Mumbai, Maharashtra: Producer and Director Om Raut spoke exclusively to IANS. During the Interview, he shared his thought process behind bringing Maharashtrian stories to a pan-Indian and global audience balancing authenticity and universality. He also gives us a glimpse into his aesthetic sensibilities, personal tastes, and love for traditional Maharashtrian cuisine.
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FunTranscript
00:00So hello, sir. Welcome to ILS.
00:02Namaste.
00:03I want to start off by asking that you have given us great cinema.
00:07As a storyteller, as a maker of films,
00:10stories from Maharashtra that have gone on to
00:14explode on the national level,
00:16be it Tanaji or Nukmanya.
00:19As a storyteller who comes from the background of Maharashtra,
00:23has a very rich history, very rich culture,
00:26when you make such films for a larger audience, Pan-India or international worldwide,
00:31what are the prerequisites that are there in your mind?
00:35Namaste. Thank you very much for having me.
00:38It's a very good question that how does one actually make stories
00:44to go on a national level or even an international level.
00:47So I personally feel that I want to tell the grassroot stories.
00:53I want to tell the stories that are rooted deeply into our culture.
00:57I want to tell the stories that are about Indian heroes or Indian superheroes
01:04or Indian characters, male, female, doesn't matter.
01:08The stories that we have in our culture, the stories that we have
01:12in our great history of Bharat is something that I would like to tell.
01:16And because I come from Maharashtra and I am a Marathi boy,
01:21you know, these are the stories that I actually was grown up with.
01:25These are the stories that were told to me by my grandparents,
01:28by my parents, my father, my mother.
01:30So they have a very deep impact on you while growing up.
01:36And to be honest with you,
01:38Jitna meri samaj mein aya, Jitna whatever I have understood,
01:41I am only trying to recreate that into cinema.
01:45When it comes to Marathi, I think,
01:47I think I am an extremely proud Marathi boy.
01:50Jho bhi humari culture ki stories are.
01:54And I come from Maharashtra so that I have an attraction towards them.
02:07And I somehow feel that, you know,
02:13there is so much contribution of all these people
02:17towards building the nation that we have today.
02:21Jho aaj ka bharat hai, the nation that we have today
02:24is a tremendous contribution of all these forces
02:28that have come to us, you know, over a period.
02:31I mean, pre-independence also, post-independence also.
02:33So there is a tremendous contribution that there is there.
02:36And
02:37Jho aek,
02:38Jho emari grassrooted subject hotey ho!
02:40Jho emari grassrooted characters ho!
02:42Jho emari grassrooted characters ho!
02:43Uunki kehaniyan kehanne ko mujhe bahaht archha lough.
02:45And
02:46Isilije
02:47Lokumanya
02:48Ekkyukupurishki
02:49Jho emari team eh,
02:52Emne
02:53Mennai indirdeshit kiya tha!
02:54Woh emari film beni!
02:55Phir Tanah ji,
02:56Subedhar Tanah ji,
02:57tut-upah siray ke oopper
02:58Hemari film benii!
02:59Jho, Chhatrapadi Shivaaji Maharaj ke
03:01Lieutenant
03:02Now, these people must come from the territory of Maharashtra, Inspector Jehinde,
03:08they must come from the territory of Maharashtra,
03:11but their contribution is on the national and international level.
03:14The way these people have actually contributed towards the richness of our nation is something that is very important.
03:25And I somehow feel that what I have known is that I feel good for people.
03:30If I talk about Inspector Jehinde, that is a story that my father was always attracted towards.
03:38My father was a journalist.
03:39And when he was working, Inspector Jehinde was also serving for Mumbai Police in here.
03:49And he used to always, they had few interactions in the past, he has done few stories on him,
03:55through his medium, through journalism to newspaper, he had done few stories on him.
03:59And he was very, very fascinated with, you know, the great achievements that Inspector Jehinde has done
04:05for Maharashtra police and Indian police force.
04:08So I only tried to use that into my medium, which is cinema.
04:14And that's how this film kind of came to life.
04:18And it's a, it's a very fascinating person. I mean, Inspector Jehinde is 88 years old today.
04:25He's an absolutely, you know, dashing Mumbai Police cop.
04:29And, uh, uh, uh, uh..
04:43The second thing was independence, story about independence, how India got the freedom
04:47brought, you know, a non-struggle.
04:48Pre-independent India, there were two power centers of Indian freedom.
04:53East was Golgatha which was earlier their capital also.
04:57West was a big bonus of Indian freedom.
