'Heeramandi' & 'Bajirao Mastani', Cinematographer, Sudeep Chatterjee

0:00Jawad MirI have been following Sanjay Leela Bhansali since his first film. How is it working with him?

0:04Sudeep ChatterjeeIt's very addictive because, I mean, you know, he's somebody who's, always pushing you so hard that when you're shooting, you... It hurts. But then you realize that you keep getting better and better because of his pushing. He never puts an idea in your head, because he's always very interested in what's in my mind. With Sanjay's films, the prep is a very long prep. There is a lot of research, along with the production designers. Outdoor set, which we cover from the top and create like an indoor set. All the lighting that you're seeing is artificial, including the daylight stuff.

0:32Jawad MirHave you seen, Robert Zemeckis' What Lies Beneath?

0:35Sudeep ChatterjeeOf course, yeah. It's very interesting you talk about that film, because that's one film I had when I was just starting out. I had the DVD and I wrote down lighting notes of every scene. That there was a bathroom scene, where there was a mixed lighting and, like, I was, like, really tripping on that film, how beautifully it was lit.

0:51Jawad MirAmazing.

0:51Sudeep ChatterjeeI'm not very comfortable to talk in front of the camera. You know, I'm not used to it, but you made it very easy. I realize that I can talk if I get someone like you.

1:07Jawad MirHow are you?

1:08Sudeep ChatterjeeI'm very good. I'm very good. I'm in the mi… middle of grading my next movie.

1:14Jawad MirWhat are you grading, if you're willing to share?

1:16Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. It's a, it's a feature. It's a feature, which will release next month. It's a very different kind of a movie from, Heeramandi. It's got a lot of sports in it, and, it's, it... About story of a, of a boy from a very small town, f… small village in India, and how he, eventually, goes to the Olympic and, you know, actually goes to Paralympic because, he wants to go to Olympic…

1:47Jawad MirRight

1:47Sudeep Chatterjee... And then he has a, and, he, a soldier and he gets injured in the war and, like,.. But it's a beautiful story. It's very different from Heeramandi.

1:58Jawad MirOh, that sounds exciting. Who's starring in it?

2:01Sudeep ChatterjeeKartik Aaryan. He's a upcoming, big star in India.

2:08Jawad MirI'm familiar with the Indian film scene very much. I'm just…

2:10Sudeep ChatterjeeOh, you are? Kartik Aaryan.

2:11Jawad MirYeah.

2:11Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah.

2:11Jawad MirYeah.

2:12Sudeep ChatterjeeSo as a matter of fact, today the f… the poster got released. And on the 18th, the trailer will come out. It's called Chandu Champion.

2:20Jawad MirOh, right. I know Kartik Aaryan. He's the one,.. I just Googled him. The very famous monologue about, having relationship wi… with women and marriage and all that. He did this really amazing…

2:32Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. Yeah

2:33Jawad Mir... Five-minute monologue.

2:34Sudeep ChatterjeeYou can, you can just... You can see the posters there. If you type Chandu Champion, the posters just come out today. And

2:39Jawad MirOh, okay. Let me take...

2:40Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. On 18th, the trailer will be out.

2:45Jawad MirChandu Champion. Okay. Well, look, looks great. No, that's great that you're working on the grading of the film. And, let's just jump into Heeramandi. Just to kinda give you a little bit of context, I have been following Sanjay Leela Bhansali since his first film, Khamosh, came out, with Manisha Koirala, who's in this film, right? I mean, he has made some amazing films. For me, the, some of the best films he's done are pre-epic area, era, like, you know, Khamosh, Black.

3:22Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah.

3:23Jawad MirAnd Khamo… Khamosh, for our English audience, means, silence, but, Black, and then Devdas, obviously. So I did see a lot of his stuff here and there in between, like the ones that he did, but it wasn't something that connected to me as much as those three films did.

3:41Sudeep ChatterjeeOkay.

3:41Jawad MirHeer… Heeramandi, I was, I was kinda iffy about it, but I know the grand scale and, you know, from the... As a, as a filmmaker myself, I just love the visuals, but the series was really good. I mean, I'm on episode six, and I really enjoy the characters. I really enjoy the language. You know, the scale we're doing there and

4:01Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah

4:01Jawad Mir... The dialogue.

