I think you can say a lot with the movement of your camera but you can also say a lot by keeping it still.
Show me a Scorsese film, and I'll show you a movie where he's taken risks. It's just his nature. He's an artist, and artists take risks. He always does what he believes in.
We don't have a lot of class-conscious filmmaking.
I feel like, with most filmmakers of my generation, I like the over-the-top stuff. I like to be wacky and really in your face.
I was criticised for making 'Devdas' so ostentatious. But stark and realistic cinema isn't the only real cinema in this country.
I think of great masters, like [Alfred] Hitchcock, for example, who works absolutely within this sensational realm. You feel like you can always tell what temperature a room is in a Hitchcock film because the people feel alive, they don't feel like they're just being filmed on a stage.
I'm really specific in the way that I shoot. I've always had a very good sense of what I need in the editing room. I used to shoot in a way that drew more attention to the camera and I've tried, in each film, to draw less and less attention to the camera. I think when you pay attention to the shots, you're aware of the fact that there's a director.
I joke and I say, 'I need to go back to make a supernatural horror film just to so that I can make a movie that's grounded again.'
None of my films are 'Pollyanna.' They're not little deers walking around with butterflies and stuff. That's not what I do.
I'm Kubrick without the O.C.D.
My working style is democratic and I want people to be honest with me. Reputation makes everyone agree with your point, which is dangerous for any filmmaker.
I'm not a big fan of shooting something that looks like it could belong in any movie. I'm not a fan of, okay, 'wide shot, wide shot, medium shot, close-up, close-up - we'll figure it out in post.' I hate that.
I went for a more classical approach to filmmaking with lots of dolly, track and cranes, and slightly slower, more choreographed fight moves, so you get more fight moves in one take.
The people I met for the first time in the period when I was making films like 'Tum Bin,' 'Ra.One,' 'Dus,' 'Cash' would often remark that I was very unlike the person who had made those films. This is not the best thing for a film-maker to hear because your film should reflect your personality, thinking, philosophy and character.
When people come to me with an idea and they say, 'We can do it found footage or traditional,' I always say to do it traditionally.
They all want you to make a movie for under a million dollars, which I don't want to. I don't want to be a faux radical film-maker at 70. I did that. I don't need to do it again.
Films are dreams. Many, many critics say to me that my films are not good because they are too unbelievable, but this is my style. I tell stories like they are dreams. This is my imagination. For me, it would be impossible to do a film that is so precise, that resembles real life.
I am going to produce a movie of my own. I am not going to stick to the time-tested formulae of Hindi cinema. I want to make a film for the present generation. So there will be a lot of new faces in the film.
Woody is so musical in his filmmaking. I've never worked with anyone I've trusted so completely. He won't let you hit a false note.
I'm very attracted to directors who want to experiment. The thing that attracts me the most are people who are trying find a language that is correct for their film, for that specific film.
It was easy and fun [filming in Hail, Caesar!], and I think it's easy to be intimidated by the Coen brothers, because they're quiet. They don't heap praise, especially upon themselves. It's not like they're walking around thinking they're the greatest thing on Earth.
I don't like to move the camera that much anyway.
In the Indian system of filmmaking, you don't plan well in advance, stick to a storyboard, or deliver only the scripted lines.
I'm a pretty hands-off director. I let people try things, and if it gets over-jokey, then I'll try and rein it in a little bit.
Independent films have a certain freedom about them - there isn't so much at stake in terms of money. I think they're more interesting because they're not watered down to appeal to the masses. They tend to have a unique voice.
