00:00So, hello everyone, welcome to INS and congratulations for Superboys of Malegaon, it's about to
00:04release on Prime Video.
00:06I want to start off by asking…
00:07It's about to release theatrically on 28th.
00:10Okay.
00:11Okay.
00:12So, I want to start off by asking Farhan, Reema and Asirbhai, all of your cinematic
00:16journeys started around the same time, Malegaon Ke Sholay came out in 2000, that's when
00:22I think work on Dil Chahta Hai started.
00:25So, two very different journeys, two very different schools of filmmaking, when all
00:31of you came together to make something like this, what was the creative wavelength like
00:36and how did you go about it from there?
00:38Anyone can take the lead and start.
00:39Reema, I think…
00:40Oh, I thought it was the question was for you.
00:43For you also.
00:44Okay, for me also.
00:45Well, obviously these people were ahead of me, I made my first film in 2007, but I think
00:53the special thing about Naseerbhai and Superboys of Malegaon is, you know, the spirit of filmmaking,
01:02the love for filmmaking, that's in all of us, you know, and it could be like, I was
01:09talking to Naseerbhai and I realised that you can be a director from Mumbai or a director
01:14from Malegaon, there are certain parallels, your mindset is a certain thing and those
01:20things don't change at whatever level you're working, you know.
01:24Okay, thank you.
01:25Farhan?
01:26No, I completely agree.
01:27Eventually, you have to tell a story, you have to try in any way, whatever you get,
01:33however you get it, that's best to be able to tell your story, so that is a parallel.
01:38But obviously, Naseerbhai's journey is completely different from mine, which you
01:44will get to see in this film and you will get to learn from it.
01:48It's a completely different story and his spirit, the spirit of him, his friends who
01:53collaborated with him and made the film, the writer, his other actor friends, who made
01:58this film with him, when you see them and when you think about it, I think Reema had
02:03said in an interview that the way he brought the film industry to his city, I think that
02:11is truly commendable.
02:12Because I have heard that people come from here and there to Mumbai to join the film
02:16industry.
02:17He said, leave all that, I am going to join the film industry, that will be the easiest
02:21thing.
02:22That to me is a very commendable way of having gone.
02:24And unique.
02:25Yeah, very unique.
02:26And he created an industry there, which is amazing.
02:29Naseerbhai, on the same thing, as I said, your journey started around the same time.
02:35When these people came to you that we have to tell your story through a big medium,
02:40what did you talk to them?
02:42How did you keep your word?
02:44What did they say about you?
02:47No, the story, when Zoya ji told them, when I told them the story, that this happened
02:53in my life, or my friends are like this, they liked that story a lot.
02:58And it was completely different from Superman.
03:01The story of Superboys of Mahalegaon, it has all the details of my life.
03:05How did it start?
03:06And it was very fair with me.
03:08I mean, what I used to think, even though Mr. Varun had only taken the audio from me
03:15when he came to Mahalegaon, but what to keep, how much to keep, and who to take,
03:20there was no discussion, so he took it in his own way.
03:22But whatever came in front of me, it was perfect.
03:27I am very satisfied.
03:28I am very satisfied with the story, with the film.
03:32And this is my turning point.
03:34For me, for Mahalegaon, and it is a matter of great joy.
03:37And there is no idea of happiness, I don't know.
03:43And Adarsh, what I find really great about your craft is your ability to get into the
03:48skin of the characters.
03:49I was listening to you earlier as well.
03:51You said it was not important to mimic the character or that world.
03:54What was important to get into the headspace of the character that you are playing.
03:58If you could break down to me your process, how did you approach it,
04:01and what all did you do to kind of get acquitted with this surrounding of Mahalegaon
04:08and the whole universe?
04:09I don't think I have a process as such, but what I usually try to do when I am studying
04:14people to, when I have to play either an existing person or a person that I have for reference
04:20is that I try to blend in.
04:22So, the more I can blend in into the environment, into the fabric of the place that I am inheriting
04:29the better for me because then it also kind of helps people open up to me easily and faster.
04:38So, when I was prepping for Superboys, I went to Mahalegaon and I remember I carried only
04:44two or three pieces of clothes with me and we went on the first day and we went shopping.
04:47Do you remember?
04:48Naseer Bhai got me a shirt, a pant and slippers from Kidwai Road.
04:52And I wore the same pant and slippers for the next 15 days that I was there.
04:56So that people don't recognize you.
04:57Yes, they didn't recognize me and I didn't want to draw any attention towards me.
