'Angry Young Men', Editor, Geeta Singh

0:00Geeta SinghEven Javed saab story about the torn pant. And he says that, "How can you be left with only that one pant in your life?" But that's all he had. That really hit home. It just, it just... I m… y… you feel that, oh, my God, these people have also struggled for so long and achieved what they did. So that was,.. And even, when Salim saab says that, and he honestly says that he didn't have it in him to become an actor.

0:35Jawad MirYeah.

0:35Geeta SinghSo it's okay. It's also okay to accept that, you know what? I came here to do this, but this is not for me. I can't do it. It's okay to say, "I failed at that."

0:54Jawad MirReally looking forward to chatting about, Angry Young Men, which is on Amazon Prime, available worldwide. I had the pleasure of seeing it this morning in one sitting. And I, and I wasn't in any way disappointed, and it was more than I expected. So thank you so much for being involved in such a great story, much needed and much required after all these years.

1:19Geeta SinghNo, I think I, it was an honor for me to be a part of this, piece of cinema history. Yeah.

1:25Jawad MirI'm assuming you grew up with all the stuff that they have worked on, Salim-Javed, right?

1:31Geeta SinghAll, without knowing that they had written it, because you nev… you never, you know, bother to find out who's the writer. So my mother was an avid Amitabh Bachchan fan. So I've watched, and not just his films, I've watched a lot of Hindi cinema growing up. But I didn't know that these two writers had written all these films, and I didn't know that I was going to be a part of this project, like, so many years later. Yeah.

1:57Jawad MirYeah. It's incredible. I remember, it's kind of, and I know why you guys didn't include that film because the way the story panned out in the Dark series, but the very first film knowingly that I knew that I'd seen of Salim-Javed, and I still remember seeing Salim-Javed in yellow fonts, was Mr. India. Which I f… have you seen that?

2:23Geeta SinghOf course. Of course.

2:24Jawad MirYeah.

2:25Geeta SinghBut yeah.

2:25Jawad MirSo I... Sorry, go on.

2:27Geeta SinghLeft that out. I, it was towards the end of their, partnership, so

2:32Jawad MirYes

2:33Geeta Singh... We sort of felt that maybe we don't need to go in there.

2:38Jawad MirYeah, no, it was the right decision. I, that's what I said, it was a great decision, but I, the fandom part in me was like, you know, I was awaiting that, but it made completely sense because that's what the story demanded. But yeah, no, hats off to you and your, you know, obviously, I think the director's name is, Nirmita. Nirmita, is it?

2:59Geeta SinghNirmita Rao. Yeah.

3:01Jawad MirNirmita Rao. Amazing job in putting the story together. You know, just hearing from these two legends, was remarkable. So, you know, we'll get right into the film in a bit, but I would love to know what it has sort of made you who you are today, your catalyst of your story.

3:23Geeta SinghMy personal story? Like… ... A professional story or a bit of both?

3:27Jawad MirWell, whichever you wanna feel comfortable sharing.

3:29Geeta SinghWell, I've been editing for a very long time now. ... I think more than 25 years. Mostly nonfiction, not much fiction. I used to be in Delhi for the longest time, and I moved to Bombay in 2010, as recent as that. Hello, I froze.

3:52Jawad MirOkay.

3:52Geeta SinghOkay, no, I lost you in between.

3:53Jawad MirYeah. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here, yeah.

3:56Geeta SinghYeah. So, yeah, I mean, becoming an editor I think was wasn't something that I had planned. There was no design there. I just, I... My first job was with Vinod Dua, back in the day, I think in '92. And, I started off as a young production assistant, really making more tea than doing anything else, but, I learnt a lot from there on, apart from making good tea. So I think I w… I just naturally, and I was assisting the editors who were working on his project at that time, and I naturally sort of got drawn into editing. I don't have formal training. I'm not from the Film Institute, so whatever I am today and whatever I have learnt or achieved is pretty much been on the job. I don't have formal training, and I think I just go by my instinct, which I think is fairly strong, and I like to believe in that. And, that's how I approach all of my work, just from my heart and what feels right to me.

