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The guru of low-budget films
Nagesh Kukunoor, whose Teen Deewarein soon releases, will now look forward to directing Amitabh Bachchan
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One of the keynote speakers at the recently concluded TIECON 2002 at the Hilton Costa Mesa in Orange County, California, was filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor.
His new film Teen Deewarein is slated for release in the US next week, following three movies --- Hyderabad Blues, Rockford and Bollywood Calling.
In his well applauded speech, Kukunoor shared several personal anecdotes --- about enlisting his father as a production manager, his mother as head of cooking and craft service, and his aunt as the costume designer for Hyderabad Blues. About sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag in a room with one little television and a beanbag while he scraped and saved to make his dream debut movie working as an engineer by day and writing his script by night.
After the speech, eager young theatre and film wannabes thronged him with queries of advice on 'making it'. After graciously responding, he sat down with Hema Ravikumar for a tete a tete:
All directors hate their films when they are finished. This is a general rule in film business. Keeping this rule in mind, you have said Bollywood Calling, your third film, is the one you least hated. Why did you say that?
(laughs) That is true. Once you are done with making a film almost the only thing you can see are the mistakes, especially if you are a reasonably objective person. So any film, whether it is a five rupee film or a hundred million dollar film, will have mistakes.
Mistakes are different for different people. What I perceive to be a mistake might not be visible to someone else. So a filmmaker continuously looks at his film and sees flaws and mistakes. This is how it is. That is why you hate watching your films.
With Hyderabad Blues and Rockford, my first and second films, for obvious reasons like budget, I feel there were many mistakes.
Bollywood Calling has a ton of mistakes, too. But overall, I see fewer mistakes when I weigh it against what I intended for the film. So I hate it the least (grimaces)
What about your latest film Teen Deewarein? Are you satisfied with it?
Oh, I will be watching the finished product next week. And yeah, I am sure I will hate it as much as I hate my other films. (chuckles in self-deprecation)
What it does feel like to be known as something of a 'guru of the low-budget movie', after the Hyderabad Blues success story? Is it flattering or irritating?
I don't mind at all. Anything that brings in audiences to watch my films is okay with me. For the public and press to know you, there has to be something --- a label, a name, something by which they can identify you, a catchphrase, something.
So if it is 'the guru of low budget filmmaking', so be it. I have always said the budget must justify the script. So far I have been able to do that. I do not let the budget spiral out of control. Let me see if I can continue to do that.
Comparisons are unfair. But you know that M Night Shyamalan, who is about your age, has made it to the cover of Newsweek and has been hailed as the next [Steven] Spielberg. Do you feel just a little bit of professional jealousy?
Well, it makes it easier if you enjoy the product. I enjoyed all of M Night Shayamalan's movies. I think they are solid, good products. Unbreakable, I thought, was the best film he has made. And this is not my professional b*&%$ s$#@^. I truly, truly, love Unbreakable.
I still think there is a slot open for me. Night has taken the second-generation Indian slot. I think I have a place as a first-generation Indian in Hollywood.
I might feel jealous if I did not like the films being made by my peer group. But in Night's case, I like his stuff. So I say, 'Power to you, man.' You know, if any of us makes it, it is really good because it opens more doors.
It helps someone like me so people in this town don't go, 'Where is India on the map?'
Have you met M Night?
No, not really. I tried once a few years ago. To tell you the truth, even if someone comes to meet me, and I am only a hundredth of what he [Shyamalan] is, I often wonder why. I don't want to impose that on other filmmakers.
If I have a specific project that I want to talk him about, sure. Would he be interested in producing it or put me in touch with someone who could produce it, then yes. But to say hello, I am here, no.
A billion people do that every day. That is why celebrities retreat into their shells. Even though I get only a fraction of that, I understand that.
You say you are a better director than you are an actor. Yet you persist?
(smiles) Yes. If I believe I can do justice to a role, I will act. I am, after all, the director, and I know the character and how it should be played. For the most part, budget permitting, I will cast the best people in the role. As far as Hyderabad Blues goes, it was my story. I did it.
With Rockford, there was interest in playing Johnny Mathews, the PT instructor, from different actors, but I ended up playing it. I was petrified that someone would take that role and 'act' it too much and take away the importance of the story from the little boy's character.
Hyderabad Blues was a comedy, Rockford was a coming of age comedy, Bollywood Calling, a satirical comedy. Why the departure in genre in Teen Deewarein?
Teen Deewarein [starring Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff, Om Puri and Juhi Chawla] is a drama mystery. I have always been terrified of being labelled a comedy director. As a theatre audience member, I like watching movies in every genre. So as a filmmaker I like making movies in every genre. We will see if I am successful when this comes out.
As a scriptwriter I write in every possible style about different things. There comes a time when you feel, 'this story must be told'. For reasons of funding or fate, those stories do not get told. But there is a time when you feel that the story must be written and told.
