00:00hello hello how are you how are both of you very well hi after the emmy's thing uh how are you
00:07actually after the emmy's announcement and when emmy's nomination how does it feel
00:11um monica and amtiaz i actually wanted to congratulate you because as an audience member
00:20you must have given a lot of love to the film also it is something which belongs to everyone
00:26yes so i think uh it's it's just so lovely uh as an indian to actually uh have the nomination
00:35for uh you know such a distinctive film right right absolutely absolutely and um emtiaz how does it
00:43feel i mean that's monica's version also i would like to add on my bit uh that i've seen the movie
00:49seven times to be precise i saw it with uh yeah and i loved the movie because every time
00:56i saw the movie i could connect with it in a different way though i uh i'm not from chumkeela's
01:02era but it was something very uh very informative if you went to see from that angle and it's i saw
01:09it seven times and i made everybody also watch the movie with me so yes this is as you mentioned
01:14this is my win too i take it thank you thank you so uh yes amtiaz i mean how does it feel uh you know
01:21it's your baby but netflix has fostered it in such a beautiful way so how does it feel to see your baby
01:28up there um it's actually quite heartwarming to see that international recognition has come to a film
01:36which is very local and which uh had faced hurdles and thanks to netflix got a chance to come to the
01:44world uh but to stand with you know other international filmmakers from different parts
01:51of the world and actors and and the creative fraternity of different parts of the world that's
01:58very very charming yeah um and uh to take india there to take our culture there is also a very
02:06um you know we feel very gratified to be able to do that right right do you do you feel that now with
02:13the the emmy's nomination um the way uh indian storytelling has been perceived out there has
02:20kind of changed because india has always been you know perceived to be uh a place where movies are
02:26filled with dance and drama and basically kabhi am bahar poochte the toho aise goota tha ka aapke
02:31aapke to bohat kaane hote music hote why do you need that what do you have to say about
02:36yeah exactly but that's what their perspective was so uh do you think that this perspective this
02:43perception of people out there in the west would change after chamheela's uh nomination it's just
02:49not about music and drama but it's about strong storytelling as well what would you say to that
02:55monica i think you are the better i actually would say that uh uh the world is suddenly waking up
03:03to uh the power of music in storytelling uh you know if i were to look at k-pop demon hunters
03:11it's the biggest film ever on netflix and the music of it is trending all around the world
03:18i mean chamkeela came before that and uh last year and what chamkeela did and what is being
03:27recognized through this nomination and not just this all the awards chamkeela has won
03:32all the love that has come chamkeela's way the uh social media phenomenon uh you know everything
03:40going viral the songs the reels i think it the world is actually experiencing it through different
03:47stories from india same thing with rr the way natu natu traveled so i feel chamkeela is in in that
03:55line of greats where it is taking the culture from india and actually uh giving a very different
04:03grammar of storytelling so it's not stories have always been important to us but our music has been
04:09equally important to us and to have story and music go hand in hand and actually uh you know be so
04:17defining for people universally i think that's something special that chamkeela has done and
04:22achieved and uh it just shows that we don't need to change that for us actually we do it in a certain
04:30way the whole world will watch absolutely this question is for both of you that when chamkeela
04:35released right uh was there any particular um compliment or feedback that you precisely got
04:41from somebody from the industry that really has stayed with you till date um well i remember see
04:51we had this very nice uh premiere night which uh monica and netflix had organized and the story of
04:59that is that when we were shooting at uh liberty cinema uh which is an old theater in bombay
05:05right but then i had this plan that you know we should have premiere in an old theater like this
05:13and maybe it's not so good for marketing anymore that is why people don't do premieres old style
05:19but for this film let's do it so diljeet was like ah so then thankfully monica bought into this and
05:30said okay we'll have an old-fashioned premiere and we had that at new excelsior no it was so charming
05:36and imtiaz has had a vision for everything on this and even for this premiere this screening
05:43and people came all the way imtiaz like so many people drove across and we all know how we struggle
05:50in this traffic but it was very charming and very very uh special so one of the people over there was
05:58mr bens who is a very uh is a very elderly gentleman he used to be um the superintendent
06:07of police in roper in punjab during the 80s when all the trouble was happening and you know i was a
06:14bit like nervous to meet him after the film because he could have just turned around and told me that
06:19this is not the right portrayal of those times and he said that it really took me back to those times
