Actor Anupam Kher’s second directorial in more than two decades, Tanvi The Great, will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this May. Anupam shares that he wanted the film’s journey to start from “the Maha Kumbh of cinema”.

“I directed Om Jai Jagadish in 2002, but that was not my story. After that, I didn’t direct any film. I wanted it to come from within me, an Indian film for international viewing. I’ve been waiting to direct another film for 23 years now,” says the 70-year-old.

Anupam adds that he has made the film with a theatrical release in mind: “The film has an Indian character, but it’s a universal film. That’s why I am spending money, taking actors there (Cannes) — it’s a huge kharcha. But I want to put the film on a pedestal. You will not ask Martin Scorcese if his film will release in theatres or OTT! I am not comparing myself to these greats, but when you are making a film with passion, uska jo marzi hashr ho, you make it for the cinemas.”

Ask Anupam, who has worked in international projects such as Silver Linings Playbook (2012), whether Indian films and talent are seen differently now, and he says, “It certainly has changed, but I have not made this film as a crusader. It has an international appeal which is why I signed on internationally known people such as (composer) MM Keeravani and (sound designer) Resul Pookutty, both Oscar winners. My DoP (Keiko Nakahara) is Japanese.”

Much has happened since right-wing activists, on January 23, barged into the Film and Television Institute of India,  (FTII) campus and attacked students over a banner that read: ‘Remember Babri, death of Constitution.’ Soon, on January 26, 300 FTII alumni—that included Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, Badhaai Do director Harshavardhan Kulkarni and film editor Antara Lahiri —penned an open letter condemning the violence against the students.

Now, the FTII Students Association (FSA) has called for an academic halt and urged the premier institute’s president, actor-filmmaker R Madhavan, to step in.

While a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against the instigators at Deccan police station, on January 24, another FIR was registered against seven students allegedly by members of the organisation that orchestrated the attack.

A student, on condition of anonymity, tells mid-day, “[On Tuesday], they burnt the posters we had put up, hit our student body president Mankap Nokwoham and others. Now, they are levelling incorrect accusations against us—it’s being said that we had a box for suggestions on how to reconstruct Babri Masjid, which is not accurate. Two of the people named in the FIR, Mankalan Chakravarty and Nathan Chakropadhyay, don’t even belong to our campus. The registrar office has asked us to deal with the situation [on our own]. So, now, we’re going on academic halt. Our student bodies are writing to other student unions, including those of Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute. It’s baffling that through it all, R Madhavan has kept mum. Thankfully, the alumni are taking care of us.”

Meanwhile, the alumni are rallying for increased security for students. A 2018 alumnus says, “We are writing to cops to make sure the security on campus is strengthened. It’s necessary to take prompt action against those who perpetrated violence against the students.”

Winning an Oscar holds a different emotion for everyone. Some call it a fixation or an obsession, some look at it as the ultimate milestone, while for others, it’s a far-fetched dream they hope to fulfil one day. But for the majority of filmmakers — Indian or anywhere across the globe — the Academy Awards qualify as the highest benchmark of creative recognition.

Discussing various aspects of this subject, Sonal Kalra, Chief Managing Editor, Entertainment & Lifestyle, Hindustan Times, moderated the enriching In-Conversation session, The Road to Oscars, with speakers comprising Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga, Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty and Chief Executive of ShortsTV and voting member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Carter Pilcher, at the ongoing 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

Not hesitating in stating that he “can’t understand why we are so fixated with Oscars,” Pookutty, who won an Oscar for Best Sound Mixing for Slumdog Millionaire (2008), believes that it’s not the end-all of a benchmark of a filmmaker having arrived. However, he was quick to add, “The Oscars, of course, are one of the highest achievements of recognition in filmmaking. I’d like to discuss why our films aren’t at Cannes, Venice and several other important international film festivals. I don’t think the Oscars are the end of everything, but at the same time, they’re one of the most recognised recognitions all over the world for filmmakers.”

Whereas, Monga, whose production The Elephant Whisperers (2022) recently won an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short category, said, “Distribution is the key. Awards come later. Films that are distributed in the US have a head start in the race for Academy Awards. You need knowledge of the system, a strategy and the right partners. The committee that chooses films for the Oscars in India must optimise the chances of getting the film shortlisted... You can’t be selected and then suddenly try to campaign in two months.”

