00:00I wouldn't say it has a story. I would rather, I would say that it is emotions we put together
00:04and weave the story into it. I mean, what I feel personally is this is like, this is like my,
00:10my product, my baby. How can I say that I like the eye better than the nose or the nose
00:14better
00:14than the, you know, fingers or whatever. I like my film. And we had a lot of laughs, a lot
00:21of tears,
00:22frustration, everything together. We went through all the emotions that anybody would go through in,
00:26you know, one single project. I enjoyed myself. I mean, I don't know if my next film will ever be
00:32as
00:32beautiful, as beautiful an experience that this was.
00:41Tell us about the film Mitra.
00:44Well, Mitra started when Priya told me the story. And it's about relationships in a family,
00:53husband, wife and a 17 year old daughter.
00:56The film basically talks about relationships, about how important friendship in a relationship
01:02is. And, you know, how they work through the whole little, little emotions and problems.
01:10It's not explained in a serious way. It's done in a very lighthearted way. And I mean,
01:19it's, I enjoyed it because it was my debut film and I identified with it very, very well.
01:25So, how the casting and all was done?
01:28Well, the three main roles in this film are Lakshmi, Prithvi and the daughter Divya. When we wrote,
01:37you know, about Lakshmi and her characterization, we thought about Shobhana because she fitted the role
01:42perfectly, very Indian looking and who would suit, you know, in a westernized society.
01:49Nasser Abdullah, we thought of him because we wanted a distinguished looking middle-aged
01:54person owning a software company in the Silicon Valley, you know, who would go well in the
02:01atmosphere of Americans. And we didn't have a, you know, this film basically is a small
02:07budget film. So we wanted to make it with people who we know and who would adjust to our budget
02:13and
02:13things like that. So Mr. Nasser Abdullah came into it and he's, he's molded into the character very
02:20beautifully. And Piti Vissa was selected for Divya because I wanted a girl born and brought up in the
02:26U.S. because their body language is very different. And I auditioned a few kids there and she fitted the
02:33role well and she gave another film. I mean, the rest of the cast, they're all Americans. And they were
02:40chosen, you know, along with the casting agency where we gave them the list of characters and the
02:45kind of people we wanted. We selected from the auditions they did. And things went into place like
02:52that.
02:53Considering Nasser is more a model than an actor. So how do you think that he would fill the role
02:57of an actor?
02:59One was his looks because I felt he fitted it very well. Second, we brought him down to Chennai
03:06for an audition. And we had a nice, you know, a scene with Shobana and Nasser. He worked very
03:12well at it. And he has a thing of learning and to kind of, you know, work with what the
03:22director
03:22wants. So it was very nice working with him. I liked what I saw after that and then chosen.
03:28Why an all-woman crew for this film?
03:30We didn't plan it to be an all-woman crew. You know, Priya told the story. Sudha, who's
03:34a screenplay writer in my office, worked on the script and dialogues. A friend of mine
03:40came into it as a costume designer, Prabha. Then Dina is a person I know. She's an editor.
03:46So she came into the film. And when I spoke to Mr. P.C. Sri Ram for a cinematographer,
03:51he said his assistant Fauzia is the next in line to, you know, become an independent cameraman.
03:56So she came into it. So it just turned out to be an all-woman. The person we really looked,
04:02when we went looking for was the music director. And I heard that Mr. Laraja's daughter, Bhavatar
04:08me is composing her own tunes. I heard a couple of her tunes and she came into it. So it
04:13started
04:13kind of like any other film and turned out to be an all-woman by chance.
04:19Here's a brief storyline of the film.
04:22I'd rather not tell the story. You know, I'd like to tell what the, you know, it's just
04:27that it's about relationships within a family and about how a mother reacts to a teenage
04:32daughter when she becomes independent. How a teenage daughter reacts to a mother when the
04:37mother is like nagging her and saying, don't do that and that kind of a thing. Where the
04:42husband feels, you know, talking about home and everyday problems at home is like nagging.