5:03Jawad MirAmazing. Thank you for sharing that. But what I'm trying to always figure out, because we all have our interesting anchor points or moments in life which kind of stimulate the career that takes its own path, was there a particular movie, a particular, you know, somebody that you knew who was in the industry? What ignited you to get into the industry? You know, not necessarily editing, but even being a production assistant.

5:34Geeta SinghNo, I mean, I don't think... I mean, I was, I was, what, 20, 21. I really was fairly clueless, what I wanted to do in life and, I thought that, okay, you know, something in media, something in this line might be,.. There was nobody in my family really who was from this background. So, but just something where I thought, okay, maybe something with the creative arts would be good. So I was literally standing at the bus stop And there was this young girl next to me, and she said, "Oh, you know, have you applied to, the Sapphire College in Bombay?" And I was like, "No, you know, what is it about?" And she told me. She says, "You know, my parents..." I said, "My parents would never let me go to Bombay." But she planted the seed. So I went home and I told my mom that, you know, there's this course and, you know, it's in Bombay. So she said, "Okay. Well, go sit the exam." So I said, "Okay." So I, you know, I came to Bombay. I… at Sapphire's I took the exam, I took the interview, and then I cleared it. And then I said, "Okay, now the next hurdle is to tell my parents that I've cleared it.

6:38Geeta SinghWill they let me go?" So I went back to my mother again and I said, "Well, you know, I've cleared the exam and I'm in, so what do we do?" She said, "Okay, so pack your bags." So that was that. And then, so I was quite surprised, that they sort of, you know, let me go to Bombay to study. And I came here for a year, and I did my mass communication course from Sapphire's. I took up a... It was a one-year course, and then I took up a job with an advertising firm. But before I joined them, I went back to Delhi for a vacation, and I never came back to that job. So I stayed back in Delhi for 20 years. That is something I feel I, my life would have been different. I would have been different. My career path may have been different. Had I stayed on and done that job, I... We may not even have been in conversation today, I don't know. But, it was a decision I took at that time.

7:39Geeta SinghYou know, you can look back and say that, "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have," or, you know, if I had stood there and done that. And, you know, these things happen, but there's no point, you know, living your life in regret. I took a decision, and that's fine. But when I continued to work in Delhi, I did tell myself that I have to go back to Bombay because this is not, this is not the place. But it took me 20 years for various reasons. And finally, my husband and I, and my kids, we moved in 2010. Very late. But then I say…

8:17Jawad MirWell, better late... Sorry, go on.

8:19Geeta SinghNo, I mean, I was 40 when I moved back, and you're really having to start life again professionally. So, I mean, but how I look at it now is that, okay, it wasn't late. It was the right time then for me to do it. So you can... You know, that's your destiny, that's your journey, and there's no point fighting it. I was ready to come back then, and I'm, I'm glad I did it then. Maybe, don't know, maybe it wouldn't have been okay when I, if I came back early. So yeah, coming back at that age was tough. It was hard, but totally worth it. Totally worth it. Because I think if you j… you just, you've got the fire in you that, no matter what, age is a number. You just go ahead and do what you want to do, what, you know, what your heart says, and just follow it and go for it.

9:10Jawad MirSo true. And, you know, universe has a weird way of putting you in places at different times that we may think... I mean, if you had stayed in Bombay or Mumbai, who knows? You may have, you know, gone for five years, and you may have given up and your career path would have changed to something else, right? Who knows? But, you know, just to kind of give you... You said at 40 you moved to, Mumbai. Ridley Scott, you know, his career started at the age of 40.

9:41Geeta SinghYeah.

9:42Jawad MirHe used to do ads, and then his first film being Alien, and the rest we all know.

9:47Geeta SinghYeah.

9:47Jawad MirSo it's never too late. There is something now in, you know, he's still putting out films. Gladiator comes out in two months. So there's l… enough time if there's fire.

9:59Geeta SinghYeah, that's true. It's never too late. You just have, you just... Like, I mean, it's like, you know, you can't do something till you're called for it. So that's it. And, I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm, I'm in a, in a good space. I'm, professionally and emotionally, mentally, I'm, I'm, I'm in a really nice space and, yeah.