Pookutty stressed, “The government of India needs to do its bit towards enriching Indian cinema. They need to set up a fund, have some kind of tie-up with one of the biggest PR agencies in US, and say, ‘Look, we are sending this film this year’. So, basically, if the government uses a small percentage of the entertainment tax it collects, doing so will streamline the process and help push our films to the Oscars. Also, this will give independently produced films a chance at that stage.”

Despite working extensively in Hindi movies, Divya Dutta hasn’t really explored movies in the South Indian film industry. But that’s about to change. This year, she is all set to make her debut in Malayalam cinema and hopes that this leads to exciting roles in films in different languages.

She says, “When I entered showbiz, I was flooded with offers from Tamil and Telugu filmmakers. I think that’s because my voluptuous body suited the films. I did one Tamil film back then, but soon I got busy with Bollywood movies aur phir koi South films karne hi nahi mili.”

The actress will soon be seen insound designer Resul Pookutty’s directorial debut Otta. Talking about the project, she says, “Resul is a dear friend, and when he approached me for this project, I said yes. I am playing a Punjabi in this Malayalam film. I don’t have to speak much Malayalam and have only mouthed a few lines.”

Excited to be a part of this pan-India film, Divya also hopes that she gets to be a part of a spectacle film soon. “I am one of those who whistles in the audience while watching magnum opus movies, and I definitely want to see myself on the big screen and see people whistling and clapping for me,” she signs off.

After close to three decades of starring in Hindi and Punjabi films, actor Divya Dutta has set her sights on Malayalam films. She is gearing up for a biopic to be helmed by Resul Pookutty, Oscar-winning sound designer who is directing his first film.

“I am nervous making a debut after all these years,” she says. “Resul is a friend; he is making a biopic on someone who ran away from his home three times and got at least 35,000 children reunited with their families. He lives in Mumbai and his wife was Punjabi. Resul called me a year ago to say, ‘Whenever I make this film, you will star in it’. I asked, ‘How much Malayalam will you make me speak?’ and he said, ‘A little bit, for sure’,” the 45-year-old laughs.

She is not familiar with the language, she admits. “I needed to be absolutely correct; I would keep mugging up my dialogues. It was interesting to pick up an accent, and I think I came back from the shoot with one too. Expression and art forms, as they say, have no language. Once I knew what the line meant, I would mug it up and deliver the line. On set, if I faced some difficulty, Resul would say, ‘Let’s do it later’, or let me do it in takes, but then immediately afterwards he would tell me to do it again anyway,” laughs Dutta.

The appreciation for cinema from the southern film industries has grown after projects such as Baahubali (2015). Dutta is glad that divides between film industries are on their way out. “Yes, there were boundaries, ki ‘Yeh Punjab ki film hai, yeh Bengali film hai’. But with OTT gradually coming in, I have so many friends who watch Malayalam films. They watch other South films with equal enthusiasm. It doesn’t feel ki kuchh alag dekh liya,” the actor wraps up.

Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, who stirred up a storm after he called S S Rajamouli’s magnum opus RRR a “gay love story”, has been slammed for his remark by Shobu Yarlagadda, who produced Rajamouli’s two-part epic Baahubali.

It all started when, slamming RRR, actor-writer Munish Bharadwaj tweeted, “Saw 30 minutes of garbage called RRR last night.” Resul Pookutty said, “Gay love story (sic) and @aliaa08 is a prop in that film.”

In response, producer Yarlagadda asked, even if RRR were a gay love story, what’s wrong with it? “I don’t think @RRRMovie is a gay love story as you say but even if it was, is ‘gay love story’ a bad thing? How can you justify using this? Extremely disappointed that someone of your accomplishments can stoop so low! (sic),” he wrote.

In his defence, Pookutty said that he merely quoted an article which described RRR as that. “There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I merely quoted my friend, the banter that already exists in the public domain and nothing else. There is no stooping factor in this. You don’t have to take it seriously, Shobu. I didn’t mean any offence to any stakeholders. I rest my case here!” said Pookutty.