4:02Sudeep ChatterjeeThis is, this is my fifth, project with him.

4:05Jawad MirYeah.

4:05Sudeep ChatterjeeSo I did Guzaarish. I did Bajirao Mastani, Gangubai Kathiawadi, and this is my fifth project.

4:11Jawad MirGuzaarish. Guzaarish was him?

4:14Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah.

4:14Jawad MirOh, right. Yes. The one with the magician, right?

4:17Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah.

4:18Jawad MirYes. I forget.

4:19Sudeep ChatterjeeReally commercial film for him.

4:20Jawad MirYes.

4:20Sudeep ChatterjeeThat's my first film with Sanjay.

4:22Jawad MirHow is it working with him?

4:25Sudeep ChatterjeeIt's very addictive because, I mean, you know, he's somebody who's, always pushing you so hard that when you're shooting, you... It hurts. But then you realize that you keep getting better and better because of his pushing, and you kind of, go beyond your capacity, and that's kind of... That's very addictive. So whenever I don't work with him, I really miss him.

4:46Jawad MirThat's good to hear. I mean, it's sometimes…

4:48Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah

4:48Jawad Mir... It's, it's a good thing, like, people push you, right? Because at the time you may be thinking, not you as in you, but anybody may be thinking, "Okay, what's the point of this?" But when you've, you know, done with the day or the next day and after the shoot…

5:01Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. No

5:01Jawad Mir... It's

5:01Sudeep ChatterjeeI mean, like he would... He's a person who can really... He's searching for excellence in, everything, and he's searching for excellence in others as well. So, you know, he's... That push is actually... It's a very rare thing because he really, you know, motivates you to dig deeper into yourself a… and see what else you can... So I've learned a lot from him, like, you know, to always reject the first idea, not to get comfortable, to kind of always see that, okay, is there another way of doing it? Even if you're ready. And he as a, producer, director, is very willing to take that... You know, suppose I'll tell you. There'll be, maybe we have done the lighting, we are about to go for the shot, and the actor has performed the rehearsal, and I feel that, oh, my visual approach was, is not really going with the way the performance is happening. And I would go and tell him that, "Sanjay, this is not working for me. In terms of lighting, I would want to relight this scene." he would actually allow me to do that. That's really, that's really good

6:02Jawad MirWow, and that's, and that…

6:02Sudeep ChatterjeeI mean, he'll fight with me

6:03Jawad Mir... It's a very,.. Yeah, of course.

6:04Sudeep ChatterjeeHe'll fight with me

6:05Jawad MirOf course

6:05Sudeep ChatterjeeHe, like, we fight. He said that, "You're gonna ruin me," and all that. But at the same time, he's very democratic. I mean, if there's, there's... It would always be heard if one has an,.. And that kind of a creative freedom is very rare to find, you know, the kind of,.. That's some, that's what I'm saying it's so addictive, that as far as the filmmaking is concerned, the honesty and the, and the passion is, there's, there's absolutely no compromise on that, and that's very rare.

6:31Jawad MirWell, that's one of the things that really great directors, whether they're in Hollywood or in India or any other part of the world, they bring on the people that they think are, you know, at their peak or b… even better than them, and then they will question them, and there's no… nothing personal. So you, the i… the goal is to produce the best possible result, and whatever…

6:54Sudeep ChatterjeeYes

6:54Jawad Mir... Whoever comes up with that or the collaborative effort…

6:57Sudeep ChatterjeeRight

6:57Jawad Mir... It is. And, you mentioned about lighting. How involved is Sanjay? Y… you kinda touched upon it, but if you can go into a little bit more depth.

7:07Sudeep ChatterjeeOf course.

7:07Jawad MirIn, i… in the actual lighting a shot, or does he say, you know, "You do it," and then you have a conversation, or he suggests something?

7:14Sudeep ChatterjeeI mean, no. He, first of all, even when he's briefing, he never puts an idea in your head because he's always very interested in what's in my mind. So he'll always ask, you know, how I'm seeing it and how I'm going it, and if he thinks, I'm not going in the right way, he has his way of kind of, you know, getting what he wants. He never interface with the lighting. I mean, he'll never say that, you know, "Can you make that brighter?" or "Can you make that, " you know, "Can you do this over there?" there wouldn't be that, but, his reactions are more abstract, and it's more, it's more about the emotion. And from the reactions that he gives, I know if it's working or not, you know?

