourself? Survival.
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How it's like being a gladiator and then
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starting a gladiator school and then
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becoming Spartacus.
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It's it's like that you know it it
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became truly because because the kind of
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films they were doing was not
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satisfactory. The kind of films I was
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suggesting would become
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I mean intervention.
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Some people were lucky like Brando got
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to got his say in any film he did. He
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was such a big star but I didn't want to
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uh risk bad PR so I put my money where
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my mouth was. Okay. So and it worked. We
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have now produced uh 40 films under my
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company and out of which we have more
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than 30 hits
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which uh include films like Mahan even
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Rama Shamabama we were part of. So
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you're not just an amazing creative
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person, you're a great businessman too.
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You could come teach at Wharton in that
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case. 30 out of 40 films. That's
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amazing. Yeah. That that but we we know
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the we are now concentrating on the
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other 10.
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Why and how? And we have the answers but
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a little too late.
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But it could be imparted to somebody
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else. Yes. we more than coming toward
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and I think we'll have to sit home and
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mull over our failures and see that it
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doesn't happen again. So come on let's
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switch gears a little bit and talk about
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Indian cinema in general and the
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challenges and the opportunities uh it
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faces. So if you look at Indian cinema
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you know there's some great movies that
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have come out of it. Of course there's
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Satya
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you know your own film Niagen directed
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by Maniratnam has been listed by Time
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magazine as one of the hundred greatest
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films of all time. Um and as I mentioned
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earlier I saw it again second time this
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week and I was simply blown away by the
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intensity of the movie.
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Now while we have produced these kinds
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of movies, it's also true that given how
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massive the market is, these kinds of
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movies have more been exceptions than
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the norm of the u industry and you also
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alluded to the fact that uh you became a
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producer because the kinds of films you
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wanted to make weren't being made. So
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can you tell us a little bit about why
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despite India being such a big film
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market, India hasn't been producing
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great cinema at the same rate? Uh the
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thing is more people with money started
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dictating the proceed proceedings of the
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business. Less and less visionaries were
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doing it. I see. when you had uh KF,
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I think I would put the blames squely on
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great people like KF were taking so long
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to make films. If they had only made it
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faster, they would have set example, set
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the pace, set the bar higher every time.
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And uh it was very difficult, very tough
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market. And there weren't any studios,
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right? They all shut down soon after
00:15:39
independence. Everybody was an
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independent producer. They didn't go the
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Hollywood route. So, everybody was
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risking it. Like even my own company
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is is like two brothers running the
00:15:54
company. But we we are visionaries. We
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we look at what we want to do and we bet
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our stakes are high but we bet it on
00:16:04
what we believe in. And it's worked
00:16:06
about 30 times for us. Yeah. Now my own
00:16:10
hypothesis on this subject is that it