10:24Jawad MirWonderful. No, that's lovely to hear. I'm always fascinated by all these stories, you know, because th… those stories are more important in my view than anything else about an individual because it defines, you know, where you came from and what kind of path you've taken. Getting back to Angry Young Men, you got on board while the production was going on, or was it after everything was more or less completed?

10:54Geeta SinghI was on board even before they had started shooting.

10:58Jawad MirOkay.

10:58Geeta SinghI remember that day. I have this brown couch in my house, and we were in the middle of, I think, the second lockdown in 2021… ... Of April. And I was sitting on this sofa and, just, you know, wondering about COVID and life and what was going on, and I got this call from the executive producer, Kalpana Kutty, and she said, "Hey," introduced herself and said, "I'm, looking, we would like to talk to you about this project, about Salim-Javed." And that's it. I mean, I just, I just sort of got upright and I got excited, and she told me about it and she said, "Well, Namrata Rao, the director, would like to have a conversation with you." I said, "Okay." So we scheduled a chat. And, the only thing I told Namrata was, I said, "Whatever I do is just from my heart." This is what I, what I told you before. It's my instinct that I follow, and that was that. I think we hit it off, and, I was on. And it's only then that they started shooting, which was great actually because while they were shooting, the material was coming in… For me to watch. So it was a simultaneous process. It wasn't like they'd finished shooting and then I had to start watching everything.

12:13Geeta SinghSo it was great. It was, I mean, you know, we could have more conversations about what was being shot and things, so, and it's a, it's a rare thing. Rarely do pe… people get editors on board before they start shooting. It's generally halfway through.

12:29Geeta SinghSometimes when, once they've finished, which is late. So here I was very fortunate and it was a good thing that they brought me on board when they did.

12:40Jawad MirRight. Yeah, no, it is, I mean, I know that whenever I start working on a film, it's pretty much either halfway or, you know, towards the end. But especially even for a doc, like it's, it's, you know, it's until everything has sort of been shot aside from some pickup stuff. So, but it shows. I mean, you said the key word, heart, right? I literally, obviously the credit goes to the entire team, like, you know, the, Nimrita who was asking questions and, you know, yourself and everybody else involved. You, I kid you not, I felt that I was sitting among each and every one of them then, when I was watching it. I don't know, to be honest, if it has anything to do with the fact because I grew up with them or a combination of the way it was told and that, but, you know, it really connected. And like I said, it's very rare for me to sit down in one sitting unless I'm flying, which I didn't watch this on the plane.

13:38Geeta SinghThank you.

13:41Jawad MirI, you know, it just, yeah, it truly had a heart and it had some amazing moments, some really deep moments that came out during the interview process, which is a rarity. And especially, you know, the last few parts where they, the photo shoot with the iPhone footage and, I mean, I thought that was really cool. That was my favorite part.

14:02Geeta SinghYeah. Yeah. No, I think, heart, why? Because I think for both Namrata and me, I think it's been a huge learning curve. It's been extremely emotional. Of course, very hard work, three years. But I think just hearing these two people and their experiences and talking about, n… not just craft, I mean, just their own life experiences.

14:30Geeta SinghAnd this, it left so much in me and I've, you know, it's been a huge learning. I mean, I can, I can feel changes in me which I cannot, which are not tangible, which I can't pinpoint what. It's a very internal process, right? And so in the last three years, I've changed as a human being. I've changed as a person. And, so it's, it's just done tremendous amount of good, not just professionally. I mean, you, everything cannot be about profession. Of course, that's important, but even as a person, it's, just been a remarkable journey.

15:07Jawad MirIt's interesting you mention that because I had been sitting on this premise of a story for, like, about, three months, and I've been sort of trying to figure out, you know, writing it down and where does what go, where does the turning point, the climax, and all that. And after I watched this and there was a lot of conversation about, you know, character and story and dialogue and how certain moments were like this and like that, it really brought in some of the writer's block that I had and cleared it as soon as after I watched it. I went on a walk and boom.

15:44Geeta SinghYeah.

15:44Jawad MirIt's amazing, like the amount of, I mean, imagine, I can't even imagine how much you learned because you lived and breathed…

15:51Geeta SinghYeah

15:51Jawad Mir... For the, with the, for three years, right? So yeah, and I don't even know Salim, Khan was an actor. I had no idea that he ever acted.

