‘If something goes wrong, I take the onus’

doweshowbellyad=0; Still from Shaurya. Did the BO failure of Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye make you decide on directing something as different as Shaurya?
As a film-maker, I always wanted to make films that I believed in and hence I chose the subjects of both Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye and Shaurya. I must have faltered in some way about the way I told the story of KMHJ.That the film wasn���t a BO success is in no way connected to why I chose to make Shaurya. I had a thought in mind and I just wanted to work on it.
So what is Shaurya all about then?
The film has the army as its background but we don���t have battletanks. It talks about a lot of the stereotypes and prejudices that already exists in our minds about the largest private institution. My protagonist is in the army and it���s a story of justice, honour, friendships, but most importantly, of the search for courage.
How do you think the army could react to the film?
I have put forth a very balanced view in the film and it is only after the film releases will I know how they react to it. Since the army has been used just as a backdrop, we didn���t require any sort of help from them. To put it simply, they have been shown just the way they should be perceived.
Since your first film didn���t do too well, you must be having a lot of expectations from Shaurya?
I strongly feel that any good story has the capability to entertain and all good films must have some entertainment value attached to them. I cannot guarantee the box-office success of my film but I believe that even if 40 people go to see my film and 39 walk out feeling that they liked it, my hard work has paid off. But if something does go wrong, then I take the onus. After all, it���s my story and my belief.
You are a journalist turned director. What made you change profession?
I started off as an entertainment reporter and finally became an entertainment editor with one of the leading national news channels. And this opened up windows of meeting people from the industry. One fine day, I realised that films were my calling.
You didn���t have any formal training in film-making. Was that ever a problem?
Film-making is all about telling a story. A certain amount of experience and a fresh perspective does help. I have never been to any film school, actually I haven���t even done my graduation but a certain background does help. In fact, I owe my technical knowledge to what I managed to pick up from the sets when I used to visit them as a reporter. Though I teach at a private film school, and believe that it���s good to help kids learn the craft, but creativity is something that can never be taught.
As a director, do you believe in the different genres that we tend to put films into?
This demarcation of commercial and art films are gradually getting washed away. To be realistic, we cannot get away from the popcorn films or the big summer releases but there will always be serious films. Shaurya is a film that rests on the borderline ��� consisting elements of popular cinema as well as good arthouse streaks.
Do you feel that the audience is open to such a healthy mix of popular and arthouse cinema?
The audience is of course maturing and the economics of film-making is also changing. Earlier, the problem was of exhibition but multiplexes are a great boon now and reaches out to a much larger and more varied audience.
Some directors in the industry are known to say that they had a certain actor in mind while penning the character. Is it the same for you?
If I talk about Shaurya, I had completed writing 90 % of the script before I approached the actors. And the rest of the script was completed, keeping in mind the actors who had been signed on.
Working with actors of the calibre of KayKay and Rahul Bose, how open are you to suggestions from them?
As a director, one has to be open to inputs from the actors always. A good film can never be made with a closed mind. The actors may have a different way of reading and absorbing and then forming an opinion of the script and their roles. The film may be my vision but filmmaking is after all a collaborative effort.