06:26because it really felt like how did you even know that it it was like this for us in punjab during
06:32the 80s and that was a huge compliment i remember from that night yeah absolutely you know imtiaz you
06:42have had movies uh very different from each other but the main crux would always be human interest
06:50right they were very human they were very heart-touching stories all of them we had jab
06:54we met we had rock star beach also though it is based on a real life incident it's the way the way
07:00it's been weaved right it actually felt that we went we were a part of that era though i'm from
07:06maharashtra and that story is based on from punjab from nord i felt that it was some somebody from
07:11our life that we lost right so that's exactly i think as a storyteller you guys have achieved and
07:17netflix has you know put it across so well i really wanted to know that the question is that
07:22what actually makes you connect to your movies so much like before we connect you you have you have
07:29to connect with your movies right so what is that particular thing that makes you feel here this
07:34subject i think let's this needs to be spoken of or iska story dunya tak pauchna chahiye be it a
07:42fictional story or be it a real story what is the thing that connects this is not a logical decision
07:48okay to make a certain film there is something that moves you like i get moved by something
07:56which is semi-real semi-fiction most of the times it is like that that you know you see something you
08:02see a person you get a thought you imagine that this could be her circumstance in life and then you
08:08think about it and it moves you and then you just go on and on and you know the first
08:15seven steps of filmmaking is for you yourself just for entertainment imagine daydream think about it
08:23talk to that about uh to other people who are not interested try to engage them somehow uh you know and
08:31so you do all of those things and then you start making the film at some point of time so um it's
08:39not a logical decision as far as chamkila is concerned however um through many sources you know every time i
08:46used to go and shoot in punjab or thereabouts people used to tell me the story of chamkila that you know
08:51there was this guy in the 1980s and he was the biggest phenomena there's never been a musical star like
08:58that in punjab he was so popular and his life was so dramatic and tragic and blah blah why don't you
09:05make a film on this why don't you make a film on this then i realized that many of my friends and
09:09many people in the bombay film industry have tried to make a film on his life and i never had the
09:17thought that i should make a film on him because i didn't know much about him okay at that point of
09:23time and i didn't and i knew that there is something sticky about the rights to the film on
09:29his life and then one guy called harpreet just walked into office one day during the uh during
09:35the pandemic and he came and he just said that i have managed for the first time to get the rights of
09:41uh the film and i'd like you to make it he has nothing to do with the film industry but he's still
09:47he's the one who thought that i should make it oh sometimes just a person from nowhere just a man
09:55on the street can do you a big favor which are with a which a multimillionaire can't and he said
09:59because you know you make films in about punjab and punjabis that are good i'm a punjabi i like and
10:08then i think music ke saad bhi apka acha connection me aapmei rockstar me teek sa kaam karna to aapko
10:14banana chahehi and that's how it happened oh my god i mean this is like destiny in a way it is
10:21destiny that that and now i feel that you know it was like grace divine grace moving around like that
10:28and it is a blessing that came to me absolutely absolutely konika this question is for you that
10:33when netflix uh you know basically arrived in india it was basically uh touted to be a not very
10:39desi platform right it was very american and it was very all the drasmatars around it so uh i wanted
10:46to know now uh with movies like chumkeela or for that matter shows like kapil sharma do you think that
10:51you know um it has become more desi and uh indian adapting to the indian uh society more
10:58as compared to the you know notion that it had actually i'd like to ask you that question what
11:05do you think i think it's a okay for me it's a mix uh from the audience's perspective it's a mix i feel
11:13that it has a plethora of uh you know movies from various walks of life and every niche of the
11:19you know entertainment basically yeah this is my answer but mera answer choppega ne na
11:24no uh no it's it was important for me to know uh how you feel about it as an audience member
11:32but uh actually you're right that's the intention you know netflix is meant to be an entertainment
11:39service for all it's not um uh you know meant to be uh a service uh with the audience that we just
11:48started out with a few years ago because when we started out we were and you're right about that we
11:53were an international platform that just one day uh you know came live across 160 countries now we're
12:00in a more than 190 countries but there was a moment in time uh you know uh almost 10 years ago and we
12:08will have our 10 year anniversary coming up in january um it was just put on and there was a lot of
12:15international content which came for the early audiences right uh but uh the journey always the