7:59Jawad MirCan you, can you give me an ex…

8:00Sudeep ChatterjeeI mean, in fact, he'll not even say that if the lens is not correct. He'll not even say that, "Okay, why don't you go put a 35 instead of a 25?" He'll just say that, you know, "Maybe I want to go a little closer," or, you know, "I want to see a little more background," stuff like that.

8:14Jawad MirRight, and that's one of the things I love about his, films. Obviously it's a collaborative effort, cinematography, you know, hi… his direction, his vis… his vision, is that I... Personally, for me, even as a director myself, I have learned so much from, you know, great directors like Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, even Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Devina Chopra, like, he's my f… you know, up there. Is the establishing a wide shot that gives you the feel of the character, the atmosphere he or she is in, that is so pivotal right now in today's day and age, because even in India or Hollywood, you know, the easiest thing is to cut fast because you're trying to hide some performances or trying to hide effects and stuff. And why it is the toughest thing to do, b… and especially in choreography, like when you're doing, like, a dance sequence, like the way it is in…

9:03Jawad Mir... Heeramandi, to have everybody in synergy, you know, and not to cut just because somebody's going off, I mean, that's, that's remarkable.

9:13Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. And, you know, what I find fascinating is that there's so much that, his environment is also, contributing to the story, not just the actors or the dialogues. There's so much storytelling he's doing with the visual, with the frame, that the walls are telling a story, the pillars are telling a story. You know, the way the draperies is, that's telling a story. So…

9:35Jawad MirYeah, and I noticed that in one of the shots, I mean, to have a painting of characters in the pa… in the, you know, if you wanna call them palace or homes, of, you know, Farida Jan's character or her mom's character.

9:50Jawad MirAnd it just comes up for, like, you know, a few seconds, but it just so tells such a big story about that person to have that painted, you know? It, that... It's not somebody, not a lot of directors would do that or not a lot of producers would put money into, "Okay, do we really…

10:07Sudeep ChatterjeeAbsolutely. Absolutely

10:07Jawad Mir... Do we really need that?"

10:09Sudeep ChatterjeeAbsolutely.

10:11Jawad MirHow much did you know about Heeramandi itself before divulging into the film?

10:16Sudeep ChatterjeeNo, I personally, I didn't know. The subject has been with Sanjay for a very long time, and he's mentioned it in our last so many years of collaboration. I always knew that he wanted to do it at some point of time. Personally, I didn't know much about Heeramandi. I came to know it through the script. And it was our own Heeramandi that…

10:35Jawad MirAnd did you…

10:36Sudeep ChatterjeeSorry?

10:36Jawad MirRight. Sorry, no, please go ahead. I interrupted you. My bad.

10:38Sudeep ChatterjeeNo, abso… no, I'm saying, and we were creating a, our own Heeramandi. I mean, I mean, yeah.

10:49Jawad MirHow much research do you do, whether it's Heeramandi or other projects that you work with Sanjay Leela…

10:55Sudeep ChatterjeeI mean

10:55Jawad Mir... Or in the other projects?

10:56Sudeep ChatterjeeThe, there is a lot of research, along with the production designers. Like when we were doing Kanguva, there was a lot more research in terms of, because, you know, that's Bombay, that's,.. It was easier to research. Here, we did. I mean, there was l… there was, a lot of research done, trying to be as accurate as possible.

11:21Jawad MirRight. No, I was, I was just wondering in terms of you as a cinematographer, right? Like, obviously production design will go and try to research about, you know, look at the photos or any kind of archival stuff or talk to people. From a cinematography standpoint, like, did you, to tell the story visually, right?

11:39Jawad MirDid you read anything about Heeramandi itself? Like, what it, what it was at the time and what kind of…

11:46Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. Yeah. Yes. No, actually, in terms of the what were the light fittings and what were the kind of electric bulbs that were used, what were the kind of, you know, what kind of chandeliers, there were a lot of b… research we did on the lighting and the kind of fixtures that we had, that they had over there And, yeah, that's, that's of course when you're doing a period film you have to, you have to do that.

