Most of the available Indian films in Australia are Bollywood. I did not watch them. In my early days, I watched Satyajit Ray's 'Apu Trilogy,' which was a beautiful take on social realism.
I'm just trying to approach what I make with as much respect and research as I can, and just make it with a good heart.
The way I work is I like to immerse myself in the world of the film and in the character's lives, and then from that, I get a lot of ideas of how the film could be made, how it could be told.
I love going to the cinema and thinking you're seeing something, and you end up on a whole other planet, and you can't believe it.
I've always just focused on the work, and I've just tried to be honest with the work. If the work speaks to people, fantastic.
I want to do stories that really move me, that have an audience, and at the end of the day, I want people to feel something when they walk out of the cinema.
Audiences are smart, and they don't need to be spoon-fed everything.
I always want to work on things that really scare me and interest me at the same time, and you know, I definitely had some projects in the past that did that, but the stars never aligned in getting them up. So 'Lion' was another project that really interested me, and the stars did align on this one. It just happened to be my first film!
There's no doubt that 'Lion' is an audience pleaser. I mean, I went to a lot of research screenings all over, in London and America and Australia, and the results were ridiculous, and the crowds were... they just loved the movie, so for me, my job is done.
Filmmaking is not a job but a social responsibility for me.
I'm very drawn to the human condition and the emotional aspects of stories. It's what's not on the page that I get excited about.
I like to be involved with the scriptwriter early on, helping shape the story, and working out how the story can be told directorially.
I definitely storyboard, but I only start once I have cast and location. I like to find the world first.
My whole approach is very much about using the locations as a world, trying to find the beauty in the time of day we shoot or the ugliness of it, in cases.
Sometimes we make films just for our people, and it doesn't reach to anyone.
I loved 'Monsoon Wedding' and 'Lunchbox' because they had 'real' stories. I wish there are more films made like them.
