- 5 months ago
In an exclusive interview with IANS, actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and director Kayoze Irani spoke about their film Sarzameen. As a first-time director, Kayoze shared his thoughts on the film’s concept, perspective, and the emotional essence of its scenes. He also reflected on his journey from acting in Student of the Year to creating more meaningful content as a director with Sarzameen, which he described as an emotional thriller. If talking about Prithviraj's role he will be seen playing the role of a soldier in the film Sarzameen.Prithviraj also expressed his deep admiration for soldiers and said he has a huge respect and love for them.
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00:00So hello Kaya Zay, hello Prithraat sir, welcome to ANS and first of all congratulations for
00:04Sir Sameen that's about to release. Thank you so much. I want to start off by asking both of you
00:08what was it about this subject that kind of appealed to your artistic sensibilities to
00:12you as director and to you as actor? Okay yeah so so basically when the script came to me like
00:20a 50 page outline came to me of course it was set against the backdrop of Kashmir and this large
00:26canvas and action and insurgency and all of this but the human drama in the film which is the family
00:34which is the father son the mother the mother who is the soul of the relationship that is what
00:40attracted me to the film. Because I really feel that whenever your conflict is external it's
00:49something that you end up watching but when your conflict is internal it's something you connect
00:53with and it is something that you feel a part of so you're not watching it you're experiencing it
00:58and as I was as I was reading it I knew that from in that 50 pages on page 25 I knew I was doing it
01:05so that is truly because the film at its core is an emotional thriller and emotional is the first
01:12word in the film and that is what I want you to take away. I know that the trailer may have had
01:17dham dhoom and big and all of that is there I know but it it has a lot of heart and I really wish that
01:25the people who watch this film when they finish it the film stays with them and a lump in their throat
01:31stays with them. Okay and Brazor? Pretty much the same actually like as I said you know it's set against
01:37a really spectacular backdrop you know of Kashmir and the army and insurgency and all that but what
01:45really draws you in is a human drama within it what happens between these three principal characters
01:52and that story is so intricate it's so complex that as you know it really draws you in and it makes you
01:59root for all the three and it's very very interesting as a film lover it's equally if not even more
02:06interesting as an actor because it's it's got so many layers and both these men in the film are you
02:12know dealing with so much within themselves and they are both reflecting off their conscience which
02:18is like mirrored from the woman in their life you know it's it's uh it's beautifully set up that way
02:23so like as I said you know um for all the big scale visuals and all that I really hope what stays with
02:29the audience when they see the film is is what happens between these three people yeah okay and both of
02:36you are actors and director uh so Pratip sir when you worked with him uh him making his feature debut
02:41with this film uh if a director is also an actor they know the pulse of the emotion they are very
02:46well aware uh they're immersed in the truth of that particular moment uh for you who someone an actor
02:52director himself how was it working and sharing the creative wavelength with him so I mean since I have
02:58uh I've my first film I directed I shot it in 2018 so now I've done this long enough to have a clear
03:07compartmentalization in my mind about being an actor and then being a filmmaker and the greatest thing
03:11that's happened to me as an actor after becoming a filmmaker is that I'm now able to fully switch off
03:17the technician in me when I'm on sets as an actor and I really enjoy that as well you know I really like
03:23the process of landing up on a set and understanding what the director wants from me and understanding
03:29his or her vision and being an instrument in facilitating that vision that is my endeavor as
03:34an actor come 25th you don't know what happens you don't know if the audience will like the film
03:39will like your performance but what is in your control all that happens while making the film
03:45so for me there is absolutely no gray area between the two when I'm on set as an actor and they're only as
03:51an actor and I don't even now want to know the process yeah okay but when he's giving you the
03:57cues for you know let's say there's a scene for which he has brief view this has to be a certain
04:03way the structure of scene and the highs and the lows are like that because he's a first time director
04:08the ideas are very fresh there's a new perspective to it uh the way he thinks his thought process
04:13uh his essence for the scene how is that experience for you like uh you know deriving from him or imbibing
04:22from him as actor my process does not differ at all between a debutant director or a very very experienced
04:29director like I mentioned in the morning I might be off with the numbers here but I think I must have
04:35worked with at least 50 debutants so the process does not change at all it's the same
04:41and in fact the process of the director I think will keep changing depending on the script that he
04:47chooses to make so Kyoze's process for this film I'm sure is largely based on the script that Saras
04:54Amin is tomorrow if he makes a very different kind of a film I know he's he wants to make a comedy next
05:01I'm sure his process of making that film will be very different and that's how all filmmakers are and
05:06that's how filmmakers should be your methodology and your process should also be derived from the
05:11written word uh so there is no difference for me as an actor between a debutant or a very experienced
05:17director or between a very small film or a big film or between an action film or a comedy the process
05:23for me as an actor remains the same okay and Kyoze with regards to the logistics of the film you know