12:23the uh you know the intention was always to have a netflix india for india telling stories from india
12:32we will always bring the best from around the world from across the world but we are here to work
12:38with the creative industry here uh you know the creators here who are some of the best uh creators
12:45uh you know the craft that we have uh from anywhere across the world our film industry is so uh you know
12:53we are right up there with the biggest film industry in the world so i think for us it was very clear
13:00india has many many many stories to tell we don't even have one india that we say we are many indias
13:07there are so many different kinds of audience segments so netflix reflects that the diversity
13:13and variety that we have uh reflects that whether we'll go for the most beautiful niche festival film
13:22uh you know and take it to a large set of an audience we'll go we'll take a film like lapata ladies
13:28which is charming and small but can actually become so massive on the platform we'll have the biggest one
13:36like rr and pushpa and animal and you know and for from an original standpoint you know we are very
13:44clear that we are here to take stories uh you know which are very close to us as indians to our milieu
13:51to what is relevant to us and what make what moves us you know and what is important to tell what is
13:58entertaining and urgent to tell like chamkila's story uh may not be an urgent story to tell but it's one of
14:07the most important stories to tell because it really reflects the culture of the people the people of
14:14panjab the music history and and really an artist artist journey struggle passion and turns a lens on
14:22society that how we are uh you know we we can make a star we can make an artist and we can you know
14:30take the life of an artist we can break an artist too like we can give love and we can take it back
14:35also so i think that's the that's the story that imtiaz was telling and the whole irony of it the tragedy
14:43of it the beauty of it uh so i think taking stories like these which are so rooted and so local and
14:50that is what netflix is here to do in every which way whether we commission we buy uh at whatever
14:57stage we associate with a story and we are just proud to associate to be able to enable partner
15:03and uh uh you know we are there to entertain the maximum number of indians so if you look at the
15:10range you will know that that's the intent and that's where we are we are right now that's right
15:16that's right um i wanted to know that uh you know i personally feel that at times indian film
15:22industry does kind of seek a lot of validation from the west um that's my perspective i may be
15:27wrong but having said that do you think that we can call it probably a colonial influence yet
15:34i don't know whether it's colonial i think that uh international recognition is always special for
15:41any country you know and for us also an international recognition is a unique thing an important thing
15:47but it's not the first thing we speak at all i think uh the people that we have made the film for
15:55uh first indian you know and uh so the recognition with them is of severe and great important
16:03importance to us and if it is now recognized recognized internationally also if it gives us a
16:10chance to represent the country among other countries then that is you know it's like sports
16:17you you want to you want to win when you go to a tournament or uh you know you you have that because
16:25you're representing your country so i think it's basically that and i i must add that uh uh my
16:33colleagues from across the markets really want their stories their shows their movies to succeed
16:38in india so that's also you know that that's the joy of it you know when you see the stories from
16:44your country your culture just travel anywhere and entertain you know more people yeah india is
16:50the biggest market obviously so yeah it's okay the last question uh this is for you and there's um
16:56uh so it's a little off topic but yeah but he just said that he was a little upset because he
17:01was replaced at job we met do you have anything to say on this uh he's not said it recently he's
17:09uh been saying it for a long time yeah he's saying it for a long time but it's highlighted now
17:13it's a joke and uh uh he that's my connection with him we remember each other like this
17:21we we are very good friends so we don't say good things to each other on the face
17:26we just uh say it behind our backs but um he's a lovely lovely friend and uh this is a joke so
17:35don't fall for it i think i think his fans have already fallen for it but thank you for clarifying
17:41it and uh having said that last question he's a he's a bosom pal he's a very good friend
17:47so the last question for both of you is that abhi chamkila ne toh matlab it's created uh what has it
17:54done for the country right so can we expect any kind of any further collaboration with impiaz and
17:59netflix together i hope so i keep going to their office asking for more work no we are already
18:07working on lots together we haven't announced it but we are deep into many things and uh you'll you'll
18:15hear about them soon okay perfect thank you so much and we i wish we get home the trophy we get
18:21home the recognition thank you so much for this and congratulations to both of you and the entire
18:26country and also thank you thank you thank you so much
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