Filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane says he is not someone who revisits his past work as he will always find something to nitpick.
Filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane says he is not someone who revisits his past work as he will always find something to nitpick.
Filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane says he is not someone who revisits his past work as he will always find something to nitpick.
There is, however, one film the director said he went back to "out of pure curiosity". It was his 2010 directorial debut "Udaan", the acclaimed coming-of-age Hindi drama.
Asked if he rewatched his movies, Motwane told PTI in an interview: "I don't. I haven't. The only film of mine I've actually seen back is 'Udaan', out of pure curiosity. Like one of those morbid curiosity things. I was actually doing data management on my computer, like deleting some stuff, and I put it on. And then I started to watch it, and then I was like, oh, let me just see it. But I haven't seen any of my (other) work."
He was speaking on the sidelines of the second edition of The Himalayan Film Festival, which screened two episodes of his web series "Jubilee" earlier this week.
The filmmaker, known for movies "Lootera", "Bhavesh Joshi" as well as web series "Sacred Games", said he knows what he could have done better with each of his works and that's why he stays away from replaying them.
"In a lot of my films, I already know what I could have done, what I should have done. That's why I don't even watch them. It's just like reinforcing the point," he added.
Earlier this year, Motwane received rave reviews for "Jubilee", a period drama around the Hindi film industry set during the Partition and the decades after that.
With a screenplay by Atul Sabharwal, the first season of the Prime Video series chronicled the lives of studio boss Srikant Roy (Prosenjit Chatterjee), his movie-star wife Sumitra Kumari (Aditi Rao Hydari), his trusted aide Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana), a rising star Jamshed Khan (Nandish Sandhu), a nautch girl Niloufer Qureshi (Wamiqa Gabbi) and a refugee called Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta).
Also the co-creator of the show along with Soumik Sen, Motwane said it is difficult to choose his favourite characters from "Jubilee".
"They're all wonderful characters. I think Atul has written such phenomenal characters that I think each and every one of them for me is like... Roy because as a studio boss, there's such a beautiful element of grey that he's got, makes him a very interesting character, but modern."
He also praised Shamsher Walia, the character of financier played by Ram Kapoor, and Vikas Shukla's turn as writer-director Asghar Ali.
"Jay, Niloufer, Walia, very interesting characters. I thought Asghar is an exceptionally interesting character, again, because he's the director so there's that automatic affinity you feel towards the film director. So, (I) Iove them all. They're all hard to choose (from)," he added.
While he's not someone who creates characters for a specific actor, Motwane said he knew only Chatterjee, Rao Hydari and Kapoor could play their respective roles.
"You write it (the story) first with nobody in mind and then as you're writing it sometimes or after you've written it, then you get a sense of, okay, this person will be perfect for this role. In Jubilee's case, they all pretty much auditioned, other than Prosenjit and Aditi.
"And, Ram was the one person you kind of knew from the first. You kind of know that this is the only way he can do it. It's very rare to write for an actor to be that specific about him," he said.
"Jubilee" was initially titled 'Stardust' and the director said the makers changed the name to avoid copyright issues with the popular magazine of the same name.
"It was called 'Stardust' for so long... Thankfully, 'Jubilee' was a good title. I think that stuck... Even after we finished it, during post-production, it was hard for me to call it that. Now I call it 'Jubilee'," he added.
There are two women in Motwane's life who play significant roles in his filmography: his producer-mother Dipa De Motwane and still photographer-wife Ishika Mohan Motwane.
Both have been his associates since "Udaan", the filmmaker said.
"There is a deep element of trust that comes when family is involved. My mom is a really good producer. She's phenomenal at her job. She's honest and straightforward. For a director to be able to trust your producer implicitly, that's a great thing," he shared.
About his wife, Motwane said it's great to have her on set because they never get into an argument.
"There's no conflict... She knows me well, so she knows if there's a moment that I'm in trouble or I'm thinking of something or I'm confused. It's always nice to have a person right there who can give you answers quickly. There's no formality in a lot of stuff because she has access to me. She also holds the crew together," he added.
About his future projects, Motwane said the second season of "Jubilee" is in the scripting stage. He will soon start shooting for "Black Warrant", the series adaptation of the book by Tihar Jail's longest serving superintendent Sunil Gupta and journalist Sunetra Choudhury.
"'Jubilee' season two is being written, so I can't say much about that. 'Black Warrant'... we start shooting November 15. It's different from anything I've done before. It's also this idea to be able to shoot a jail. To show Tihar in its heyday. The time of (notorious criminals) Ranga-Billa. It's extremely exciting," he said.
The filmmaker is also looking forward to showing "Indi(r)a's Emergency", a three-part documentary series.
"It's been one of those little pet projects that's been happening. But it's done," he added.
Motwane also finished shooting for "Control", a cyber thriller starring Ananya Panday.