Favourite film memory…
Aandhi. It was a controversial film at the time and it was being screened in the officers’ club my family had visited. Kids weren’t allowed to see it, so my parents didn’t take me. My parents left on the scooter while I ran to the club. I got in just before the film started.
When the film ended, I realised that my parents would reach home earlier than me because they had the scooter. So I ran out of the club to where dad’s scooter was parked and started crying. Dad found me and asked why I was crying. I told him I was afraid of being at home alone (laughs). I must have been seven or eight.
The film that made you want to be in films…
It started with Bicycle Thieves and then there was the whole (Vittorio) de Sica retrospective I saw at an international film festival while I was in college.
An overrated film...
Gravity. I thought the film has nothing beyond the technical aspect.
A recent film that inspired you…
The Malayalam film Angamaly Diaries. That reminds me, I want to see Lijo’s (Jose Pellissery, director) new film.
A film you wish you had made…
So many. Lage Raho Munna Bhai.
A film character you love…
Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood. Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar and Golden Globe for the role.
The first film set you visited…
Umrao Jaan. It was shot behind my house in Faizabad. This must have been 1981-82.
A film that you can watch at anytime…
I keep watching Fight Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Black Swan, Pulp Fiction and The Godfather.
A film you’d want to live in…
Star Wars. I don’t care what planet I am from as long as I have a lightsaber (laughs).
A film that makes you cry every time…
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Also Pyaasa. And after watching Coco, I cried buckets.
A film you’d like to remake…
None. I don’t like this trend of remaking films.
A film that makes you laugh…
Padosan and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro.
Your favourite Anurag Kashyap film…
The one I am making next!