15:59Geeta SinghYeah.

15:59Jawad MirThat was, that was news to me, which was really cool.

16:02Geeta SinghYeah. Yeah. You know, the one thing that really hit home, what Javed Saab says is that, «kal jahan deewar thi, aaj darr dekhiye». So that is what I think has been my journey as well, that you just have to keep at it. The point when you feel you want to give up is the point when you need to push harder.

16:25Jawad MirYep.

16:25Geeta SinghThat's been, I think, my motto, my philosophy, and that's what I also tell, you know, my boys, that you just have to be persistent, and that's the only way. That's the only way that you know, you make that door in the wall.

16:44Jawad MirAamir Khan said it, "You only fail when you give up."

16:48Geeta SinghYeah. Yeah.

16:49Jawad MirRight? That's pretty mu… that's pretty much it. You only fail it's a very simple line, but it's a very deep line…... That you only fail when you give up.

16:57Geeta SinghYeah.

16:58Jawad MirBut, yeah, go, so in terms of the story points, right? So it has three episodes which obviously deals with how they came together and how they shared success and then the, you know, the downfall of the duo in terms of not working together. Were there any other story points that you guys were exploring during the, post-production that didn't go in that, you know, didn't end up being in the series at all?

17:27Geeta SinghWell, I think we hit most of the bigger plot points. Of course, there were smaller stories and anecdotes which, were lovely, but

17:38Jawad MirRight

17:38Geeta Singh... Make it because it was taking the story in another way, in a, on another path, which was slightly, you know, maybe meandering. They just didn't find their space. But of course there were other films, some of the other films that we, didn't go fully into. They did 24 films, so how many can you…

17:59Jawad MirYeah

17:59Geeta Singh... Can you go? So we did pick up, you know, the bigger ones and the ones that, definitely needed to be discussed and analyzed. But largely I think, what we left out were more… anecdotes and, life experiences and smaller stories, but not bigger points in that sense

18:22Jawad MirDid, was there any coverage done, and I know I asked this earlier, on Mr. India at all, or that was never even touched on?

18:29Geeta SinghNo, not touched. Not touched.

18:33Jawad MirOkay. That's fine. Yeah, sorry, I'm just going sideways here. Had you seen any of the films... Well, did you re-watch those films as you were about to go into post-production, the ones that they were, you know, like Sholay, Deewar?

18:49Geeta SinghYes. I, yeah. I mean, obviously I knew these films really well because I've watched them so many times, so it wasn't like,.. But I did go watch a few, particularly certain scenes. Sholay, Deewar, Zanjeer I watched. Not entire, not full films. The other films I didn't watch fully, but certain scenes for sure. But I, like I said, I knew these films really well. Yeah.

19:18Jawad MirYeah.

19:18Geeta SinghI mean, I've watched it so many times, it's like I know the dialogues and I know what's coming next, and not just because of the project, because I've just been a die-hard fan.

19:26Jawad MirYeah. I think for me, aside from Sholay and Deewar, Zanjeer I haven't seen in a long time. I gotta see it again. I don't even remember anything about it, which was obviously their main, you know, film.

19:41Geeta SinghYeah.

19:41Jawad MirBut for me, Sha… Shakti and Trishul…

19:44Geeta SinghYeah

19:44Jawad Mir... They were, they were like, especially Shakti, the dialogues between, you know, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan were just…

19:51Geeta SinghYeah

19:51Jawad Mir... Phenomenally good scenes.

19:52Geeta SinghYeah. Father, son.

19:55Jawad MirYeah. It was incredible. I was gonna ask you about, in terms of your own career before this, and you said you have done non-fiction. Have you ever had any interest in doing fiction or that just hasn't come about yet?

20:15Geeta SinghNo, I am interested. I've done a few, not a lot. But, it just hasn't come my way. And, it's, it's not that I've, I've steered away from it just hasn't, you know, and also somewhere I think this industry works, for example, so you get what you're done, and that's the honest to God truth. But, I also feel that, I find non-fiction extremely, challenging, and because, I mean, it's a blank canvas. There's no script.

