You see with the sense of sight, you hear with the sense of hearing, you feel with the sense of your touch. And all these senses are nothing but the functions of your mind.
And these functions, in turn, are nothing but thoughts or ideas. When you sleep, the world ceases to exist. When you wake up it comes back in different shapes and forms. Each one of us possesses a world which cannot be seen or experienced by others, even if they are our closest friends. Speaking for myself, I don’t have any friends anyway.
Each one of our worlds is made up of our individual experiences, sensibilities, knowledge and intelligence levels, however varied they may be. So my world is nothing but a collection of my feelings, thoughts and ideas. It would be pure vanity for me to expect everyone else to appreciate them and understand what I am all about. At most I can hope that a few people will connect to my thoughts in their own separate ways. That is why I often say that I make films for myself, I don’t cater to any specific market or tastes. I would rather commit suicide than become a seller of film groceries.
Since I am sure that no one really understands what I stand for, what is the point of even attempting to make them understand? I might as well just give them an open invitation to my world through my films. Whoever is interested can see my films and come to their own conclusions and interpretations.
I really don’t care if I am ignored, loved or hated. Much was made about the biggest flop of my life, Aag, but that’s okay. I like being criticised as much as I like being praised. That’s human, I suppose.
If any idea possesses me, I’ll go with it, no matter if I fox my own unit and actors. If I am shooting Department on multi-digital cameras, without the conventional cinematographer, there is an initital sense of doubt. I stick to my belief and it has been understood by my actors and technicians that digital is the way to go.
My films are nothing but my world. Many others might contribute to its shape and form but the world is eventually coloured with my vision. As a director I am not a primary artiste. Primary arts are about acting, story writing, music composition. I amalgamate these arts into a coherent whole so that it creates an emotional impact or whichever effect I may opt for.
So you will see characters the way I want you to see them, hear music the way I want you to hear the songs. My world consists of powerful people, intense music, sexy music, shots of vodka, gangster, ghosts and philosophies twisted to my convenience.
As for the other realities of life like social responsibilities, family values and lofty ideals, no thanks. I just close my eyes and go to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzz…