Udaan, short listed for Cannes, is a movie that most students in DU can relate to. The need for independence clashes with the perceived duty towards parents, society. It is an age of rebellion that most youngsters go through.
DU Beat caught up with Anurag Kashyap, the Co- Producer of Udaan to answer a few questions.
Q. How closely can you, personally, relate to Udaan?
A. Quite personally. Though my parents gave me the best of education and support, there was this thin line dividing broad minded and too broad minded. I wanted to go all out and become a writer, they wanted something better and conventional…, I wanted it my way. I ran away.
Q. You chose to produce a movie which involved a lot of first- timers. How confident were you of the Director, Vikramaditya Motwane?
A. I have always known him as someone who has great potential and have looked up to him as a filmmaker and a friend. A superb film by him was just waiting to happen. I happened to produce it., that’s incidental.
Q. Our parents and grand parents believe our generation to be generally impatient, with a weaker moral base and greatly influenced by western culture. How do you view this cliché, is it a lot different from yours?
A. There will always be resistance to change. Earlier the resistance was more and much stronger with each generation having, say 33 years to themselves. They were too different from each other and too entrenched. In current times, we see a new generation every decade. They will be raring to go being dynamic with a lot of chaos and a lot of creation. It’s (change is) almost unstoppable and will take the ones who resist with its tide.
Q. You ran away from home at a young age. A lot of students go through similar predicaments. How difficult is the journey, alone? Do you, at times, regret this decision?
A. There might be times of introspection but that conviction to take the decision in the first place kept me going. Come what may I was not going back. It probably couldn’t have been done any different with all its mistakes and mess intact. I don’t know if I can go through all that again, but if need be, one has too. With all the adrenaline and the pop-philosophy and the rebel stings going wild, one needs to keep focus on what one had started off with in the first place. If you lose focus on your goal, that initial act of rebellion will lose steam soon. The point is not just to start a rebellion, sustain it. I still am struggling in my own way.
Q. How do you perceive your audience, when you make a movie and chart out characters because your movies are generally niche?
A. I tell people my stories, I don’t know if it’s niche or mass or A or B. I can’t get into things drawing a pie-chart or a power point presentation. I believe that’s how people who watch my films function too. I try and make it with my instinct, they watch it with theirs. Probably that’s how we connect.
Q. What is your most distinct memory as a student of Hansraj College?
A. The canteen and the girls.. bunking classes to watch films, and there was this one girl I would follow, no matter where she went. She never looked back at me.
Q. What is your message to the aspiring film- makers in DU?
A. Go ahead and make it.
–
As told to Radhika Marwah
Comments are closed.