05:04And then we would just sit and talk and talk about our lives and about how we started
05:08and more from his side than mine obviously because I am playing him.
05:12And one of the days I just had an idea that why don't we make a film again so that I get
05:16to observe you.
05:17So, I won't creatively interfere in your process because he hadn't made a film in 10-12 years.
05:22I told him to make a film and I will produce it and I will assist you and I will shoot
05:26my BTS for myself.
05:27So, we worked on the script for 3-4 days and then we went to the same location where
05:33Naseer Bhai used to shoot his pictures and we involved the same people who Naseer Bhai
05:38used to collaborate with.
05:40So, it was a very beautiful process and we put that film out on YouTube.
05:43It's called Nana Ki Kranthi and hopefully I will be able to put my BTS of it as well
05:47that I am editing right now.
05:49So, the process keeps changing and evolving with everything.
05:52And Reema, Naseer Bhai's story is something that it tells an extravagant story through
05:58very frugal means, the way of filmmaking.
06:01It's very homespun if I may say so.
06:04When you set out to make this film, you had to kind of work inversely with everything
06:08at your disposal, the luxuries of the filmmaking world to tell a story of a frugal man making
06:15films at his level.
06:17What was that process like to kind of inversely go from a rich world to more of a homespun
06:22world?
06:24I mean, I think because of, you know, this kind of inflation and all, no budget is firstly
06:29ever enough.
06:31At whichever level you're functioning, you always feel your budget is less.
06:36But to me, what was interesting really to get into was Naseer had no agenda.
06:45You know, we as filmmakers, you always have an agenda in terms of, you know, you're
06:49trying to make a good film, it's your next film, you're making strategic decisions,
06:54you know, things like that.
06:56Even though you're trying to make a good film or tell stories that mean something.
07:00With him, it was just pure love of filmmaking.
07:04He went out, did it with the means he had, with the community around him.
07:10And he ended up building a parallel world of filmmaking.
07:16It's a universe that's, you know, completely coexisting on its own.
07:21It's an ecosystem that works on its own.
07:23And to me, that was commendable and also very humbling.
07:27So I think that my approach to the film was to see what his journey was, you know.
07:36And Farhan, the journey or the profile of XL Entertainment has largely diversified since
07:412015.
07:43Since around that time, you know, streaming platforms started coming in.
07:46Mirzapur, Kho Gaye Hum Kaha, Gully Boy.
07:49Earlier, XL Entertainment was known for making a certain, films of certain taste
07:55or certain aesthetics, but they've really diversified, you have really diversified
07:59in the past 8-10 years.
08:01How do you see this journey and how much of a role has OTT, primarily Prime Video
08:06has played into diversifying the profile of XL Entertainment?
08:08Yeah, I mean, see, the audience has expanded because of the advent of OTT.
08:13You know, there is a, there was an entire lot out there of people
08:19who would not go to theatres to watch films.
08:21They would not.
08:23They would be watching some foreign content that came, you know, into their homes
08:26in some kind of way or that released.
08:28And somehow, OTT has helped us reach those people.
08:32You know, the kind of viewerships that certain streaming shows get,
08:35your theatrical footfalls just can't match.
08:38You know, but where are those people when the film releases in a theatre?
08:41They're not going to a theatre, they're waiting to watch something when it comes in.
08:44So, their tastes are different, their sensibilities are different
08:47and as a production house and as storytellers,
08:50you want to engage with all kinds of people.
08:53Obviously, not putting aside your morality.
08:57You know, obviously not putting aside your aesthetic.
09:00You know, you still have certain standards to maintain.
09:03Standards to maintain when you're representing a company
09:07or you're representing a film.
09:09So, that is something we're very, very careful with.
09:11But beyond that, I think it's given us an opportunity to do it.
09:15Before Amazon and the others came along,
09:19you could only make theatrical experiences for people.
09:22You know, so you had to be a lot more,
09:24you had to be very, very selective of what went out
09:27because the business was only defined by what happened in a theatre.
09:30Now, there are many more avenues that people can watch your film through.
09:34But if I may say, even within that,
09:37you know, we had to be selective
09:40but they also kind of produced my first film, Honeymoon Travels,
09:44Zoya's first film, Luck By Chance,
09:46which now, 15 years later and 18 years later,
09:49it feels like they're very commercial films.
09:51But at the time they came out,
09:53that was not the mindset towards films like that.
09:56So, I think that Farhan and Ritesh have always
09:58tried to push the envelope
10:01and encourage an array of films and filmmakers.
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