05:29as you go up the terrains uh filming becomes difficult gravity becomes more punishing
05:33as you climb higher up uh the air becomes thinner I want to know what were the logistical challenges
05:38while you were making this film or your while you were mounting it all together uh logistically it
05:42was very difficult on the Manali schedule when we shot in Manali so from day one in Manali
05:49we had every single day we had a rain delay anyways we were shooting in the winter so the daylight was
05:54less yeah so you start only rolling at around nine and then you try and get a scene but by 11
06:01cloud cover comes in so you are no longer in light continuity and by the time you wait for lightning
06:05to come rain has come so our initial plan was to shoot about 75 percent of the film in Manali but we
06:12actually only came back with about 45 to 50 percent okay because of the huge logistical problems we had
06:18an earthquake we had a snowstorm we were evacuated we had our equipment at one point was snow buried we
06:25had to stay in the hotel for two days um so but these things honestly don't matter because the
06:33audience is never going to see this they are going they don't care if it was the easiest day or
06:38shoot or the hardest they care about what they saw on the screen and that's what's important so these
06:43are the this is the noise around you that as a director you have to learn to ignore it doesn't
06:48come easy it takes its time you learn to ignore it and you say oh but yeah this scene i can't stand
06:53outside and tell every person yeah you know this scene is like this because you know on this day
06:56we had this problem so for this problem it's a very nice scene you can't do that so you have to
07:01just make sure that you care about your fourth wall which is your audience and let them uh experience
07:09the film that you envisioned for them okay okay and if we go 12 13 years ago and back in time
07:18uh i remember this visual of uh student of the year uh your performance exceptional your work as an
07:24actor truly loved it uh to from that space uh as an actor to now making a serious stuff like sarzameen
07:32as you mentioned it's an emotional thriller uh how is the artist inside you change in these over a decade
07:37it hasn't i want i've always wanted to be a director it just so happened by chance that karan offered me the
07:45film and i agreed to do it because i really thought it'll help me to walk a mile in an actor's shoes
07:51to know what they feel like because that is something i'd never know the the gaze of a 200
07:57strong crew and a lights in your eyes and a thamakal under your chin so um
08:04my my i it's not about a serious film or about a comedy it's about a film that speaks to you and that
08:12is the main thing my i'm i'm actually planning that i make a comedy next but there's something that
08:16speaks to me in that and then after that i would like to do some something different sarzameen spoke
08:22to me in a very very uh personal way a very internal way and it had nothing to do with the canvas of
08:30kashmir and action or anything like that um it's it spoke to me on the family drama it spoke to me on
08:37the love of a family i i i i believe in the internal internal conflict more than the external conflict
08:45so i have always wanted to be a director and i will continue to always being a director i love
08:52sitting behind the monitor i love watching something unfold i love even crying at the monitor while it
08:59happens so that is i hope and i hope that for years and years if the audience accepts me i'll continue to
09:05do so okay okay and processor my next question is to you slightly unrelated uh but it's a treat to
09:12see you in uniform every time i mean okay it's a like it's a delight on thank you uh when you uh
09:19like don any uniform anywhere in uniform does it change something in you completely as a human being
09:23not as an artist but as a human being i don't know i uh so i i grew up wanting to be an army officer
09:33because i think my friends back home know this i studied in cynic school and like most carrots in
09:39cynic school at one point during your journey in that institution you really want to be in the armed
09:45forces so did i but then my dad passed away suddenly at one point in life and life threw us off track and
09:53in fact that point my brother my elder brother had just uh finished his ssb interview
09:58things sort of went out of because it was really unexpected uh for us and things sort of went out
10:03of control and then life took me somewhere else so i think maybe in a lot of ways when i wear an army
10:10uniform in front of the camera maybe i'm sort of living that small dream inside of me uh and uh
10:17there is a lot there is still deep down inside of me a lot of uh hero worship for the armed forces
10:23because i in in our in the school that i studied in you know we grew up listening to all these
10:29tales and stories and we had these motivational classes where you know we were told about
10:34the greatest stories that the armed forces had i have friends in in the army navy and air force i have
10:41lost friends in operations at the border so it's uh it's you know it's it's something that is very close
10:47to me does it change anything in me as a human i don't know i really don't yeah and kai was
10:53you talking about the film's music you know it's a like a lot of depth in terms of the melody uh in
11:00terms of the singers also the choice of singers uh could you please walk us through the process of i i
11:05i believe from my heart that the most important thing in filmmaking is the script and i believe that
11:14in the most important thing on a song is the melody and uh for me the melody is everything can i hum it
11:22in the shower can i sing along to it i don't know the words also but i'll just sing something to
11:27lingers on your mind it's on your mind so that was my actual only brief to vishal kurana that just make
11:33the song melodious because all our old songs from rd rd barmanji onwards everyone that is that was melody
11:41and i wanted melody in it then once we had the scratches of the songs ready so we decided that
11:49all these singers are obviously going to reject us so why not let's call them so we called them and
11:56they said yes immediately because we sent we just sent we cold sent them the song the scratch of the