Academy Award-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty recently announced his directorial debut Otta, a Malayalam film that will star Asif Ali, Sathyaraj, and Arjun Ashokan in lead roles. The life of social worker and author S Hariharan is the inspiration for this film, says Resul, and adds, “but this is not a biopic. It is inspired by true events that took place in his life.”

Resul says that he met Hariharan at a function, and after hearing the author’s life story, which was also captured in the book Runaway Children, Resul felt there was a film waiting to happen. He says, “Hariharan ran away from home at three different stages in his life. He is from an affluent family and I couldn’t see any plausible reason for him to have done that. When I prodded him to tell me more, he said he was looking for freedom. The longest he was away was when he came to Chennai. Here, he met an older guy named Raju, who treated Hariharan like a brother. They were supposed to start a business, but things changed when his parents found him and took him back home. Later, he finished his education and became a multimillionaire. Many years later, he came across children who had also run away from their homes and he began rescuing these kids. Till date, he has rescued nearly 27,000 children. My film is the story of this man.”

Resul was curious to know if Hariharan ever got in touch with Raju again. “He told me he hasn’t met him since. And that’s where I felt there was a story. My story follows the journey of a boy who finds this friend who changed his life. It is also about children who have troubled relationships with their parents. These parents are busy building a home, but are they creating an environment where the children want to return to one day? Many successful people feel lonely at some stage. So, this film will be a coming-of-age drama, where I show the different stages in the life of a boy who’s a loner. That is why I have titled it Otta (which means loner in Malayalam).”

AsifAli plays the role of Hari and Resul is introducing Jalaja’s daughter Devi as the female lead. Actresses Shobana, Rohini, and Divya Dutta are also part of the film. “Hari’s character is shown in a positive light, but then, there is his alter ego, a character with dark shades, and there is Raju’s character as well,” says Resul.

The sound designer-turned-director says he worked on the script during the pandemic. Kiran Prabhakar wrote the film along with him. “I’ve always felt the urge to write a film. I have worked with several top-notch directors and have a grip on filmmaking as a craft. I put aside two Hindi films and a British film to make this dream a reality,” says Resul.

The team will begin shooting on April 25 in Kochi, after which the film will be shot in Chennai, Mumbai and Dubai. “We plan to wrap up the film by the end of the year and plan to send it to festivals like Cannes as the story has an international sensibility,” informs Resul.

The upcoming romantic drama, Radhe Shyam marks Pooja Hedge’s first association with actor Prabhas. And its trailer has created a buzz among fans about the actors’ chemistry. Quiz Hegde about it and she says, “Chemistry is something that just happens.”

She adds that while Prabhas is known to be shy, he is jovial within his circle of close friends. And that, she feels, is what contributed in “creating magic”. “Sometimes you know someone really well but it doesn’t translate on screen, and sometimes you meet someone for the first time, but it just clicks, magic happens... I would like to believe that we look really good together,” Hegde, 31, shares.

This isn’t the first time that her chemistry with a co-star has been noticed. Her rapport with actor Allu Arjun in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020) also grabbed attention. Hegde says, “People say that I share great chemistry with most of my co-stars, be it Allu Arjun, Akhil Akkineni (in Most Eligible Bachelor; 2021) or Hrithik Roshan (in Mohenjo Daro; 2016). I love love stories. And I love to give my all in a scene. Maybe that translates on screen.”

As she looks forward to Radhe Shyam, she can’t help but ignore the comparisons to Titanic (1997). So, how did she react to sound engineer Resul Pookutty’s claim that the former’s climax is bigger than that of the cult classic? “I started sweating,” she laughs, adding, “If you see a sinking boat in a film, you end up comparing it to Titanic. Having said that, I’m relieved in a way as I feel we have been able to accomplish a similar kind of production design and scale.”

Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar’s sudden demise on Friday has shaken up the world of showbiz. For Resul Pookutty, the Oscar-winning sound designer and editor, this unfortunate incident is no less than a nightmare. He rues, “For somebody who was so fit and young and productive in his creative life just to be gone one morning is like a bad dream. I knew his father (legendary south actor Rajkumar) well.”

Pookutty hadn’t worked with Puneeth but knew him personally. He shares, “l have met him (Puneeth) a couple of times at several award functions. There was no one like him. I can’t forget the smile on his face. It was so humble and heartwarming. He was someone who one would instantly like. His smile will stay with me forever.”