05:00Maharashtra had remained on the side of the side of the side.
05:03Tillich, Savarkar, many, many more heroes, many and sun heroes from Maharashtra.
05:09As a filmmaker who is, who looks at every story, every character with the utmost responsibility
05:15to bring them to life the way they deserve to be told, what are, like how do you craft
05:24these characters?
05:25Because history, which is happening, is the same color thing, but it can also be seen in
05:29the cinema.
05:30There is something, you know, some creativity involved in it, characters are arcs.
05:36So when you are sketching these characters, when you are telling the larger story, how
05:40do you operate and how do you navigate it?
05:42So it's a quite fascinating process, I mean, just to, just to kind of understand, I mean,
05:49somewhere the seed is there and I've always said that unless the subject touches you here,
05:55it will not touch here and here, right?
05:58So first and foremost, whether it is a subject or event in the history or a personality in
06:05the history, when we read their biography, the simplest thing that I can tell you, if
06:09it touches you and if you get inspired from it, that is the only time you can actually come
06:13and tell out, tell that story, right?
06:16So when we read about these stories, when you read about them, or when you kind of meet
06:21with people and get inspired, you know, I mean, I was told about Lokmana Tilak's story
06:25by my father, I mean, he was also a journalist and Lokmana Tilak is considered to be one of
06:30the greatest journalists that this world has ever seen, right?
06:32So we've always looked at him as a central figure in our house, we have a beautiful portrait
06:39of Lokmana Tilak in my parents' house, it's right there in the center of the living room.
06:44So he's always looked up as somebody who's very, very important in my family and in our
06:50upbringing.
06:53So when you kind of get inspired at such a level, you know, about these great people, there
07:00is something that they're teaching, that they're learning from their life, their, unke
07:04jo acharan hai, unke jo vichaar hai, usse hum kuch na kuch seekte rehte hai.
07:08And when you, when you, when you want to make a film on them, you obviously do hell lot
07:12of research, you do ton of research.
07:15And then you, there are experts, there are historians, they're all, they're writers,
07:19they're all part of your team.
07:20And then you kind of work with them to kind of tell a narrative, you kind of, you kind
07:24of try to tell a story.
07:26And when you're trying to tell the story, you kind of define what are the points that
07:31you want to kind of tell in a particular way.
07:34And that is how you kind of start building the structure of, of the film that you want
07:39to tell, of the story that you want to tell.
07:42And when you're doing that, I mean, it might sound stupid, but it's, it's always a reality.
07:46Somebody who's very senior to me, a very senior director actually told me, who's also done
07:50a lot of biographies and historical films.
07:53That any time you start to make out a film, because the achievements are so big and large,
08:05and there are so many nuances that it is practically impossible to put everything into a two and
08:12a half hour long film.
08:14It is impossible.
08:15You can't do that.
08:16You still select few things, which kind of help you navigate through, and you try to
08:20come out with maximum characteristics of the character that, that, that you can come on
08:25to, that you can put onto celluloid, which actually makes the final cut, right?
08:31And more often than not, the, the events and the episodes of their life that you have not
08:36selected in the film are always something that you feel that, oh, I should have put this because
08:41that this looks more important.
08:43This should have been there in the film, that's a feeling that even you get somehow internally.
08:48But I feel that these films can only, you know, give you like a basic structure of what the
08:55man or the, the character could be, what, what, what the personality was.
09:00It can give you a simple 101.
09:02It can give you a simple, you know, the basic nuances of the character and the rest all is
09:08for, for people to actually sit down and absorb on their own.
09:12Having said that, cinema per se, the nature has to have some sort of entertainment, right?
09:18And entertainment does not mean only joking around and fooling, you know, it also has
09:22to be engaging.
09:24I mean, if you look at some, you know, some beautiful films that I made in the past, recent
09:28one is an Oppenheimer or, you know, Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, you know, Lincoln.
09:37These are highly entertaining films, but they are, by entertainment, I don't necessarily
09:41mean that they, there are jokes or that they are funny or, you know, in any other way,
09:46they are gripping and they're engaging.
09:48So, as long as you can tell somebody's bio in a, in a gripping way, in a modern storytelling,
09:54because the today's audience is somebody who's going to consume them.
09:57I think that's a balance that one needs to strike.
10:00And once you kind of achieve that, then it kind of, you know, I mean, the effort is to
10:04kind of try and make it happen and tell it in the right way.
10:08And talking about Maharashtra, you know, there's a reason it's called Maharashtra, you know.
10:15Maharashtra.
