Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur started his journey in the film industry with the 1983 film Masoom. Hence, 2023 marks his 40th year in Bollywood. He tells us that the Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah-starrer wasn’t going to be his debut film.

“My producer and I went to a financier to make a different film with a different story. My financier was into construction. While I was narrating my film, I saw him yawn. I noticed that his desk and shelf were full of pictures of kids. I thought, ‘this guy loves kids’. So, in the middle of that narration, I started telling another story. At that hour, I had to tell a different story to get the funding. I just kept building it on and the financier said, ‘That’s the film we are making’,” Kapur shares how the movie was ideated.

Today, the 77-year-old has films such as Mr India (1987) and Elizabeth (1998) under his belt. But would he have been able to pull off such a feat in today’s time, when scripts are treated as properties and everything is on paper for funding to pour in?

Kapur says, “Absolutely. It depends on how good a salesman you are. Today, every director has to be an entrepreneur. It’s your job, you have to do anything you can to get funding for your film.”

Sharing how filmmaking has changed, he adds, “I have been seeing some amazing stuff in the OTT space like The Family Man. So, makers do have the power to fight back. Every hungry man can’t get food. You have to fight for it. Creativity is our food and we have to fight for it.”