Mahesh Bhatt Quotes

I like working with writer-directors because you can solve problems right there.

You don't always just have to do an indie movie to feel like you're controlling it with a few people that you really have connected with, creatively. You can do it on a bigger scale.

There's something I really love about independent filmmaking. Everyone is a little bit more close-knit, and you rely on people a little bit more. The bigger the budget gets, the more everyone toes the line in their department.

It was a pleasure to have somebody else be the boss. It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun any other way. He's been around and made a lot of movies and he's a great straightforward person to work for. And it was a pleasure to see other people to pick up characters that you've sketched out loosely on paper and make them into something fascinating.

It gave me a lot of pleasure and pride that 90 percent of the crew for 'Monsoon Wedding,' and most of my film, are women. We get the work done, you know, much lesser play of ego... And I really believe in harmony, I believe in working in a spirit of egolessness and that the film is bigger than all of us.

My favorite thing about this business is you're just jammed in a room on a set with like-minded people - writers, directors, and art designers and hairdressers. People who didn't work a 9-to-5 but chose this life. You're going to like at least two or three people in that you love these people so much.

So I've had really great assistant directors for my last seven movies.

I suppose directing on set is the most fun because it's a good crack and you feel you're on the battlefield whereas writing is a fairly solitary undertaking.

When I was doing the first 'American Pie' movie, I was just happy to have a job. We had a good time, and it was a great group of people, but like any project that I've worked on in my career, you just put your best foot forward, and you're all working together to make the best movie possible.

As a painter you're responsible yourself, 100 percent. In film, you have the editor, the director, the other actors. It has the advantage of not being solitary.

Other people have worked with big studios and maintained control over their movies. I see no reason why it wouldn't work for me.

I want to work with great filmmakers and great actors and get better as an actor.

What I promise to my actors, and to my director, is to give them the salary and everything they need.

It's interesting that instead of having to get tighter and more restricted for a collaboration, strangely enough, from the beginning, we've actually been more confident that we could handle this.

I love doing short films because they're much more intimate and there's far less waiting around than on the bigger films.

Many people came out and said, 'Boy I'd love to make a film that way.' Well, borrow some money, get some people together - you can get people to work for nothing, just treat them right, treat them as human beings, not stars, give them all an equal share, make them feel a part of what they're doing. There's no big secret to it.

The future of Arab films is absolutely up to Arabs and no one else. They've got the equipment, they've got the will, they've got the talent, now they just need a little bit of history behind them and a bit of cultural relaxation.

I had such a good time working with John Woo and John Travolta, and it was so professional. I want to work with people who are real professionals.

When I work on a film, I always tend to relate to the crew.

Movies are the work of a collective conscious. It takes 500-800 people on a movie to complete a vision.

I like writing for movies. It's nice to be alone working on fiction in your room, and then it's nice to be in a room with a bunch of people working on a movie.

Personally I'm very happy to be behind the scenes. I like collaboration, I like working with directors.

Studios never put pressure. They know the kind of films I want to make.

I always want to be a part of ensembles. Besides it feeling safer, I think it's a more fun environment to work in. To have a bunch of people collaborating on something, it takes the pressure off of each individual.

We work in an environment where your options are to do, you know, Batman 10, so when you get to do a movie that's a really great film like this, people really step up to the plate and enjoy it.