10:16Maharashtra.
10:17Very diverse culture.
10:18The landscapes are very different.
10:19We have Sayadri.
10:20Mountain range.
10:21We have Khandesh, you know, an arid land like Khandesh also.
10:25Five different…
10:26Six provinces.
10:27Six provinces of Maharashtra.
10:29Marathi theatre is one of the strongest pillars of our Indian theatre ecosystem, along with
10:33Gujarati and Bengali.
10:35Being a Maharashtrian boy, living in the state of Maharashtra, traveling to all these
10:40far-off places in these states, in Mudur, Jalanao, all these places.
10:45How has it shaped the filmmaker and the storyteller, all the artists?
10:49See, everywhere that you go, I mean, Bharat, this is the only one in the vivitata.
10:58There is unity and diversity in our nation.
11:04And, I mean, I can talk a little bit about Maharashtra.
11:09Is, you know, every small district has its different culture.
11:15I mean, culture probably the same as a different nuance.
11:19You know, everywhere you go, there is a different food.
11:22The dialect changes a bit.
11:24Every district has few great, great, great personalities who have contributed towards
11:30the making of this state and towards the making of this nation.
11:33So, every time you go somewhere, you go to the smallest town, you will find something
11:37which is very beautiful about it.
11:39You will go somewhere and then there is something that you would want to tell.
11:43And then some of the stories are something that you actually want to tell onto celluloid.
11:48Many of them, probably they will make it in future.
11:50Somebody else will make it.
11:51But the idea is to tell the grass-rooted Indian stories onto the celluloid for the national
11:58audience and the international audience to consume.
12:01When we made Tanaji, we had a tagline, Tanaji the Unsung Warrior.
12:08Because outside of Maharashtra, Subhidhar Tanaji Rao Malusare and his sacrifice was not known
12:13by many people.
12:14You know, I mean, if Tanaji Rao Malusare would have not done the bravado that he did and the
12:21sacrifice that he made, which is the greatest sacrifice, you know, probably the history and
12:27geography of our nation would have been different.
12:29The Southern Indian Peninsula would have had a different tone to it.
12:33Like the capital in the north, they wanted to make, in Delhi, they wanted to make the
12:38southern capital into Kondana, right, which is known as Sihagat today.
12:42And if Tanaji would have not scaled up with his brave Mahara and would have won the fort
12:47back for the Marathas, we would have seen a different, you know, everything would have
12:51been different, right.
12:53So his sacrifice was not known by a lot of people outside of Maharashtra.
12:58But when we made Tanaji, and when the film got this tremendous response, and when it became
13:04successful, I was very happy to say that Tanaji no more answer.
13:09That was an extremely satisfying day for me and my entire team.
13:15Because the job that we had set out to do what had actually been completed.
13:21Inspector Jhinde, on the other hand, is everybody knows, you know, unfortunately, everybody knows
13:28the villain, everybody knows the, you know, the guys who did the bad job.
13:34But the guy who actually, the Mumbai police cop, who actually went and caught him, is relatively unknown.
13:43Now, we are getting a chance to tell his story.
13:46We are getting a chance to tell his story from the hero's point of view, right.
13:53That is a great satisfaction that me and my team have, that we've had this chance to do it.
13:58Whether it is Chinmay, who is the Chinmay Mandlekar, who is the writer and director of this film.
14:03The time, the way that he's telling the story is extremely interesting.
14:08And Netflix is on board.
14:10Netflix is, it's a Netflix film.
14:13And the, you know, the advantage of working with Netflix is, they have tremendous knowledge
14:17because they release so many films across the world, right.
14:20So they have tremendous know-how about how to, you know, tell a particular, you know,
14:25how to, how to mount a particular film.
14:27So it becomes extremely important for us to kind of work with them.
14:31And, you know, the need for an artist is to reach a larger audience, right.
14:36Need for an artist is to, to reach as many people as you want, as you, as you can.
14:42And with Netflix, what happens is the film gets delivered to over 100 nations, right.
14:48I think the number is quite large of 129, but don't quote me.
14:51It's over 100, 100 nations.
14:53So now, as we watch Spanish films, we watch Japanese Korean content on Netflix in India.
15:01People outside in Spain or in, in Europe or, you know, somewhere else in the US or even
15:08South America, even in Asia, people do watch overseas content.
15:13So Netflix actually enables you to tell our story of our, you know, you know, this, our Marathi cop who did this great job to, to international audience.
15:25So that always becomes an advantage.