20:54Jawad MirYeah. It's fun

20:54Geeta Singh... There's a stru… there's a thought, but there's, you don't know what your first shot is. You don't know where you're gonna start. You have no idea. Like even in Angry Young Men, we didn't know that we were going to start like that. We had another opening, and then the opening kept changing, and it just evolves from the material. As you watch it, you say, "Oh, this is better. Oh, you know, this is, the next day it's rubbish." And then you find something else, and finally you get what you've really been looking for. Unlike fiction, where it's sort of more structured, there is a script, which of course there also you play around and you move the pieces, depending on what's working better. But, no, I would love to work on fiction. It's not something... I mean, I don't see, like why we have to be boxed in.

21:43Jawad MirYeah.

21:43Geeta SinghThat, you know, if you're an editor who does only documentaries or you only cut ads, editing is a craft, it's a skill. You're a storyteller at the table. So it doesn't matter what you're doing and what format, what genre, it doesn't matter. So…

22:00Jawad MirBut I will... Sorry, go on.

22:02Geeta SinghNo, please. Carry on.

22:03Jawad MirI was saying I will say this, that if you are a non-fiction director or editor or, you know, writer, producer, but specifically director and editor, it's easy to go into the world of…

22:21Geeta SinghFiction

22:21Jawad Mir... Fiction. Vice versa, not so much. Because it's a completely, you know, I say this to, almost everybody that I talk to about, you know, filmmaking and especially in the doc world, is that not knowing where the film is going to go, especially because as a filmmaker you're almost an audience, you know…

22:43Geeta SinghYeah

22:43Jawad Mir... Especially if you're following like a real time story, not knowing where the film is gonna go excites the hell out of me, but at the same time scares the crap out of me.

22:52Geeta SinghYeah.

22:53Jawad MirAnd that's what it is.

22:54Geeta SinghYeah.

22:54Jawad MirAnd that's what's so ex… like you said, a challenge. It's just such an exciting thing that you have these multiple emotions going on, not sure where this is gonna go, and then you become an audience member essentially.

23:03Geeta SinghYeah. No, I mean, cutting documentaries is, non-fiction material is, honestly, I don't know if it's everyone's cup of tea because it's, you know, you, like Angry Young Men, we had like 700, 800 hours of footage. I mean, that's…

23:18Jawad MirI can imagine

23:19Geeta Singh... A lot to, you know, go through to make sense of, to cull out what you need. To sift that out, it's, it's, it's not easy. It's, it's hard work, and you just have to keep at it and keep watching the material time and again. But, so like you said, the transition from fiction to non-fiction, is tougher. But vice ver… I mean, the other way around is, it's much easier, because you just, you have a structure to work with. You have a script in fiction, so yeah.

23:57Jawad MirMy favorite, one of my favorite moments I should say, the one where Javed Akhtar says about when he goes to five-star hotels and he lies down and he's like, "Do I really deserve this?" And, you know, he gets emotional.

24:10Geeta SinghYeah.

24:10Jawad MirWhat was, what was your favorite part, aside from the one that you already just told me? Any other scene that you really, or dialogues or something that they said

24:18Geeta SinghYeah, I mean, there are so many. I…

24:21Jawad MirI know

24:22Geeta Singh... I love that moment. It was a, it was a cut that I did, very organically. It wasn't something that I thought of a lot. Was when Salim Saab is sipping his tea. And it cuts to Javed Saab sipping his tea. There was something that was just like,.. And they're sitting in two different spaces, but I f… I found that interesting how, you know, you just brought them together even though physically they're, they're not in the same space. So for me, that moment was... It was, of course it was a, it was a cut that I did, and I, and I enjoyed that. And otherwise, in terms of moments, of course, even Javed Saab story about the torn pant.

25:07Geeta SinghAnd he said that, "How can you be left with only that one pant in your life?" That's all he had. That really hit home. It just, it just... I m… y… you feel that, oh, my God, these people have also struggled for so long and achieved what they did. So that was,.. And even, when Salim Saab says that, and he honestly says that he didn't have it in him to become an actor.

25:38Jawad MirYeah.

