After having ventured overseas (Waking Ned Devine) for a stillborn serving of unseasoned daal (Malamaal Weekly), Priyadarshan returns to the verdant land of elephants, rubber trees and fish (Punjabi House, a comedy from the filmmaking team of Rafi-Mecartin, responsible for a few mainstream boilerplate hits in God's Own Country) for his forthcoming release Chup Chup Ke. Have to give it to the guy for being very open and clear about his inspirations and sources: I never come up with an idea, he says, among other things:
Does the final product excite you?
I am a filmmaker who makes films for children. I don't make movies for pseudo-intellectuals. I don't want them to watch my films. My intention when I make a film is very clear. I make it for a certain kind of people who have average intelligence -- because I am also like that. I have an average sense of humour and an average brain. So far, people have accepted my films. I have used the same formula that I used in my earlier films, so I think common people will accept it.
Damn! Now I know how his films become hits; they pack the cinema halls and multiplexes with kids! Special screenings and bookings are arranged for schools ... Um, besides he didn't exactly answer the question.
Is there a different technique you have used in this film?
I have shot the entire film in white colour. From the beginning to end I have shot the whole film in a white set -- from a white backdrop to using white light for the shots. That is the only experiment I have done in this film to bring out the innocence of the romance in the film.
Stark raving white I say!
You said you get inspired from a lot of movies. Is it because of a lack of novel ideas?
There are only seven plots in the world. For example, take the Mahabharata. There is no story in the world that was not told in that great epic -- simply because its canvas is huge.
One cannot possibly make a movie outside the basic seven plots of relationships. The only thing that varies in the film is how you treat the screenplay. Everyone today is inspired from something or the other. Even a child who plays cricket is inspired by, say, Sachin's shot and he tries to copy it. So I think inspiration is not a bad thing. It helps one come up in life.
Looks like he's taking Anu Malik's postal course on Responding to Allegations of Plagiarism for Dummies.
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