After Hyderabad Blues, for example, I got a thousand offers to tell college stories on campus here, but I wanted to tell the story of Rockford. So I did that. After that Bollywood Calling. And then Teen Deewarein.
I just told the stories I wanted to. I have been lucky that they have been picked up and made. Yes, some people did balk at the idea that I was moving away from the tried and tested comedies I have been making. But we will see if this works or bombs.
How did you manage to get the big names, Juhi Chawla, Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff, for Teen Deewarein?
Good work always has some kind of payoff. I don't want to come off sounding like I am praising myself. These are big stars. And I have noticed that they and others like them are expressing an interest in working in my films and films like these in general, something different from what they do usually.
They will drop very serious hints when you meet them at parties. They won't come to you and say I would like to be in your movies.
I approached Naseer and Om Puri directly. With Jackie and Juhi, I had feelers. And I said, well, if the interest is coming from there, I will do something about it.
Is Hollywood the mecca of every filmmaker such as yourself?
I don't know if it is for every filmmaker. But for the most part that is accurate. I have always wanted to make movies for a very large audience. The platform, whether you like it or not, is Hollywood. They reach every corner of the world. That is exactly what I want to do.
I can make movies on Indian themes but I want to reach the widest possible audience. When there are people like Ang Lee --- who took a Chinese film [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon] and Hollywoodised it --- showing the way, why not?
Are you currently in talks with anyone in Hollywood?
Yes, as a matter of fact. On the indie circuit actually. Last year, I almost made a film here, but September 11 happened. And these guys pulled out the funding, so that was the end of that.
So I had to run back to India.
I have always wanted to make projects here, take it to India and bring it back here.
Did 9/11 trigger off any ideas in you?
Nah, every scriptwriter and director is doing something on it. They can tell their stories.
What do your parents feel about your success now?
They are great, very supportive. Initially, my dad thought that once I was done with Hyderabad Blues, I would go back to my career in chemical engineering. A year and a half later, he started accepting that this was going to be his son's vocation in life.
It has been five and a half years now. And they are really behind me. Best parents anyone could ask for.
Who are your favourite actors in India?
Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan. Amitabh has agreed to work in my next film called Tandoor, based in New York, about an ageing cook and his relationship with a local female lawyer here. It is a 'food movie' and a romantic drama.
It is like As Good As It Gets meets Big Night. The backdrop of the movie is Hyderabadi cuisine.
Who is playing the female lead?
(sighs) Ah, that is someone we are currently desperately on the lookout for.
What is the best thing that someone said and what was the worst thing that someone said about your body of work?
Wow (long pause). Best thing. I think for me, the best compliments were when people would come up to me after Hyderabad Blues and say, "Thank you. That was my story."
While it bothers me that some critics or audiences don't really get my movies, knowing that as a viewer, I myself have sat and watched and judged a movie in an hour-and-a-half, I know others will do the same whether the director gave his whole life to it or not.
I have a real problem with condescension though. When I can be recognised by a stalwart such as Shyam Benegal the day after I wrapped up Hyderabad Blues, I want to be respected as a filmmaker. I have had people come to me and say in a condescending way, "Good first attempt" or, "You are growing as a filmmaker." That attitude just bugs the crap out of me.
One woman came up to me at the Mumbai Film Festival and said, "Your film is completely superficial."
I was like, "Okay."
A few years later, we met again during the editing phase of Rockford, and she told me that she was an assistant to Govind Nihalani, one of the more serious filmmakers. And that kind of put it in place. We became good friends and laughed about it.
I have tried to stay away from message-oriented moralistic films really. My goal is entertainment. If you take away a message from it, that is your problem.
It is interesting that you remember this in such vivid detail even though you say it did not bother you.
Yeah. Here I was giving my whole life to Hyderabad Blues, and this comment came in and it should have devastated me. But it didn't. Some bad reviews about Rockford did bother me. But hey, that's the way this game is.
I notice you talk a lot about Hyderabad Blues. Is it because that was your first baby so to speak?
No, no. (groans) I actually don't like to talk about it. When journalists, people come [to me], that is all they want to talk about. How I made the transition from chemical engineer to director. In fact I have been saying this to the publicity folks since Bollywood Calling, 'When journalists come, tell them not to ask me questions about Hyderabad Blues.'
It made me who I am, I am eternally grateful, but come on.
Who would you want to work with here in Hollywood?
Hmm. Mel Gibson for sure. But I would like to be a fly on the wall when the Cohen Brothers are working, especially when they are writing a script. I would slit my wrists for that.
So are you moving down here to LA from Atlanta?
Soon, because even though I love Atlanta (I have lived there 14 years) this is where it is all happening.
So, to bring up the main theme of Hyderabad Blues and to be true to my journalistic tribe, on a personal note, is arranged marriage on the cards for you at some point?
No. It makes for great conversation, this topic, and a reasonably good movie maybe, but it is not something I subscribe to.
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