25:38Geeta SinghSo it's okay. It's also okay to accept that, you know what? I came here to do this, but this is not for me. I can't do it. It's okay to say, "I failed at that." And then I'll, you know, I'll do something else or find something else that is my skill set. So when he says that, "I didn't have the art of projection," so you just stop. It's okay. So of course there are, there are so many moments and…

26:07Jawad MirRight

26:07Geeta Singh... The ending, for me, you know, when Javed Saab talks, when he reads out that

26:13Jawad MirYeah

26:14Geeta Singh... The part from the forward in Tarkash, that was lovely.

26:19Jawad MirThat was…

26:20Geeta SinghWhat have... Yeah, what have, what have you achieved? What have you done? Have you hugged someone who's an enemy? Yeah.

26:31Jawad MirAnd the enemy's child, that was my favorite part.

26:33Geeta SinghYeah. Yeah.

26:34Jawad MirYou know, that was, I mean, that's actually…

26:36Geeta SinghWhich, is cool. Yeah

26:37Jawad Mir... You look around the world right now, imagine saying that to someone about their enemy, right? With what's going on. I mean…

26:45Geeta SinghYeah

26:45Jawad Mir... I don't know if many people would react positively to that, but it is so important. It is so important. Because it's not even for them, it's for you. It's about your own existence, right?

26:58Geeta SinghAnd also for the humor. I mean, I mean, the opening line of Salim Saab where he says that, "I should get a call from Hollywood." So, I mean, and I think what really works also is, you know, when you, when you are able to make people laugh and cry and all the, and maybe angry, so all the emotions, they have to be there. That's when you, when you engage an audience. So humor is as important as... It's also an emotion, so it's important to laugh at when, Javed Saab says, "Left profile "... You know, when he's, when he gets a call from his wife.

27:35Jawad MirYeah.

27:36Geeta SinghSo there are such endearing moments, and these are all candid moments. It was like, I mean, the camera just is rolling and, his wife calls and this conversation is just recorded organically. It, nothing is set up. And you use... And we tried really hard to use as many moments like these as possible. Of course, there were some that didn't make it, and, I feel bad, but there was only that much that we could put in.

28:04Jawad MirWell, those are the moments that actually connect the audience to the larger picture, right? Like that, those moments where they can relate. You know, I have a wife who would probably do something similar, or I have a brother who will probably do something similar.

28:17Geeta SinghYeah.

28:17Jawad MirI think that's, that's a, it's a, it's a great way of st… you know, bringing your audience in and just, you know, then obviously the rest is done by the story and the…

28:26Geeta SinghYeah

28:26Jawad Mir... The interviews and everything. Do you remember the first time, the first screening you guys had? Whether if it, if it was public or whether it was with producers, or, you know, a… and obviously yourself and the director.

28:43Geeta SinghYeah. We did a screening for the producers. I mean, there were multiple screenings, of course. Because during the proc… process of the edit where we hadn't, of course, sorry, finished it, but it was still in its raw stage and we were sharing it for feedback and things. So we did have some certain structural changes that we had done based on their feedback. So episodes one and two were sort of re-edited, re-looked at, restructured. And episode one and two were slightly different in our initial cuts, and then we, worked on that again. And I'm glad we did because, it's much better now than... Yeah. I mean, that's a whole process, actually. Because when you're looking at material and then somebody else looks at…

29:37Jawad MirYeah, right

29:37Geeta Singh... From a slightly, you know, objective, view, then, it's a collaborative.

29:45Jawad Mir100%. 100%. You get, you can get so lost in the editing because, you know, you haven't distanced yourself from it. Then either you come back to it after, like, couple of weeks or you have fresh set of eyes look at it makes such a big difference.

29:59Geeta SinghI mean, there are times when I was watching the material and I used to just,.. You see that blue sofa there?

30:05Jawad MirYeah.

30:06Geeta SinghYeah. So I used to often, sit there in that corner and, not often, like almost every day till the edits actually started. I used to tell my assistant that, "Okay, you know what? Just play the interviews." And I used to just sit there and just watch them, hear them, and like… Each interview was about four to five hours, and they've shot them seven times each. So we're looking at about 70, 80 hours of just Salim-Sulaiman sir. And I used to just…

30:35Geeta Singh... Hear them, just let it, you know, be a part of my being, my body, just absorb what they're saying. And there have been times, you know, like the pants story or the s… you know, the other one about the struggle, the breakfast trolley, I used to just sometimes cry. It was just... And you know, I sometimes I feel like editing is also till your director comes in you're, you're, you're alone. And, it can be a fairly intimate affair.