12:01song and said if you can this is what we have the song that you sent was the final output or no no the
12:07scratch okay the scratch um so we sent them the songs and shreya ji called us ajao record karte
12:15we went to her studio at the studio i said shreya ji there's i don't have the guts to tell you but
12:19there's one more song i want you to sing said so now done call ajao we went into the second song
12:24then after a while i messaged shreya ji shreya ji in the film there's one verse i want you to sing
12:28for the mother will you do that ajao done so javed ali then sonu ji came sonu ji came he sang the song
12:35then he heard the song he said he called up vishal and said vishal my heart is singing once again
12:41he came again b prak said uh huh so it was we were in shock and i am i am very proud of the album the
12:52album is now out and i'm really very proud of the album i think pratee sir messaged me the other day
12:57that for a debut director wow what an album you've got i genuinely i mean all and please give me zero
13:02credit it's all vishal khurana and for the kawali it's vishal mishra and kosarji has written the lyrics
13:08and jani has written the lyrics for the kawali i get zero credit okay and pratee sir my next question is
13:14for you uh while in hindi cinema offlet we kind of see that you know it has to cater to a certain kind of
13:21audience so the plot plot points are devised such way that you know they appeal to the larger audience
13:27malayalam cinema on the other hand very brave choices i see uh bold stories uh very creative
13:33in the way the films are mount there uh what is it that allows the malayalam cinema to explore all
13:40these avenues and be come up with brave and bold choices um so firstly it's not that we have never
13:47had a time of phase where we've also struggled for content there has been 90s and 2000s yeah yeah
13:54i mean i'm experienced enough to know that nothing is permanent you know like uh yeah right now we are
13:59going through a great phase in malayalam in terms of content creation and i hope that it's a phase that
14:03will last forever but i've done this long enough to know it won't there will be faces uh but i do think
14:10that uh one lesson that we have learned in kerala the hard way is that you will have to respect and
14:19trust the audience you know uh the audience is probably way more intelligent than you give credit
14:27to them for so if you actually choose a story whatever story it might be and you make it honestly
14:33and you make it purely for what the story demands the audience will most likely end up liking it and
14:41appreciating it i think we go wrong more often when we try and design projects rather than make cinema
14:50we've all made that mistake i've also made that mistake we've all made that mistake and we'll again
14:54repeat those mistakes in cinema that's what cinema is uh but i'm sure hindi cinema i mean see i know of
15:01a time not too long ago where in the south we were talking amongst ourselves asking each other man how
15:07is hindi cinema doing this man i mean they are coming up with stuff like when a film like dev d is a
15:13commercial hit here we used to think my god i mean we wish we could make something like that in malayalam
15:19and it becomes a vlogbuster here so you know when when an uddan happened you know all that we've
15:24we've spoken about hindi cinema that way uh so i'm sure it will keep happening and uh also it's not
15:31that every film made in malayalam is is great we also have our off days we also have our off color
15:37films that will keep happening yeah yeah okay and my last last question is for kayoze uh when i see you
15:43and baman sir uh there's a very interesting dynamic between the two of you uh to be the child of an artist is
15:50in my opinion one of the highest privileges uh because uh the discussions are about life about
15:56everything in life they know they're certain way they're very enriching uh tell me when the two of
16:01you talk uh whether it has to work or anything in life uh is it more of humor more of philosophy or
16:08philosophy through humor philosophy through humor is correct uh we have with the father me and my dad
16:15have had um a love for cinema since forever i have watched the classics uh the hindi classics uh or the
16:25european classics or the japanese classics or the hollywood classics because of him uh we would watch
16:31a film together we'd finish the film and then on dvd those days you should change to director's
16:38director's uh playback we would go together when we were traveling to dvd shops buy films together
16:45we discussed the movies we disagree i said no i like this i know you're wrong you know and we disagree
16:51so that has not changed we have we i have sat with him on the script of sarzameen i have sat he has sat
16:58with me on the script and edit of his film metta boys but nothing has ever been do this or do that
17:06it has been advice in a way that allows me to keep my vision or my voice it is just
17:13touching you in the right direction so that you keep more streamlining more streamlining so we
17:18discuss movies to uh fully every film we watch together yeah this work this did not work but and
17:26it's never from a commercial lens it's from a cinema cinema lens it's from this made me feel a
17:32particular way and we actually are very uh similar in our choices uh of loving it so i
17:39i get along with him a lot at home based on the cinema we like together and uh we genuinely we
17:47discuss everything uh my my next film will all script will also be vetted by him okay yeah okay
17:54perfect with that we have reached the end of this conversation if there's anything that i may have
17:57mentioned asking as a question or something that you would have looked up about so please feel free
18:01no i mean all good nothing i mean 25th of july sarazameen starts streaming on geo hotstar
18:07and i really hope all of you watch it with your families and uh you love it as much as we have
18:11loved making it that's it perfect so i hope people turn out in huge numbers they crash the servers of
18:16of geo hotstar for service we hope so too and i wish you all the best thank you thank you so much
18:20thank you so much
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