04:49And where the wife is feeling, you know, kind of lonely because nobody seems to be paying
04:54attention. It's something that happens in everybody's life in every home. You know, a teenager would
05:00identify with the daughter, a middle-aged person would identify with the mother or the father,
05:04you know, both man and woman. And older people identify saying this is what happened with our
05:09daughters and our granddaughters, you know. So it's that kind of a thing. And I wouldn't
05:16say it has a story. I would rather, I would say that it is emotions we have put together
05:21and weaved a story into it.
05:23Being your debut as a director, how planned were you?
05:26Very well planned. I had the script ready. I gave my total script to the main cast.
05:33And they were very, very prepared because all of them read the scripts. When they came
05:38to the set, I didn't have to teach them dialogues. They all knew their dialogues by heart, you
05:43know. And working in the US taught us something where every junior artist, they call themselves
05:51extras there. Every, every single character, they want their scenes much in advance. So everything
05:56was emailed to them. They came to the sets prepared. And we had to have our locations and everything
06:03ready because you need insurance papers, you need this, you need that, a lot of paperwork.
06:07So that was planned. So I think this whole experience of Mitra being a small unit, we were just a
06:1515 member crew, working in the US, multitasking. We learned a lot. And my crew was amazing.
06:25Didn't you plan to cast yourself from Shobhana's place?
06:29No, I had decided when I, when I decided to direct, I had decided I will not act. Because
06:35direction is a very big responsibility. And I didn't want to do a, you know, sloppy job
06:42on that. Because acting and directing is very difficult. You have to be one behind the camera
06:48and one in front. And I don't know if I could have done both. But I'm very happy I did
06:53not act.
06:55How was your entire experience doing this film? Any problems which came up or something like that
06:59during the making of the film?
07:00No. Problems are bad. But you know, I think the crew that worked with me, we were very strong mentally.
07:07And we gave
07:08each other support in problems, in times of problems. And we had a lot of laughs, a lot of tears,
07:16frustration,
07:17everything together. We went through all the emotions that anybody would go through in, you know, one single project.
07:23We stayed together in one room, you know, four of us. So it was great fun. And I enjoyed myself.
07:31I mean,
07:32I don't know if my next film will ever be as beautiful, as beautiful an experience that this was.
07:38Any particular scene you really relished to him or love directing, which came out amazingly well?
07:45That is very difficult for any director to say, because for me, I mean, what I feel personally is this
07:51is like,
07:52this is like my product, my baby. How can I say that I like the eye better than the nose
07:57or the nose better than the,
07:59you know, fingers or whatever. I like my film. I really can't say this was better and that was better.
08:06But the experience, the climax, the shooting experience of, you know, when you're shooting the climax was interesting.
08:12Because we shot in a tourist spot where the first thing that people, they told us that you cannot stop
08:17the tourists.
08:18You cannot say, don't walk here, don't walk there. Shoot it. So we asked the crowd in the scene.
08:24That was a challenge to shoot. Plus, we had to tell them exact time.
08:28The camera is going to be here at 9.45. The camera is going to be there at 10.05.
08:34The camera is going to be there at 10.25.
08:36We need to give them specifications, timing. That was a real challenge. I enjoyed shooting that.
08:42Plus, I had all my artists. It was a climax. It was a very vibrant scene. It had emotions. It
08:47had fun. It had everything.
08:50Tell us about the music in the film.
08:57Music is very important in this film because we don't have songs as such, you know.
09:01We have used tracks in the background of certain scenes, not song-song. We haven't shot a song and things
09:08like that.
09:10But the music had to go with the mood of the film. It had to load the kind of flow
09:15that the film had.
09:17And we decided that let's not have, you know, let's give it a Western look because the whole film is
09:24happening in the U.S.
09:25So give a bit of, more of Western instruments. We decided on that.
09:32And I'm thrilled with the music that Bhavata has done, you know.
09:36She really gave the soul to my film.
09:42And I'm pleased with the brilliant music that we have already.
09:49I loved talking about the Helium Bu 말씀
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