31:06Jawad MirYes.

31:06Geeta SinghIt's like you're having an affair. It's, it's really like that. It's, it can be so private. Yeah, it's, you're just d… with romancing with all the rushes that you have. It's, it's just, it's another feeling.

31:22Jawad MirNo, I understand. I get it. I, you know, it'd be really cool, I don't, don't see that happening, but, you know, those 70 to 80 hours of interviews, if they were turned into some sort of a podcast series, that'd be really cool to hear. I would listen to it for sure.

31:38Geeta SinghYeah. Yeah. I mean, there is so much stuff that hasn't made it to the cut that, you know, you wonder that, okay, it's there. What do we do with it?

31:47Jawad MirYeah. Hopefully one day, hopefully.

31:49Geeta SinghHopefully.

31:49Jawad MirWhat are you working on next, if that's something you're willing to, able to talk about, or you're taking a break for now?

31:58Geeta SinghYeah, sure. No. So, I'm now cutting, a docuseries on Hrithik Roshan and his family and the legacy of the Roshans… ... Which goes back to, Hrithik's grandfather, Roshan sir, who was a great music composer. And, his father, Rakesh Roshan, who's been a director, actor himself.

32:20Jawad MirYeah.

32:21Geeta SinghAnd his uncle who's also…

32:23Jawad MirRajiv

32:23Geeta Singh... Yeah, Rajiv.

32:24Jawad MirYeah.

32:24Geeta SinghAnd then Hrithik himself. So that's a four-parter, that it's, it's on its last leg of the edit, so I'm just finishing.

32:33Jawad MirSo probably this year, you think, or next year?

32:35Geeta SinghProbably early next year, maybe Jan, Feb sometime. It's on Netflix.

32:40Jawad MirI would love to see that because obviously again, movies like Krrish, Kaal…

32:45Geeta SinghYeah. Yeah

32:47Jawad Mir... I mean, the one that start with K, I mean, there's so many of them.

32:49Geeta SinghYeah.

32:50Jawad MirBut, the one that I remember is Krrish and Kaal, especially Kaal.

32:55Geeta SinghKrrish.

32:56Jawad MirKr… Krrish.

32:59Geeta SinghYeah.

32:59Jawad MirAnd then there was…

33:00Geeta SinghKam, Chor

33:01Jawad Mir... I think Karan Arjun, which I didn't like.

33:03Geeta SinghKaran Arjun. Yeah

33:08Jawad Mir... But oh, Krrish, of course.

33:11Geeta SinghKrrish.

33:12Jawad MirYou know.

33:12Geeta SinghKoi Mil Gaya, Kaho Na Pyar Hai, which is Hrithik's self.

33:15Jawad MirYeah. Yes. And also, I didn't know this, I saw, I stumbled upon something recently. I, you know how when you're going through the wonderful social media feed, I saw an interview of Hrithik Roshan. I think he was on the set of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. I'm guessing it was UK, and he was talking about how his father was shot point blank.

33:35Geeta SinghYeah. Yes.

33:36Jawad MirI was like, "Whoa."

33:38Geeta SinghYeah.

33:38Jawad MirSo I'm sure you guys are gonna tap into that part of the…

33:41Geeta SinghYes

33:41Jawad Mir... You know.

33:41Geeta SinghYeah. It's there.

33:42Jawad MirThat was crazy. That was crazy to know. Oh, Khoon Bhari Maang. That's a great movie.

33:46Geeta SinghKhoon Bhari Maang. Yes, with Rekha and Kabir Bedi. Yeah.

33:49Jawad MirYes. That was a wonderful movie. Oh, that's exciting. I'm looking forward to that. I'd love to see that. That's really cool.

33:56Geeta SinghYeah. Thank you.

33:58Jawad MirYeah. Anything else you wanna a… add, Geeta? Any message, any thoughts, anything? Can be about anything.

34:10Geeta SinghCan be about anything. There is so much, I don't know. I don't know, maybe if you point me in a direction, it might be easier.