00:16:13
feels to me like there is an
00:16:14
underinvestment in scripts in India. So
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if you look at uh Hollywood for example
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development which is you know licensing
00:16:21
a book or writing the screenplay takes
00:16:23
up 10 to 15% of the total budget. I
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looked at similar numbers for the Hindi
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cinema industry which was around 1 to
00:16:30
one and a half% and I imagine it's
00:16:31
similar in other languages. No it's even
00:16:33
less. So, so it's it's it's so reliant
00:16:38
on stars and existing uh fame that
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doesn't try anything. They don't believe
00:16:44
truly that content could become king. I
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see. They think they need an actual king
00:16:49
with a crown in physical form. So that's
00:16:52
why they go to stars all the time. But
00:16:54
the things are changing now. And uh as I
00:16:59
was talking it's time that India started
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making its film uh in the language that
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it communicates with each
00:17:08
interstate communication is not done in
00:17:11
Canada between Tamil Nadu
00:17:14
and uh Karnataka. Interstate
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communication between Maharashtra and
00:17:19
Tamil Nadu happens because we have one
00:17:21
national language called English.
00:17:24
Right? So that is our strength and we
00:17:28
should
00:17:30
start making films in that language. And
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what about the writers you know what
00:17:34
does it take for writers to you know get
00:17:37
due attention in the industry is that
00:17:38
happening already or it's it's slowly
00:17:40
happening like I started on my own
00:17:43
initiative it was not by any my company
00:17:46
did it and we had a workshop uh
00:17:51
screenplay workshop
00:17:53
more than one or two uh where we made
00:17:55
all international writers come and
00:17:57
attend and I Madras was kind enough to
00:18:02
offer space and that's probably the one
00:18:06
time where
00:18:08
two
00:18:09
spectrums met you know it never ever got
00:18:13
together
00:18:15
and both need each other that way the
00:18:18
two spectrums being the creative writers
00:18:20
the creative writers and not only that
00:18:23
IIT is
00:18:25
technical talent technical talent and
00:18:28
it's where intelligentia is supposed to
00:18:31
reside side and if that connects with uh
00:18:35
uh Tamil film making look at the kind of
00:18:38
synergy that they could create that's
00:18:40
what I was trying to even now I'm very
00:18:43
keen on um making a media school uh
00:18:49
those opportunities that I missed should
00:18:51
be now given to this extraordinary
00:18:55
talent and we have neglected most of uh
00:18:59
talented India Yeah. Right. Right. Like
00:19:02
for Assam, Megalai,
00:19:05
right? Northwest uh northeast frontier
00:19:09
itself. We we never looked into it.
00:19:11
That's right. Now, moving on from
00:19:13
writing, another criticism of Indian
00:19:16
cinema uh tends to be the nepotism in
00:19:19
the industry that there is uh it's hard
00:19:22
for a newcomer to get in and it's easier
00:19:24
for insiders. Um what's your take on
00:19:27
that? Is that fair? And more
00:19:28
importantly, is it possible for somebody
00:19:31
with uh new creative ideas or with great
00:19:33
talent to break in even if they have no
00:19:34
connection? It's happening like I I was
00:19:36
a nobody. Yeah. You clearly were so I
00:19:40
can go by my example and I was not even
00:19:42
from that part of the country. Yeah. And
00:19:46
I didn't even speak that language but
00:19:47
they welcome me and I think you can say
00:19:51
that yes that that's true of Hollywood
00:19:54
too. M
00:19:56
you have uh there I guess fewer you know
00:19:59
father son type of things that you can
00:20:01
point to. Yeah, that that's the same
00:20:02
thing that's happening there. But well,
00:20:05
like a kid who's been in cinema from
00:20:09
three and a half benefits. He
00:20:10
understands it better. Look at me. So
00:20:13
now Shi, my daughter is in movies. She
00:20:16
understands it better. But she didn't
00:20:18
want to become an actor. She actually
00:20:20
was a graduate from musicians institute.
00:20:23
Oh, really? In LA. But then she came
00:20:26
back and she took to acting. She she's
00:20:30
kept her career on hold as far as music
00:20:33
is concerned but now she's after
00:20:36
becoming a star she's using it to her
00:20:38
benefit. Got it. So on that note, what
00:20:41
would be your advice for somebody who's
00:20:44
you know wants to break in, has talent,
00:20:46
has an idea but doesn't have the
00:20:48
connections. What's the right way to
00:20:49
approach? I think the best thing is
00:20:51
that's what I'm trying to create now a
00:20:54
media school that trains actually
00:20:56
instead of going and it's a lie when
00:20:59
people say that I'm worked under some
00:21:02
somebody a director and I learned film
00:21:05
direction from him. It it's a lie. You
00:21:08
cannot teach warfare during battle.
00:21:12
It's an interesting perspective. Yeah.
00:21:14
You don't teach them stroke by stroke.
00:21:17
You don't tell them how to defend. They
00:21:19
just watch and pick it up. And that's
00:21:21
dangerous.
00:21:22
The best way is to learn in a ludos in a
00:21:26
school for fighters. And that's what it
00:21:31
should happen. My advice is that my
00:21:34
career took a strange twist and turn and
00:21:38
got me into the right spot. But um I I
00:21:41
don't think that's a good example to
00:21:43
follow because not all can be that lucky
00:21:46
finding good teachers all the time.
00:21:48
Right. For me, my teachers paid me
00:21:52
instead of the other way around. Right.
00:21:54
Right. They paid me and taught me and
00:21:57
it's that that's not going to happen.
00:21:59
That doesn't happen anymore. Right.
00:22:01
So I think they should prepare
00:22:03
themselves like it is serious business
00:22:07
and they should prepare like any other
00:22:10
cinematography or you can't just come in
00:22:13
here and handle that camera right you
00:22:15
have to know where the switches are what
00:22:17
it does what what an aperture is what
00:22:20
what happens when it when it becomes
00:22:23
seamos right uh how it grabs light and
00:22:27
what all you could do further what you
00:22:30
can do on further
00:22:32
Right? All that switch to digital red
00:22:35
camera. You must know the earlier
00:22:38
history of how we suffered and how this
00:22:42
has gone even further ahead. All that is
00:22:45
knowledge and study and that should be
00:22:48
done. Even in acting, even in film
00:22:50
production,
00:22:52
carrying a bag bagload of money and