The sound designer further notes, “People down South look at stars as demigods. Puneeth had that kind of stature… But he didn’t have any airs about who his father was or what a great legacy he was carrying forward. He was such a nice guy; so honest.”

He adds, “His passing away is unfathomable. This also reminds you that life is short, and nothing is in your hands. Puneeth survived the pandemic but couldn’t survive a heart attack. It’s really unfortunate.”

The 46-year-old was working out in the gym when he complained of chest pain, following which he was admitted to a hospital in Bengaluru where he breathed his last.

Commencing his day as early as 4.30 am to record the sounds of gibbons in Assam’s Dibrugarh forest, Oscar-winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty recalls hearing an unusual rustle. “It was the sound of something breaking. I thought someone was cutting trees nearby, but the guard said it was the noise of a herd of wild elephants, who were only 50 feet away. They are gigantic, and despite their enormous body, produce only a small squeaky sound, that doesn’t justify their frame,” says Pookutty, talking of the muse of his film, Haathi Mere Saathi, with as much adulation as one would a star. 

Pookutty says he “travelled the length and breadth of Kerala” to acquire what he claims to be the finest collection of live recordings of animals — especially those of elephants — which he couldn’t even procure from his Hollywood contemporaries. “We wanted to recreate the ambience of a forest in the Dolby set-up. After watching the film, I wanted viewers to fall as much in love with elephants as I did. We needed to make the elephants act, react to situations, charge towards the camera, and even retract from it. Prabhu [Solomon, director] has done an amazing job at enabling that. When you spend time with elephants, they begin to communicate with you. I experienced that first-hand, and wanted to recreate that experience for the viewer.”

As he continued to be invested in the endeavour, Pookutty was increasingly keen on acquiring sounds that could justify their varied emotions. Working with elephants, “singles, couples, and in a herd”, he procured sounds that could justify their love, and rage. “In the film, the elephant and the characters have conversations. During the scenes in which they converse with the [protagonist], we needed the sounds to be cute. In the sequences involving an elephant’s death, I want the sound to reflect its last breath. The most important moment, as far as the sound is concerned, is the climax. We see wild elephants sit in protest with Rana [Daggubati’s character]. In a bid to express its support, we showcase an elephant wrapping his trump around Rana. Uff! I am so lucky to have got the right sound for that section. It is a hair-raising moment.”

While he is now certain that his fine understanding of the animal would enable him to even domesticate one, Pookutty admits the task wasn’t a mean feat. “Because I wanted different emotions, I reached out to friends in the forest department. At one centre, they were taming wild elephants. We were two kilometres in the forest, where, in order to train them, they had let them out of the cage. One elephant began to make certain sounds. He must have got [agitated] on seeing the new faces and stereo-microphones. Since I was wearing my headphones, I could hear two more elephants in the vicinity react to his cries, and in no time, I had three elephants standing right before me. This elephant had previously killed eight people. We refer to them as ottayans [generally, rouge elephants]. I remember running for my life,” he says ending his note with an appeal. “The pandemic has taught us that every being has his/her space. Just like we don’t want anyone breaking into our homes, if we break into someone else’s dwelling, they will also react.”

The year-long wait for the release of Haathi Mere Saathi hasn’t been easy on Rana Daggubati, but he insists it has been worth the while. As the adventure drama gears up for a March 26 outing, the actor says it was big-screen-or-nothing for him. “The makers were on the same page [regarding the film’s release post the pandemic]. Even as there were many [OTT] offers on the table, we decided to hold off till theatres across the country opened up. We made this film for the big-screen experience. We shot it in the middle of the jungle. Resul Pookutty, through his sound design, has tried to give it a larger-than-life feel. When viewers are watching this film, we want them to feel that they are in the middle of a rainforest, and [one can] never get that feeling on a mobile phone.”

Told through the lens of a man who shares a deep friendship with one of the elephants, the Prabhu Solomon-directed drama focuses on the issue of human encroachment in India’s elephant corridors. The director, who had previously worked with Unni on two films, roped him in for the trilingual. “Unni is busy because he is one of the few elephants with the Animal Welfare Board of India [AWBI] license. So, we had to [schedule the shoot] according to his dates because the elephant’s comfort was our priority,” says Daggubati.   