34:19Jawad MirLet's see. What... Okay, so let me, maybe we're gonna transcend into a different conversation. What are some of the movies that you like, whether they're from Hollywood, India, South Korea, Japan, wherever, Brit… England, that you have sort of grown up with?

34:37Geeta SinghThere are so many, so it's hard to say. But what I can say is the kind of movies that, the kind of movies that I like or the kind of shows that I watch are, a bit on the darker side. The more twisted, the more fun. That's my space that I watch a lot. I don't watch a lot of rom-com.

35:01Jawad MirYeah.

35:01Geeta SinghI don't watch comedy. I don't watch horror. But, like, action, thrillers, twisted stuff, crime, true crime, docuseries. That's my space. What else?

35:22Jawad MirWell, it's kind of like how Javed Akhtar said that unconsciously we're attracted to the dark side.

35:28Geeta SinghYeah. Yeah.

35:29Jawad MirYeah, it's true. It's very true. Because, you know, it's funny you mention that because, you know, when growing up, like, I probably was never into the darker stuff, but now it's like I prefer that.

35:45Geeta SinghYeah.

35:45Jawad MirBecause, you know, like, movies like Godfather, you know, where it's a mafia family, but you still, you know, relate. Y… you kind of cheer f… them on, like, you want to, you know, root for them and with their story and... But yeah, it's, it's great that you're into that, and that's, I think that's what, as you get older, you relate to that stuff more, not necessarily their profession, but just…

36:07Geeta SinghYes

36:07Jawad Mir... You know, their darker side and their inner stories and everything.

36:11Geeta SinghYou know, there's one thing that you said, if there's anything that I would like to say or a message. It's something that I would like to, if I could address editors who are younger and, wanting to come to…

36:23Jawad MirSure

36:23Geeta Singh... This of, maybe doing nonfiction or even fiction. I think the one thing that is important, of course, is discipline And to be organized. I mean, because sifting through these number of hours of footage can be very intimidating. It can be scary to a point where you say, "Okay, you know what? I can't do this. I'll walk away from it." But the thing is, to break it down. To keep breaking it down into smaller, really small bits. It's like saying that, you know, if I give you, a toast and I said, "You know what? You've got to eat this whole toast at one go." You can't do it. So we, you make small bites and you make, take smaller morsels. It's the same thing. You have to keep breaking your material down into such tiny bits that those bits then start making sense.

37:23Geeta SinghThere's no other way of doing this. So, you know, when, so I, when I get these rushes, I feel totally unfazed, and there are people who just run away. A lot of my assistants also, "Oh my God, how are we going to do this?" But I was like, "There is a, there is a method to this madness." So when, even when Angry Young Men came, my assistant Kashya, he's a great boy. We said, "Okay, what we'll do is," we sat down on the floor here in my studio, and we put out this big paper, like a big chart paper, many chart papers. And we started breaking the material down into what I called thematics. And, we broke it down into like, okay, we have themes like arrogance or, success or... And then of course there were films like, so broke… broken down to Sholay, Deewar, Zanjeer, so on and so forth, or talking about their relationship or their struggle or their childhood.

38:24Geeta SinghSo we made these little buckets. Then we said, "Okay, what? We're going to run out of paper, so we can't do this like sitting on the floor here." So we converted that into an Excel sheet. And if I show that to you, I mean, it's, it's mad, but it really helped. And then I mapped that Excel sheet with my timeline. So whatever was there on the Excel was on my project.

38:50Geeta SinghSo I similarly, I had thematics in my timeline. So I had like, I don't know, hundreds of timelines which had themes, and that helped us in pulling stuff out instead of searching for things. Because you spend all your energies in searching for things, and then when are you, when are you going to do the creative stuff? So that is something which I want people, younger people, assistants, associates, to know that there is a, there is an organized method to do this. And, once you get, once you arrive at that, then it's, it's child's play.

39:27Jawad MirThank you so much, Geeta. This has been great.

39:30Geeta SinghYou're welcome.

39:30Jawad MirI really appreciate your time. Your work, is remarkable in this three-part series.

39:36Geeta SinghThank you. Thank you, Piotr. Thank you.