12:14Jawad MirRight. So when you're... It's a… filmmaking is a collaborative effort. How... Obviously you're working with Sanjay, but working with, excuse me, makeup artists probably not that much, maybe a little bit, but especially production designer or set designers and art direction, what kind of collaboration do you guys... If you can run…

12:34Sudeep ChatterjeeNo, there's a, there's a lot of…

12:35Jawad MirJust tell me a story

12:35Sudeep Chatterjee... There's a lot of collaboration because, you know, with Sanjay's films, the prep is a very long prep. While the sets are being built we almost, every day throughout the, time we are there, while the sets are being built. So, you're customizing things as per your lighting requirement, if you want a window there, or if you want a, you know, a fixture there, and that really is,.. That's a lot. A… and Sanjay really, encourages me to, be part of, the costume selection

13:10Sudeep Chatterjee... Not only in terms of, the color and the, and the color palette, but also in terms of texture and what kind of material would react to what kind of light. There's a lot of importance given to that, and the expectation is that you'll be completely available to, you know, to participate in all that. And without that, I don't think it's possible to do this kind of a costume drama with, you know, which is, which Heera Mandi is. I mean, it's, it's because a lot of time has been spent, while the sets are being,.. But I, in fact I would feel that my work is as much on shoot, as much as, you know, when the sets are being built or when costumes are being... And that's, that's Sanjay Leela Bhansali's filmmaking. I mean, it's very collaborative right from the beginning. And…

13:55Jawad MirRight

13:55Sudeep Chatterjee... Yeah. So you have a lot of, participation, I would say. And that's what I'm saying, you know, that's, that's very addictive. I mean, once you get used to this kind of filmmaking where, you know, you are, it's looking a certain way because you're, you know, involved in everything and you have a say, and you know what kind of lighting is gonna, you're going to do, accordingly what kind of costumes you want and, you know, it'll all be considered, taken into account.

14:24Jawad MirYeah.

14:24Sudeep ChatterjeeAnd it… it'll be a very collaborative decision.

14:28Jawad MirA… a… and, Sudeep, did you sh…

14:31Sudeep ChatterjeeWhat I find very... Sorry to interrupt you. What I find very…

14:34Jawad MirThat's okay

14:34Sudeep Chatterjee... Fascinating is that what Sanjay would always make you feel that you're doing your thing, and everything you're deciding, but at the same time, I don't know how he manages to get his vision through, because that, what his vision is, there's a very magical way that he, you know, he tr… you know, transfixes that inside you. So you feel you're doing everything,.. But it's a very strange, guidance that's always happening. It'll never be anything that he's not wanting. You know, I find that…

15:03Jawad MirIt's a, it's a…

15:04Sudeep Chatterjee... That's absolutely magical

15:04Jawad Mir... It's a sign of a great leader. That's what great leaders do.

15:08Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. Yeah, absolutely.

15:09Jawad MirThey implant this idea in your head.

15:11Sudeep ChatterjeeAnd leading by example.

15:11Jawad MirYeah. Yeah, of course.

15:12Sudeep ChatterjeeI mean, when he's pushing me, he's pushing himself much harder. I can see that.

15:17Jawad MirYeah. W…

15:17Sudeep ChatterjeeYou know, so somebody who, has the right to pu… I mean, somebody who's pushing himself that hard has the right to push everybody else, because everyone's pursuing that excellence.

15:28Jawad MirWell, they say that term in cricket, right? Leading from the front. So…

15:31Sudeep ChatterjeeAbsolutely. Absolutely

15:32Jawad Mir... You have to, you ha… you have to, you have to do that, otherwise why would anybody follow you? Y… did you shoot all the episodes or