00:22:54
becoming a producer is no good. Right?
00:22:57
That's what happened to India.
00:23:00
And that's what went wrong. Now is a
00:23:03
time where even the producers will have
00:23:05
to be trained. Yeah. So Kaml, let's talk
00:23:07
a little bit about digital platforms and
00:23:09
their relevance in India. So Netflix has
00:23:11
entered India very recently. Uh in
00:23:14
India, internet adoption is increasing,
00:23:16
but at the same time, broadband speeds
00:23:18
aren't quite the same. What's your take
00:23:20
on digital platforms for uh movie and
00:23:23
related content? I've I've both cut my
00:23:26
teeth and broken it on that platform in
00:23:29
the sense that uh I was the first man
00:23:32
trying to attempting day and date
00:23:35
release on a DTH platform. I see. And
00:23:38
the whole industry came piling down on
00:23:41
me.
00:23:43
Yeah. Visharup. They banned the film.
00:23:45
They stopped the film. They did
00:23:47
everything possible. Then I had to wave
00:23:50
a white flag and said okay no DTH and
00:23:52
I'll come back to the theater which u
00:23:56
which is okay I guess because but uh the
00:23:59
door is already open the ideas planted
00:24:03
you cannot stop technology it will come
00:24:06
and uh it is the way to go I mean
00:24:09
Netflix is coming and
00:24:12
uh YouTube all of them are coming in and
00:24:16
I'd like to explore them, work with them
00:24:19
and that is the future because it
00:24:23
convenience of the customer will
00:24:26
uh garner more money right if you supply
00:24:30
to that need right and in fact these
00:24:33
platforms in the US have also made a new
00:24:35
kind of uh content possible uh so for
00:24:38
example Netflix has produced several
00:24:40
shows Amazon has produced YouTube has
00:24:42
produced Netflix has had house of cards
00:24:44
which was a great success and many
00:24:46
others so is Is there a similar
00:24:48
opportunity in India where certain kinds
00:24:50
of films that have an audience but
00:24:52
perhaps are not meant to be large scale?
00:24:55
Not all satellite channels in India are
00:24:58
held by companies.
00:25:01
Some are held by politicians.
00:25:05
So it's only a propaganda tool, news
00:25:09
propaganda and that's it. So they are
00:25:12
not looking at it as a great business
00:25:14
opportunity. The moment they do that, it
00:25:16
would be great. But you think it's on
00:25:19
the TV side, not so much Netflix and
00:25:21
YouTube doing that. No, but Netflix and
00:25:24
YouTube has a fantastic potential in uh
00:25:28
India. YouTube already is there, right?
00:25:31
And uh Netflix will come there and maybe
00:25:35
a few more they'll try and break into
00:25:39
the follow the pattern of success. But
00:25:43
that's that's the way to go and that's
00:25:45
because especially in a country where
00:25:47
there's no transparency in the box
00:25:49
office, right? So this will become a a
00:25:52
venue and I'm so happy to see the way
00:25:56
television in America is going because
00:25:59
it's not driven by
00:26:02
uh people who are only crunching
00:26:04
numbers, right? Somehow it's taking a
00:26:08
very intelligent turn. So you're hopeful
00:26:10
there could be a similar renaissance of
00:26:12
television in India as well. I hope so
00:26:14
because but they have I don't know it it
00:26:18
should have happened by now if we're
00:26:20
already late but I think it will
00:26:24
copy uh but these platforms are still
00:26:28
with or without television delivering uh
00:26:32
material direct to home
00:26:35
is going to work now direct to laptops
00:26:38
right and gadgets is going to be the way
00:26:43
and and the length of the film might
00:26:46
become extraordinarily long but
00:26:50
it'll become smaller
00:26:53
like serials right uh a 10-minut
00:26:58
short 10 the 20 minutes might soon
00:27:00
become 10 minutes and you'll do hundreds
00:27:03
of them so it'll become a thousand
00:27:05
minute show yeah yeah we've talked a
00:27:08
little bit about what has gone wrong and
00:27:09
what are the challenges Indian cinema
00:27:11
faces what in your mind is uh perhaps
00:27:15
the most important thing that other film
00:27:17
markets can learn from Indian cinema.
00:27:20
Oh, that is the ingenuity with making
00:27:23
films of whatever we have, right? Like
00:27:26
if I tell you the budget of uh wishup
00:27:29
Yes. Please tell us. Yeah. You you you
00:27:31
won't believe it because it it is a
00:27:34
little less than 10 million
00:27:37
and that includes my remineration which
00:27:38
is a big chunk. I see. Which means it's
00:27:41
10 million US. Yeah. Yeah. But you look
00:27:45
at the film budget movie, right? Yeah.
00:27:48
like it's a lot of uh special effects
00:27:50
and all that. If you want to pull off a
00:27:52
film like that in Hollywood, it'll cost
00:27:54
you 2025 million. Right. Right. And
00:27:57
we've done it at half the price and the
00:28:00
quality is not bad at all. You've seen
00:28:03
Hollywood films and we've seen Vish.
00:28:05
Yes, I've seen Vishar Rupam and clearly
00:28:07
in terms of the effects and all of that,
00:28:09
it it it's on par.
00:28:11
So that's that's and that's what we
00:28:14
shouldn't lose because our shaking hands
00:28:16
with Hollywood doesn't shouldn't grease
00:28:18
it with a lot of dollars right and make
00:28:21
us complacent. I think our quality comes
00:28:25
from our um
00:28:28
use of budget and working hard. Right?
00:28:32
So I think what they should learn from
00:28:35
Hollywood on the uh contrary for most of
00:28:38
the film making industry is the um prep
00:28:42
for a film. The way Hollywood preps is
00:28:45
astounding. I like it and it it it is
00:28:50
all uh there's no bragging element in
00:28:54
that. It's all necessary and the way
00:28:56
they do it and yes it looks a bit
00:29:00
flamboyant for people who are budget
00:29:02
conscious because as you say to develop
00:29:05
a movie to prep a movie so much money is
00:29:09
spent right and a Indian producer will
00:29:12
still not understand why that is so
00:29:15
important to spend money there right
00:29:18
now finally let me come back to where we
00:29:20
began which is your 55 year uh film
00:29:23
career After such an illustrous career,
00:29:26
what is there left for you to do in
00:29:28
cinema? What keeps you ticking within
00:29:30
the film world? Applause and money. So
00:29:33
you never get tired of it. No, no, not
00:29:35
not not of both.
00:29:38
But apart from that, there's a lot of
00:29:40
work to do as far as India is concerned.
00:29:42
As I told you, the media school itself
00:29:44
is a is a dream. And now we are writing
00:29:48
a script with American writers.
00:29:51
um my friend Charles Oliver and few
00:29:55
other writers are sitting together and
00:29:57
we're making a script in English.
00:30:02
Hopefully films like that would happen
00:30:06
more often and then we're talking. Well,
00:30:10
here's wishing you even more success.
00:30:11
Thank you so much for joining us here at
00:30:13
Thank you. Pleasure.
00:30:26
[Music]

