To judge a film, count how many liked it: Reema Kagti

Director of Talaash believes film-making is a collaborative art form.


Ians November 21, 2012

MUMBAI: “Box-office collections indicate how many people watched your film, not how many liked it,” says Reema Kagti, whose second directorial venture Talaash is set to release on November 30.

“All these numbers tell you how many people went to see the film and not how many people liked the film,” Kagti told IANS in a group interview. “I feel if you want to judge a film, you can’t just take the numbers approach. It’s a creative art form at the end of the day.”

After the success of her debut film Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Kagti teamed up with Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor for thriller Talaash.

Having assisted in the making of Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai, both starring Aamir Khan, Kagti said she enjoyed directing the superstar. “I didn’t find him very rigid. I had worked with him before so I really wasn’t worried. He was very supportive. He really took the trouble to understand my vision and supported me with it,” she said.

“We never had a difference in opinion. I told him what I wanted to do with the film and he liked it. In this case, I don’t think I had any fears of my film going out of my hands,” she said. Kagti said she believed in taking suggestions from team members while making a film.

“I feel that a part of directing is giving your crew a fair hearing. Taking good ideas from people, taking inputs never diminishes a director’s control. That’s just the way film-making works,” she said. “It is a collaborative art form.”

Kagti, who co-scripted Talaash with friend Zoya Akhtar, the director of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, said the two are “not stuck at the hip all the time”, but they are best friends and enjoy writing together.

“Zoya and I are developing two new stories. One for me to direct and one for Zoya and, hopefully, we will have something in our hands in the next couple of months,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2012.         

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