15:27And it's, it's a, it's a fascinating journey to have, that we've had with Netflix from working on this film.
15:32And in the past few days, there has been some disturbance in Maharashtra, with regards to mostly the language conflict.
15:38People who might not be very privy to the language, they have been targeted.
15:44So what would be your opinion, with regards to what all has been going around in this case so far?
15:49Akshay, I'm an artist and I would like to remain an artist.
15:54This is, this has got some political connotations to it.
15:57And as an artist, I would like to be independent of it.
15:59And talking about inspectors India, you said that this is the first time we are telling the story of a cop through the Europe's point of view.
16:05You also said that, you know, people know about Charles Omraj and whatever went behind.
16:11When you bring stories of such unsung heroes with the focus and the aim of, you know, to make them big,
16:18to add a remembrance value to them for the audience.
16:22When you go on making such stories, what's the process like between you as a producer and the director?
16:29What's the creative exchange like?
16:31What's the creative wavelength that both of you or the entire democracy?
16:34See, Akshay, I think the hat changes when you are producing versus when you are directing.
16:41I think director is always the captain of the ship.
16:44And I have worked under, when I was only a director, I have had that pleasure of having brilliant producers.
16:53You know, whether it is my first film Lok Mania or Tanaji, which Mr. Devgan was the producer.
17:00And I have had tremendous, you know, support from them and tremendous, you know, how should I say this, liberty to do what you want to do and, you know, back the director as much as you can.
17:15I mean, I was also a first time Hindi film director with Tanaji and the way Mr. Devgan kind of supported me.
17:20I think similarly, I'm trying to, you know, just learn from him and trying to put it out in my production where I'm not producing, I'm only directing.
17:28I'm not directing, I'm only producing.
17:31So I'm also trying to do, you know, something similar, wherein your job remains the backroom boy, your job remains to enable and empower the director to do what he wants to do.
17:43And, you know, support them as much as you can. And I think that's where the job ends. At the end of the day, Chinmay Mandelaker is the captain of the ship.
17:51The director is the captain of the ship. And we are all there, me, my producing partners, all of us are there to support him the way he needs to be supported and move forward.
18:02And how would you define yourself as a producer? Do you like to get into…
18:08I think I can't really define myself as a producer. Maybe you should talk to Chinmay and then maybe he can tell you how am I as a producer.
18:15He'd be a better person to ask this question. But I think I'd like to remain the backroom boy and, you know, let the director do what he wants to do and just support him in whichever way you can.
18:24And you're always there to answer questions and whenever the team needs you, you should be standing with them.
18:31And given that you switch from director to producer in this film, it's representing. Does the switching of the director even completely come naturally to you or you have to put an effort like Chinmay take this call or something like that?
18:45See, every new job requires a new you. I mean, every new level in your life requires a new you. So, you have to reinvent yourself.
18:53So, incidentally, when we started this film years ago, just after Tanaji, I was supposed to direct this film and I had had Chinmay actually come in as a writer.
19:06Because it was my father's dream. So, I had had Chinmay to actually come and, you know, write this film for me.
19:12Chinmay and I go along since my first film and we're also friends, but we also work together. So, and then, you know, we had a lot of research and Chinmay also did a lot of research after that.
19:22So, we, you know, he got everything and then he went to write a draft. And after he came back and we did a narration, I realized this is a very different draft.
19:34You know, this is a very different take on the story, very different than what I could have told. So, that's when I actually I suggested him and I, you know, in a conversation, I said, you know what, this is a very different film.
19:47This is a very different take. This is a different film versus what I would have made. So, why don't you take a shy of directing it?
19:53Because this is very different than what I thought the film would be. And, you know, he thought for a second and he said, you know what, let's try it out.
20:01So, so that's how it was born. So, from a writer, he became a writer director of this film. And that's the signal that, you know, one should take a back seat and stay on the bench and let the director do what he wants to do.
20:15Obviously, then Mr. Bajpayee, Manoj Bajpayee sir got on board and what a treat of an actor to work with.
20:21I mean, sometimes you feel like, you know, such a great actor that is actually working, you know, in the film. And, you know, you are not directing, you are there sitting on the side.
20:33I mean, and then just seeing them perform. It's a great treat. One day, God willing, I will get a chance to direct Mr. Manoj Bajpayee sir. And hopefully that will happen soon. But, you know, things like that.
20:47So, so it's a, it's a great experience. It's a, it's a, it's a lovely changing of hat and it's a new role and I am actually having good time.
20:56And I was looking around the place. It's very tastefully done. I want to know about your aesthetics.