15:39Sudeep ChatterjeeNo. No

15:39Jawad Mir... Please correct me if I'm wrong. Okay

15:41Sudeep Chatterjee... No, there are two other DOPs principal who also shot along with me. What we, what we did was, for the almost entirely of the, for the first two episodes, although there are, even in the first two episodes there are one or two scenes which are shot by others, but we started shooting, me and S… Sanjay started shooting. We saw, shot a sizable chunk. I think first 60, 70 days we shot, well, we set the look, we set the palette, and, all the set was entirely lit up. So others kind of had to, follow the palette. And there was a lot of interaction between us, between the other DPs and me, the other two guys, and they're, they're, very close to me. While I was shooting, they were continuously on set observing me what I'm doing and, how the approach is going. And even when they were shooting, probably I'm in the same s… at the same time I'm on the studio, I'm shooting something else. And, I would go over, look at stuff, and there'd be a lot of, interaction between us to, just to make sure that everything is coherent and, you know, as much…

16:45Jawad MirRight

16:45Sudeep Chatterjee... As coherent as is possible. Though I feel, I really wish I'd shot, I'd shot everything myself, because, you know, that's,.. But, I mean, it was not possible. It was impossible to shoot because…

16:56Jawad MirYeah

16:56Sudeep Chatterjee... So what happened that

16:57Jawad MirYeah, no. I wanted to clarify that because, w… when I speak to, you know, directors or DPs, on shows for Netflix or Apple TV, like, you know, in Hollywood, majority of the time, like, there would be a director for, like, one or two episodes and more or less the team will be the same, and the next two episodes will be a different director with the same team. So, but having one director and then, you know, kind of mingling it all together a little bit here and there, that's, that's a lot of extra work because e… even though the consistency has to be there, but the vision to adapt to it is... And I'm glad that you shared that other DPs were there, because it's not, it's not like, "Okay, I'll just show up and we'll just start again." Like, you know, we'll start from where you left.

17:45Sudeep ChatterjeeNo. No. Like…

17:46Jawad MirYou have to be heavily involved

17:47Sudeep Chatterjee... But these, they had, they had ample preparation. I mean, like, I think first 70 days only I shot, while they would observe. So I think it was once they started shooting, they already knew what the style was, what the palette was. And then they would be, whatever they were shooting, I was aware of what they're shooting, and one could guide them accordingly and, you know, So that was not a problem

18:10Jawad MirDid you grade them a series or was it a collaborative effort?

18:12Sudeep ChatterjeeYes, I did. I did. No, that I did. I did myself, because that's, again, important to, you know, m… maintain the, consistency.

18:19Jawad MirI just wanna say that it… it's really beautifully graded.

18:24Sudeep ChatterjeeYes, thank you very much

18:24Jawad Mir... Really beautifully graded.

18:25Sudeep ChatterjeeThe... My colorist, Ashish Vadhadkar, and I, we've been collaborating for the longest time. I don't work with anybody else, and I have a tremendous understanding with him, and, like, he's a wonderful artist. Really wonderful artist.

18:38Jawad MirDo you guys, do you guys use DaVinci Resolve or…

18:41Sudeep ChatterjeeBaselight

18:41Jawad Mir... For grading? Sorry?

18:43Sudeep ChatterjeeBaselight. We grade on Baselight.

18:46Jawad MirBaselight?

18:47Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah.

18:48Jawad MirI haven't heard of that software before. What is it called? Baselike?

18:52Sudeep ChatterjeeBaselight.

18:56Jawad MirOkay. I gotta look that up, because I... Okay. I di… I didn't know about that. I mean, I've obviously worked with Dream…

19:03Sudeep ChatterjeeIf you want, I'll pass on the, more details. I'll just speak to Ashish. He's right next door. I can, I can give you…

19:10Jawad MirYeah, I would love to know. I would love to know. I would love to know. That's good

19:12Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah, I'll, I'll pass on the information.

19:14Jawad MirThat'd be really cool. How was the very first, reaction from the audiences? Did you guys do a screening of some sort, even for an episode or two?

19:25Sudeep ChatterjeeWe did. B… Netflix did a two-episode premiere show. But you know how premiere shows are. Everyone says nice things to you.

19:33Jawad MirYeah. That's what I said, set…

19:35Sudeep ChatterjeeAnd, but yeah, but I think it…

19:36Jawad Mir... Screening

19:36Sudeep Chatterjee... It was quite overwhelming for people. Every... The reaction we got was they were pretty overwhelmed with what they saw.

19:43Jawad MirWhat was the most challenging scene to film, whether it was from a lighting standpoint or, performance or, like, over and over takes? Because, you know, Sanjay is known for that.