A crucial part of prep entailed establishing a rapport with the animals off screen. The actor reveals that as the first step, he trained with animals in Thailand. “I worked with 10 elephants in Thailand. [Before shooting with Unni in the forest], we took out time to understand how he is with plants, trees and other animals around him. Since he doesn’t communicate much with humans, we kept an eye out for his reaction to having a human around him in the film.”

While Aarushi Talwar's murder in 2008, had sent shock waves across the people of India, the recent Sheena Bora murder case has reminded us of the gruesome reality of the possibility of a parent killing a child in society. Unlike many of us who formed our judgement on the case based on newspaper headlines and television debates, Meghna Gulzar followed every detail of the case with all its twists and turns and gaps in the investigation. It affected her so much that she chose to make Talvar that has been written by Vishal Bhardwaj and produced by Vishal along with Junglee Pictures. The film is being internationally premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and will have both Meghna and its lead star Irrfan attend it. Excerpts from a conversation with Irrfan just before leaving for Toronto on his reasons for doing Talvar and his understanding of this most talked about case.

Your upcoming film Talvar allegedly involved parents killing their 14-year-old daughter Aarushi. The recent Sheena Bora case too involves the mother Indrani Mukherjea killing her daughter. In Aarushi's case, the concerned investigating officer was transferred before the final verdict. In the Sheena Bora case too, Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has been transferred. Do you draw any similarities between the two cases?
I am not aware of the Sheena Bora case as I have been out of the country. But my main point of view in Aarushi's case is the way in which the police investigated the case and how things changed due to internal politics of the case. In all of that, the truth of the verdict lost its importance. What was important for me in the Aarushi case was the gaps between what was really happening, what the media was telling me and the real truth behind the case. And why it is important is that in today's times, there is so much information that people just read headlines and form their opinion. It's important for everyone to know that headlines may not be the truth. There could be truth beyond what the media is saying. And even the material that is being written and talked in media may not be the truth. It is the media's point of view. Even during the trial in the courts, media wants to pronounce judgement directly or indirectly. If you really care about knowing the truth, then you should find your own truth. And you should not be so gullible that you form opinions without even reading the full article. We just want to read the headline and make up our mind. And sometimes, it's a compulsion for media to create a sensational headline that may not even be in the article. We are living in a headline culture today. And that's why Talvar is important to me as Meghna unearths all the intricacies of the case and has shown beyond what was told to us. Everyone's trying to control us in our lives, be it the judiciary, the media or the politicians. So it's a kind of war for power. It's saddening to know when in a few cases the judiciary has been quoted saying that the judgement has considered even the emotions of the people.

Having gone through some of the researched material, what is your own view now on the Aarushi Talwar case?
Based on whatever I researched or understood, I feel that there were incapabilities during the investigation. I don't even know if they are properly trained or not. Possibly they are not even given the full authority to do proper investigation. They have so many compulsions and priorities and then they are asked to do such investigations, so it becomes a pathetic kind of situation. I don't want to blame them but the circumstances are like that.

Post Haider, you are once again working with Vishal Bhardwaj who has produced Talvar.
Vishal was one of the main reasons for me being a part of Talvar. Also, I could see the seriousness of Meghna Gulzar. I could see the investment that she had made in this film. I wanted to be a part of the film to make it possible for them to make the film.

What is Meghna Gulzar (director of Talvar) like?
She researched the film a lot, so we used to feel that she is an authority. Whenever we had a question, for instance, despite Aarushi's neck being slit, how could her chaadar look so proper when her body was found? Meghna could give us all the answers.

What in your view got Meghna interested in this case?
I think she was following it and she saw so many discrepancies in the process and she got obsessed by it, just as some journalists get obsessed. And the thing doesn't leave you then and that must have happened with her too. And that must have compelled her to make the film.

As a father in real life, does the thought of killing your child disturb you emotionally?
There are so many cases where parents have killed their children before. I feel a lot of things are based on your economic security. Sometimes your circumstance, your situation is such that you are so much into survival that parenthood takes a backseat. I had gone to Jaipur to my house a few days back and was thinking about it. There is a dhobi right outside our house who irons clothes. He would get his eight-year-old son with him and he would find his kid useful. If he kept an external person, he would have to pay him. So, he uses his son for his work. It's his necessity to survive and thus, he cannot think of parenthood. Likewise, a parent under circumstances can kill a child. It's not impossible for a parent to kill a child. Anything can happen with a human being. But in the Aarushi case, you have to see the film to decide for yourself on the reality.