Episode Highlights

  • Kamill Hassan's Unique Relationship with Fans
    Kamill Hassan shares how he transitioned from entertainer to elder brother and leader for his fans, highlighting the deep connection he has with them.
    “I've become their elder brother and sort of a leader to them.”
    @ 00m 56s
    March 31, 2016
  • The Power of Giving Back
    Kamill Hassan discusses the incredible dedication of his fans, who donate despite their limited means, creating a culture of giving.
    “It's a reversal of roles. I've become their fan for all that they're doing to society.”
    @ 02m 59s
    March 31, 2016
  • The Future of Indian Cinema
    Kamill Hassan advocates for Indian films to be made in a common language to enhance communication and reach.
    “I think it's time that India started making its films in the language that it communicates.”
    @ 17m 02s
    March 31, 2016
  • The Future of Digital Platforms in India
    The conversation explores the rise of digital platforms like Netflix and YouTube in India, emphasizing their potential impact on the film industry.
    “YouTube already is there, right? And Netflix will come there.”
    @ 25m 28s
    March 31, 2016
  • Ingenuity in Indian Cinema
    A reflection on how Indian filmmakers achieve high-quality productions on lower budgets compared to Hollywood.
    “If you want to pull off a film like that in Hollywood, it’ll cost you 20-25 million.”
    @ 27m 54s
    March 31, 2016
  • A New Script with American Writers
    The speaker shares plans to collaborate with American writers on a new script, aiming for more cross-cultural projects.
    “We’re making a script in English. Hopefully films like that would happen more often.”
    @ 29m 51s
    March 31, 2016

Episode Quotes

  • I've become their elder brother and sort of a leader to them.
    Acting Legend Kamal Hassan Looks to the Future of Indian Movies
  • You cannot stop technology; it will come.
    Acting Legend Kamal Hassan Looks to the Future of Indian Movies
  • Our quality comes from our use of budget and working hard.
    Acting Legend Kamal Hassan Looks to the Future of Indian Movies
  • Applause and money. So you never get tired of it? No.
    Acting Legend Kamal Hassan Looks to the Future of Indian Movies

Key Moments

  • Fan Connection00:56
  • Social Impact02:59
  • Language in Cinema17:02
  • Digital Platforms24:03
  • Budget Ingenuity28:25
  • Collaborative Projects29:51

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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