When I have a new idea, I'm charged up and want to start the film immediately, but I simply don't have the patience to wait for stars.
Ultimately, cinema is an actor's medium.
If 'Bhoot' was called 'Man Ke Rishte,' no one would be interested. The title is a very essential part of a film. It subconsciously prepares the audience as to what they can expect.
I have become a full-fledged producer. I spend a lot of time on pre-production work.
'Bhoot' is a hold-on-to-your-seats horror film, while 'Darna Manaa Hai' is a hold-on-to-your-popcorn horror film.
I honestly feel it is important for a director to get obsessed with the characters.
My greatest dream is to make a film on 'The Fountainhead,' which I have been restraining from doing because it is so much in the mind, and I am yet to be able to decode that.
I grew up with Western films, and I always wondered why Bollywood never made films like that. Why do we always have to break into song?
Following the West is not surrendering. Following the West, the best of the West, is following originality.
With my films, I'm targeting the urban multiplexes, the sophisticated media-savvy young crowd.
'The Godfather' has been a film which has influenced me a lot.
First of all, 'Sarkar' is not an underworld film. It's about a man at the head of a feudal set-up in the middle of a cosmopolitan city, where he almost runs a parallel government largely due to his personal charisma. And the film is about his friends and enemies and his family.
I would say that if a man like Balasaheb Thackeray can exist, 'Sarkar' can exist.
Some of my scripts need the larger catchment area of Bollywood. But some suit Telugu films.
In Telugu, I have 'Bejawada Rowdilu,' a movie on the gang war culture in Vijayawada.
The shelf life of a specific film has decreased while the number of films required to fill multiplex cinemas has increased.
Today, filmmaking isn't just about shooting and releasing. You've to structure the marketing of a film.
Stars work because of familiarity. They fill theatres because audiences know who they are. There is a brand equity. But there are films strong enough to not need stars, or films that should not be made with stars at all, where only fresh faces will do. So I make the decisions accordingly.
I feel there are only well acted or badly acted roles and no such thing as a good actor or actress.
'Naach' doesn't have any of the traditional, conventional ingredients of a love story.
