00:00I wish that now it doesn't take 30 years more for another film to come.
00:06I took like 5 years to make this film.
00:09Even in Cannes, it's just 4 films, 4 female directors in competition.
00:15Making a film is really difficult.
00:17Hi, this is Payal Kapadia for Brute.
00:31I wish that now it doesn't take 30 years more for another film to come.
00:38We had no expectation that the film would be in competition.
00:41It's not a very big film and when we found out, I was really happy and nervous
00:47and felt really privileged that the film would get the kind of exposure that Cannes gives it.
00:53So, it's a mixed feeling of being really nervous and really excited.
00:59I feel we make great films in India.
01:01In every region, with every language, there are so many directors who are so good.
01:09So, I really can't understand what it would be.
01:13But over the years also, so many Indian directors' films,
01:19even in the past, which are considered to be more art house,
01:22like Hrithik Ghatak or John Abraham from Kerala,
01:26I don't think that their films have shown in Cannes also,
01:29although they are phenomenal filmmakers in our film history.
01:34So, I don't know what it is and why this is so.
01:37But having said that, I think Indian films, from every state,
01:42there is a self-contained ecosystem and we have our audiences
01:45and we have our directors being appreciated within the country.
01:48So, maybe Cannes is not something that everybody even knows about.
01:56Earlier, it was going to be a film more about Mumbai
01:59and women who come to work in Mumbai and make it their home.
02:05But over time, the film became more about friendship between the women in the film
02:12because I think as I grow older, I rely more on my friends.
02:18And I think it happens to all of us who leave home and move to a different city
02:22and it's our friends who kind of become our family.
02:27I took like five years to make this film.
02:32In the middle, I made another film.
02:34So, I generally take a lot of time to do things
02:37or maybe this time it took more time because of the other film that I was doing
02:41and also to raise money for this film because it was raised entirely with money from Europe.
02:48So, I just took a lot of time.
02:52And I think as time passes, you change as a person.
02:57You grow up and grow older and your preoccupations change.
03:01So, I think that all those things come into your film and into your work whether you like it or not.
03:15Even in Cannes, it's just four films, four female directors in competition
03:21and how many women have won also, it's not enough, I feel.
03:27I think that there are a lot of women making amazing films and we are underrepresented everywhere.
03:33In India, I think in terms of directors now, there are more and more.
03:37Like there are in Sandhya Suri also is there and there are directors like there was Suchi's film also.
03:45So, I think there are little bit more opportunities for women as directors
03:50but I think like in terms of cinematography and sound is two technical departments
03:57where I feel we really need more opportunities for women.
04:09I started going to film festivals in Mumbai and there used to be three festivals that used to happen.
04:15There was one which was Experimenta and I still have their bag.
04:19And it was a really nice festival which used to bring like really experimental films.
04:24And there used to be NIF, which is still going on, which used to have documentary films and student films
04:29and then there was MAMI.
04:31So, we used to get like a whole range of cinema.
04:34When you are a student, like you have time.
04:36So, we used to go for all the festivals and somehow I started seeing and I was thinking like
04:42okay there is such a range of things you can think about and you know do and so many ways of telling.
04:50Then I saw some short films from students from the FTII and they were really like
04:59nothing like I had seen before.
05:02They were really trying different things.
05:04So, I was like what is this place where students are allowed to you know experiment in this way.
05:09So, I found out a bit more about it and then I found out about FTII.
05:13And I was really keen to go and I applied but I didn't get in.
05:18And then I worked a bit thinking okay maybe I don't know anything and I should like
05:23you know learn a bit more about filmmaking because I was doing a bachelor's degree in economics.
05:28So, it's nothing to do with anything.
05:30And then I started, I tried to like learn a bit more and then I applied again.
05:35And I got into FTII and for me those five years were like the best learning I could ever have.
05:47Making a film is really difficult and I think everybody finds it difficult.
05:51I am sure no matter how many times you make a film, it's hard.
05:57But also enjoyable and it's also a privilege to be able to do this.
06:01So, I am not saying this in a negative way.
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