21:01Our office? Yeah. Oh, you should take a tour. You should take a tour. You should take a tour.
21:06As a storyteller, I want to know about your sense of aesthetics because you make these grand films. Of course, they have to look a certain way.
21:13There's a huge aesthetic value to it for a traditional design, the colors and everything, the textures. How to define your aesthetics as a storyteller?
21:21Yeah, it is very difficult. My films actually talk about it. Now, how can I talk about it? It's not, you can see, maybe somewhere around the office, you can, you can see.
21:30But I think I'm a very minimalist guy. I mean, I would, I like minimal design. Less is more is what I feel. And that's the way I would like to be.
21:42So, for my final question. As a Marishan boy, I was grown up in May state. What's the cuisine that you love the most? Is it Nikola, for the Konkand, Malman, what kind of thing?
21:52I love food. I love food. It's very difficult to kind of pick what I would like to eat. You know, what I really love to eat. I love, you know, I mean, if I, if I go to Vidarbha, I would like to eat Sauji.
22:05If I go to Pune, you know, I would like to eat the Misar from there. When I come to Konkand, I would like to eat, you know, the, the, the coastal food.
22:15If I go to Khandesh, I would like to eat the Khandeshi. So I think, if you, if you know, if I go to Koldapur, Satara Sangli, that belt, the Marathwada, Western Maharashtra, that side, I'd like to eat the, you know, the Dhangar style food.
22:30So I think it kind of, it, it, every region that you go in Maharashtra or anywhere in our nation for that purpose or anywhere in the world, I believe in eating the local food.
22:42Right. I believe in eating because every, you know, everything, everything local has a very, very, very, very strong taste.
22:51And I mean, I can keep on talking about food for hours, but, but anything that's locally made from that region is something that I would like to eat.
23:02If I want to eat pizza, I would either eat it, you know, in Brooklyn, New York, I won't eat it in Chicago, or I'll go to Maples or I'll, I'll go to somewhere in Italy and have, have pizza.
23:13I'm not having pizza, you know, somewhere, yeah, I'm not eating it here.
23:20So it has to be absolutely peculiar, perfect.
23:24It has to be from that region.
23:26It has to be the local taste and anything that is local is something that I love to eat.
23:32And for my final question, you know, while the films across the regional cinema industries of India, they have been dubbed and exchanged in various languages.
23:41This Pan-India film movement, it really picked up in the last 10-12 years, especially after Bahubali.
23:46Yeah, after Bahubali, I think Entran was one of the first one to kind of cut across Igga, Igga.
23:52I mean, Robo, Makhi, with the films that translated, I mean, in the, in the, in the recent history and obviously Bahubali, one and two changed the complete landscape and Pushpa took it to a different level KGF.
24:09Phenomenal journey.
24:10I mean, that only shows that we are one nation, no matter which language the film is made in, there is an audience across the nation.
24:19As I've always said, we have the unity in diversity.
24:22You know, it doesn't matter where the film is made.
24:25If it's presented into, into the larger audience, there is, there is a strong audience to it.
24:31Is it the greatest time to be an artist currently?
24:34I think every time is, every time is great.
24:36I mean, I mean, Renaissance was, was the best time, you know, the, it was a, was a really, really good time where the art really flourished and took, went to a different level.
24:48I think we all need to keep on finding the Renaissance every time.
24:53I personally feel that the way India and the, you know, Indian cultural and arts is flowing right now.
25:01I think we are just about in that space or maybe a little bit free, but we are definitely entering it.
25:08That's just a personal opinion.
25:10And I think we have, we have something different that is, that is played out.
25:15And trust me, it is, it goes beyond cinema.
25:17I think it gets very strongly into new media.
25:21It gets very strongly into the, the, the, the digital world.
25:28The 3.0 is what we are, we are all fancily calling it.
25:32I think it's cutting very sharp and I'm, I'm very sure that not just Indian, but Asian Renaissance is just around the corner.
25:42That's, that's an opinion.
25:43That's an opinion.
25:44I know you don't ask for opinions, but it's just my opinion.
25:47That's my opinion.
25:48Your t-shirt says so.
25:49If there's anything that I may have missed last year as a question, something that you would
25:54able to talk about.
25:55So please speak.
25:56No, I think I'm good.
25:57Anything that you want to know, if it's not an opinion, I'll give it to you.
26:00So on that note, thank you so much.
26:02It was a pleasure having this convention and I wish you all the best.
26:05Thank you, Akshay.
26:06Thank you so much for having me.
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