19:54Sudeep ChatterjeeFrom lighting standpoint, see, the entire series was shot in artificial light. It's an outdoor set which we, cover from the top and create like an indoor set. So all the lighting that you're seeing is artificial in… including the daylight stuff. So lighting is always very challenging in a set like that, because, you know, you're creating m… suppose you're creating sunlight. Maybe you're see… seeing some 824Ks in the f… r… being used. You have to make sure that all the lights are placed in a way that the rays look parallel to each other because, you know... Even nights become very challenging because, you know, the height of the ceiling is about 60 feet. So you can't put a moon box. So essentially y… you're just bouncing, m… lights off the white ceiling and creating the night ambience. So, you know, a consistent uniform moonlight, that's a, that's a big,.. It's a little challenging to do that. Plus, you know, your lighting levels are very, gentle because you'll be interacting with a lot of, real flames, fire.

21:05Sudeep ChatterjeeSo yeah. There's one particular scene where, you know, in episode two, where the girls, they go in with a little candle in their hand. They go in and the… this, they, you know, pay tribute to,.. That's, that's, Sonakshi's birth sea… sequence.

21:20Sudeep ChatterjeeYou know, so that's like…

21:20Jawad MirRight

21:20Sudeep Chatterjee... Real flames. So, and you can't really create, to do... You have to cook with real candles, so your exposure levels are very low. Focus is very complicated, and yeah.

21:35Jawad MirOf all the work that you have done so far in your career, not just with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, what holds a special place, and why? I know it's comparing like your children to each other…

21:51Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah

21:51Jawad Mir... But at the same time…

21:53Sudeep ChatterjeeBut yeah, you know, sometimes your affection goes towards the weak one, the one which hasn't got much love.

21:58Jawad MirWhich is?

21:59Sudeep ChatterjeeAnd... Which is, you know, say for instance, I, we did, I did Bajirao. And Bajirao, I thought, it was very flawed according to me in my work. Just, I'm not talking about anything else, just in terms of lighting. And, then I thought the next one, Padmaavat, I'll correct all of that. And I really worked hard on, you know, making everything much more technically correct. And, you know, from... I'm purely talking about lighting point of view. Somehow, you know, I feel Bajirao as a film got more love, but, I feel my work is better in Padmaavat. So, you know, that way it's,.. Then there's probably, there are some films, there's one film that I, did. The f… the film didn't, turn out to be the way what wa… what was originally scripted. You know, some films just kind of meander while it's being made.

22:53Jawad MirYeah.

22:53Sudeep ChatterjeeAnd, Thakrey was one such film, which had great promise, and I had a lot of enthusiasm and excitement while I was doing that. And I think parts of Thakrey has some of my finest work.

23:06Jawad MirRight

23:06Sudeep Chatterjee... But just, because the film didn't work and no one saw it's just lost. And, they become very precious to you because, you know, I put in some really nice, a lot of hard work, and I think, I think it's, it's one of my v… more interesting works.

23:24Jawad MirRight. And I, and I think that's true for almost every artist in any department, is that the films that you feel that you are close to, they don't get wide audience. And when the ones that you think, "Oh, well, you know, it was okay, I'm not too pleased with it," they get wide audience.

23:41Sudeep ChatterjeeTrue.

23:41Jawad MirIt's just amazing how that works. That's…

23:44Sudeep ChatterjeeBut I mean, that... But for me, also, there's, there's a film like Chak De India, which…

23:48Jawad MirYeah

23:49Sudeep Chatterjee... At that point of time, I had taken a certain visual approach which was unconventional. While the film was being made and being edited and all that, from the studio I was hearing a lot of comments saying, you know, "What does it look like? It is, like, this strange-looking film. You don't want to do this." I held on to my guts, and, my director and my producer really supported me. And, That in, and, I'm happy that I stuck to what I thought was right, and, I saw it till the end, and that film's cinematography got, a lot of, it did my career a lot of good.

24:23Sudeep ChatterjeeIt got a lot of appreciation and a lot of awards. And, you know, I was, that's very s… special because that's something I genuinely believed, and I did. And you know, the fact that it was really reassuring, and it gave me a lot of confidence that I was right.

