I Will NOT Change A Single Frame Of Mirzya If I Was To Make It Again: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
That's Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra for you in SpotboyE.com's conducted Court-martial. The filmmaker believes that the collections of Mirzya will show an upswing. The time is right to talk to him. Read on for his exclusive interview
Let's talk about how Mirzya has been received...
Mirzya has been a slow starter, a very slow starter. But let me tell you, it's a big screen experience and a very personal one. There is a section of audience who is loving it. Please understand that the narrative of the film is very different from the norm. So, it needs a discerning audience.
So, you're saying that it has therefore got bracketed into a niche film...
No. As I said, those who are coming into the theatres are liking it. I hope it picks up.You can't write it off.
Are you disappointed with the reviews?
The film received mixed reviews. Some critics wrote superlative reviews, while some of them still saw the film through the same tunnel vision. It's okay.
Some people are saying that they haven't understood the film. It happened with you in Aks too...
Not really. More than anywhere else, it happened to me with Rang De Basanti on its first day itself. And then, you know the feedback that film got across the world. I have just come back from London, and the desi press and the world press both loved it there. Also, I got a 15-minute standing ovation after the screening was over.
Does the slow start bother you? You have launched Anil Kapoor's son (Harshvardhan) and people say that it was a responsibility you carried on your shoulders...
I won't go that far. It's a movie. I am trying to tell a story. It had to be someone's son.
Have you spoken to Anil after the release?
Let's talk about the film na?
Image Source: youtube/tseries
There is a school of thought that Gulzar's version is not contemporary to suit the launch of two youngsters...
1,000 people will have 1,000 thoughts. What one needs to understand is the film's narrative, and for that the janta and the critics have to be discerning. Maybe it's art-house India and not commerce India.
The film was not made at a low budget. What about the recovery?
Money spent was Rs 30 crore. We have already recovered Rs 21.5 crore if I include the satellite and music rights. It's not a very long haul from here. The digital rights yet need to add on. We will get over the line and I am not so worried about that.
Your opinion on the collapse of the studio culture, before we come back to Mirzya? How do you see the next few years for filmmakers?
I don't think that studio culture has collapsed. It is undergoing a ... (thinks hard).
Correction?
Yes, that's the word. Moreover this has not happened in India only, it has happened worldwide. The biggest and best of studios have shut down and reopened. You can't deny that the Studios brought in their share of advantages. Money became clean, every transaction happens in cheques (pauses). Let's put it this way. Gauging the size of the market, we'll have to work within that.
If you were to make Mirzya again, would you make any changes?
I wouldn't like to change a single frame. Everybody has given their best and excelled in whatever they did.
Would you agree that there is too much of pressure if you have made a cult film (Rang De Basanti) and if your last film has been a super-hit (Bhaag Milka Bhaag), and if above all you are launching a big star's son (Harshvardhan). And if the cash registers don't start ringing immediately...
Aisa nahi hai. If you see all the films I have made, they have had their own way of telling a story. The people who like my kind of cinema have liked the film. It will grow. Ek film hoti hai jo initial let hai and we judge it at the first weekend. Ek aur film hoti hai jo steadily grow karti hai. Mirzya belongs to the second category. And this is not just my opinion, several people think that way.
So you're saying that it will grow bit by bit, not in heaps...
Absolutely. Especially if I have tried something new, which I have with Mirzya. I have tried to invent a new Indian musical. Naya nahin karo toh kehte hain kuch toh naya karo...
Image Source: youtube/tseries
Are you saying that if you do something new, you are doomed; and if you don't, you're damned?
Nahin, bachchon wali baatein nahin karenge. The story I have told and the way I have told in MIrzya, deep-down in my heart, I feel I am a more complete filmmaker now. And it's a strong feeling. That it has not set the box-office on fire is disheartening, but it will grow. The movie will take over once the public starts coming into the theatres. We have a long run till Diwali, and at the end of the day, you always get what you deserve.
You said in The Kapil Sharma show that you mostly make one film in 5 years. What's next?
(Laughs). No, I won't take that long for my next one this time.
Image Source: youtube/tseries
What do you think about Harshvardhan and Saiyami's future?
Both of them will have a very long run. There is no iota of doubt about that.
Harshvardhan seems to be the type who loves your kind of films, and the ones by Dibakar Banerjee, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap. It doesn't seem that he wants to hasten up the commercial lane like his Dad...