Tabu and you have shared a great onscreen and offscreen relationship. How was it once again working with her in Talvar?
Tabu has been coming in my life again and again in an unplanned way. It just happens. And whenever she and I have done any film together, be it Maqbool, The Namesake or Haider, it has become special. Incidentally, we also got our Padma Shri awards together. There is something special being with Tabu. We are very good friends and sometimes when we talk, we talk. I feel for her. I can call her at any time, even at 2 am and so can she. We can talk about anything and that's the comfort I have with her. I feel for her, for her well-being and I am really attached to her even though sometimes we may not be in touch with each other for many many months. I wish to do a comedy with her.

What is Tabu like?
She is very sensitive and independent. She is deeply rooted in culture but also has an understanding of the modern world. She is deeply spiritual and straddles many ends. She values true connection with people and has beautifully retained herself as such a spontaneous actor.

Will we ever see you both doing a romantic film together?
I would love to.

Would Tabu agree?
I think so. I can say on her behalf that yes she would if the role is good and the producer is good. For her, what kind of human being is making the film matters a lot. She is self-made and the kind of journey she has gone through and the kind of world she has seen makes her very special. Her sensitivity, her longing, the way she serves her mother, the way she has taken care of things from such an early age, working and making her life. She has been like a man making her own empire. I wish she gets a lot of love in her life.

You are amongst the best known actors from Bollywood in Hollywood. How do you feel?
Yesterday I was supposed to do ADR (Hollywood's terminology for dubbing) for Inferno. Resul Pookutty was doing it from here. So I went for dubbing and Resul had seen the scenes between Tom Hanks and me before the dubbing.So as soon as he saw me, he just went mad and came and hugged me and kissed me and said, 'I am so proud of you.' His warmth stayed with me even till the next morning. I could see what it had done to him and was overwhelmed with his warmth that meant such a lot to me.

How was your experience working with the legendary Tom Hanks?
It was one of my life's best experiences. What a khoobsoorat insaan he is. For me just like Tabu, it matters a lot as to what kind of human being I am working with. He has so much warmth and he is so free from inside. Acting job makes actors have a kind of insecurity everywhere. But as a personality he is above that. Even in Hollywood, there is insecurity but there after a certain point, people start giving importance to their personal lives unlike here in our industry where stars get caught up in their image. Stars cannot differentiate between their perceptual and real image. There because of them being a consumerist society, I think they are compelled to come out of it. I remember the first time I went to work with Gabriel Byrne, he knew that I came from a different country from a different language and so knew that it was difficult for me. So the first thing he did to make me feel comfortable was that he sent his secretary, asked her to give me her personal number so that I could call him whenever he needed me. I have never called him and don't even have his number now, but that gesture meant a lot to me. Likewise Tom, on the first day there was an envelope with his signature carrying a message for me. It talked about how we were doing a film together and he wished that we had more scenes together. But he said, 'Anyways if not, we will save the world as is.' He has a great sense of humour. In Hollywood they are working but they do not take themselves as seriously as we do here.

Do you prefer working in Bollywood or Hollywood?
There are certain things in our country that cannot be replaced. The casualness of it, the informality, the disorder, the song and dance, the celebration in our society... our Gods are also dancing, unke affairs ho rahe hain. Our philosophies of life, we sometimes even celebrate death. We see death as a part of our evolution. There however, you are challenged and you cannot do it superficially. You have to be prepared and have to dive into it. Also they are so punctual unlike us. If the shoot needs to start at 7am, it has to start at 7am. If you are even two minutes late to start from your hotel pick up point, the message will reach within seconds to hundreds of people working on the film. Once it happened with me during The Namesake. In India, we are used to the car coming to the hotel, then the driver will call us and then we will come down from our room. So in effect the car will find us. There the car will come dot on time and it's your job to find it. I kept waiting for the car driver to call me due to which I got late by seven minutes. Mira Nair, my director, came to know that I was late by 7 minutes and I was shocked. From that day, I always find the car myself and have never been late by even a minute.