24:41Jawad MirOf course. Just to kind of wrap things up in the next few minutes, Sudeep, is what is one type of story... When I say story, I don't mean, I shouldn't say story. What is one type of genre or visuals that you would, or period piece or, you know, whether it's futuristic or past or present, or genre that you would want to work on that you have not yet?

25:03Sudeep ChatterjeeI have not done a horror. I think, I think that's, that's one, because you know, the visuals can, you know, it can really, there's a lot of opportunity there, and that's something I've not got. So that's something, and I think, of, I've done period, but I've not done something that's set in the future, and it'll be great to visualize something like that, and I'll, I'd love to do something that's set in future. You know, that's, it's a lot of, it called for a lot of imagination.

25:32Jawad MirYeah. And then, and I think with horror, I mean I wouldn't call this movie horror, but it's a thriller. Have you seen, Robert Zemeckis' What Lies Beneath?

25:41Sudeep ChatterjeeOf course. Yeah. Of course.

25:42Jawad MirYes. And by Don Burgess, who shot it.

25:45Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. It's…

25:45Jawad MirI spoke to him, about the movie.

25:47Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. In fact, in fact, you know, it's very interesting you talk about that film, because that's some, one film I had, when I was just starting out, I think it was 2000 or 2001 or something.

25:57Jawad MirIt came out in 2000. Summer 2000.

25:59Sudeep ChatterjeeYeah. So I remember I had the DVD, and I wrote down m… lighting notes of every scene. That there was a bathroom scene where there was a mixed lighting and, like, I was, like, really tripping on that film, how beautifully it was lit. And a few days back, I was showing it to my son, that, you know, this was, this is how I used to study lighting of other DOPs. You know, you had a, your, used to play the DVD, and you used to pause and then see what has been done and then try to see, okay, oh, he did jump continuity, but I still, he still got away with that. That was smart. And like, yeah. So I, it's very interesting you spoke about that film.

26:36Jawad MirYeah, because it is, in my view, I mean, there are some great s… scary or thriller movies. That is, especially the last act, like the whole washroom sequence.

26:46Sudeep ChatterjeeYes, the washroom.

26:46Jawad MirI mean, I spoke to Don Burgess, who's the DP on that film, about that, and it's one of the most amazing sequences I have ever seen without mu…

26:56Sudeep ChatterjeeAbsolutely. Absolutely

26:57Jawad Mir... Without music, you know, with just the water running, and you're just feeling the tension building up nonstop, and it's done so well. And I really hope, you know, when I, when I think of it, when you said something like horror or a thriller, it would be really cool to see, a director like Sanjay Leela Bhansali or with Dibakar Chopra, you know, to work with yourself or, you know, in Bo… in India to create those kind of things because I think in, i… in, and I do think India cin… Indian cinema is changing and has changed quite a bit, but the, sometimes the u… the element of music just for the sake of using it doesn't work. You have to have a roaring silence.

27:41Sudeep ChatterjeeOh, yeah. I agree. I agree. Absolutely.

27:45Jawad MirYeah. Well, Sudeep, it's been amazing. Thank you so much for the chat.

27:49Sudeep ChatterjeeThank you.

27:50Jawad MirI would love to…

27:50Sudeep ChatterjeeI'm not very comfortable to talk in front of the camera, you know, I'm not used to it, but you made it very easy. I mean, I'm somebody who's, I realize that I can talk if I get someone like you.

28:01Jawad MirThank you so much, man. I appreciate it. I would love continue chatting to you. Maybe we can talk about some past stuff, and maybe when your next film comes out.

28:08Sudeep ChatterjeeWhenever, yeah.

28:08Jawad MirNext one, is it?

28:09Sudeep ChatterjeeThe next release is, yeah, in, on 14th of June. What I'll do is I'll, I'll mail you the link to the trailer, so you can take a look at it.

28:18Jawad MirYeah.

28:18Sudeep ChatterjeeYou can keep in touch.

28:19Jawad MirI would love to sta… check that, and I'll email you personally myself, and we can stay in touch.

28:24Sudeep ChatterjeeGreat. Thank you so much. Thank you.

28:25Jawad MirThank you so much, Sudeep. Take care. Bye-bye.

28:27Sudeep ChatterjeeBye.