Every new generation needs to find their own path. And this is a generation turn which has happened, and which is necessary. If they believe in something and do something else, it won't reflect well in their work.
Thumbnail Image Source: Manav Manglani & youtube/tseries
Mirzya has been a slow starter, a very slow starter. But let me tell you, it's a big screen experience and a very personal one. There is a section of audience who is loving it. Please understand that the narrative of the film is very different from the norm. So, it needs a discerning audience.
So, you're saying that it has therefore got bracketed into a niche film...
No. As I said, those who are coming into the theatres are liking it. I hope it picks up.You can't write it off.
Are you disappointed with the reviews?
The film received mixed reviews. Some critics wrote superlative reviews, while some of them still saw the film through the same tunnel vision. It's okay.
Some people are saying that they haven't understood the film. It happened with you in Aks too...
Not really. More than anywhere else, it happened to me with Rang De Basanti on its first day itself. And then, you know the feedback that film got across the world. I have just come back from London, and the desi press and the world press both loved it there. Also, I got a 15-minute standing ovation after the screening was over.
Does the slow start bother you? You have launched Anil Kapoor's son (Harshvardhan) and people say that it was a responsibility you carried on your shoulders...
I won't go that far. It's a movie. I am trying to tell a story. It had to be someone's son.
Have you spoken to Anil after the release?
Let's talk about the film na?
Image Source: youtube/tseries
There is a school of thought that Gulzar's version is not contemporary to suit the launch of two youngsters...
1,000 people will have 1,000 thoughts. What one needs to understand is the film's narrative, and for that the janta and the critics have to be discerning. Maybe it's art-house India and not commerce India.
The film was not made at a low budget. What about the recovery?
Money spent was Rs 30 crore. We have already recovered Rs 21.5 crore if I include the satellite and music rights. It's not a very long haul from here. The digital rights yet need to add on. We will get over the line and I am not so worried about that.
Your opinion on the collapse of the studio culture, before we come back to Mirzya? How do you see the next few years for filmmakers?
I don't think that studio culture has collapsed. It is undergoing a ... (thinks hard).
Correction?
Yes, that's the word. Moreover this has not happened in India only, it has happened worldwide. The biggest and best of studios have shut down and reopened. You can't deny that the Studios brought in their share of advantages. Money became clean, every transaction happens in cheques (pauses). Let's put it this way. Gauging the size of the market, we'll have to work within that.
If you were to make Mirzya again, would you make any changes?
I wouldn't like to change a single frame. Everybody has given their best and excelled in whatever they did.
Would you agree that there is too much of pressure if you have made a cult film (Rang De Basanti) and if your last film has been a super-hit (Bhaag Milka Bhaag), and if above all you are launching a big star's son (Harshvardhan). And if the cash registers don't start ringing immediately...
Aisa nahi hai. If you see all the films I have made, they have had their own way of telling a story. The people who like my kind of cinema have liked the film. It will grow. Ek film hoti hai jo initial let hai and we judge it at the first weekend. Ek aur film hoti hai jo steadily grow karti hai. Mirzya belongs to the second category. And this is not just my opinion, several people think that way.
So you're saying that it will grow bit by bit, not in heaps...
Absolutely. Especially if I have tried something new, which I have with Mirzya. I have tried to invent a new Indian musical. Naya nahin karo toh kehte hain kuch toh naya karo...
Image Source: youtube/tseries
Are you saying that if you do something new, you are doomed; and if you don't, you're damned?
Nahin, bachchon wali baatein nahin karenge. The story I have told and the way I have told in MIrzya, deep-down in my heart, I feel I am a more complete filmmaker now. And it's a strong feeling. That it has not set the box-office on fire is disheartening, but it will grow. The movie will take over once the public starts coming into the theatres. We have a long run till Diwali, and at the end of the day, you always get what you deserve.
You said in The Kapil Sharma show that you mostly make one film in 5 years. What's next?
(Laughs). No, I won't take that long for my next one this time.
Image Source: youtube/tseries
What do you think about Harshvardhan and Saiyami's future?
Both of them will have a very long run. There is no iota of doubt about that.
Harshvardhan seems to be the type who loves your kind of films, and the ones by Dibakar Banerjee, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap. It doesn't seem that he wants to hasten up the commercial lane like his Dad...
Every new generation needs to find their own path. And this is a generation turn which has happened, and which is necessary. If they believe in something and do something else, it won't reflect well in their work.
Thumbnail Image Source: Manav Manglani & youtube/tseries
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