S riram Raghavan, who's made only three films in eight years (“Ek Hasina Thi”, “Johnny Gaddar”, and now “Agent Vinod”), is one of the few filmmakers in India critics would admit being fans of. He commands respect not just because of his sheer consistency, commitment and passion but also because he's one of those genuinely nice guys known for his integrity. Anyone else would have decided to cash in on the acclaim “Johnny Gaddar” got and signed a few films to get some money in the bank. But not Raghavan. When we caught up with him, he's had barely three hours of sleep after winding up the sound mix early in the morning and was rushing off to attend a major visual effects issue. Excerpts from the interview.
Why do you make your fans wait so long between films? Are you a perfectionist?
I don't intend taking so much time. After I finish a film, I take my time with the script. We wanted to make ‘Agent Vinod' slicker, once we started working on it. I am not a perfectionist. Yes, I have taken two-and-a-half years to make it but I wouldn't have minded a week more to work on it. As someone said, films are not finished, but abandoned. There's no such thing called perfection. You try to be as good as you can. I am planning to take a month or two to catch up with films before starting another film.
Don't you want to make money? Are you happy with one film in four years?
I want to do more films but not to make more money. Making a film is such a rewarding journey in itself. There are so many stories you want to tell. And it's not that you can't make good films in little time. Woody Allen makes a film a year, sometimes two. Ridley Scott manages it. So, yes, I want to catch up and make more films but money is not the driving factor.
Are you surprised by Pakistan's ban on Agent Vinod?
It's sad. I didn't do any Pakistan-bashing in the film. But when you are making a spy film, you cannot avoid referring to Pakistan just like a Pakistani spy film cannot avoid referring to India. I have tried to balance this. Out of four Pakistani characters, only one is negative. Similarly, there are bad guys in the Indian camp too. The larger point is that two countries may have problems but let's work together to solve a common problem. Bad people don't belong to any country. I wish they would just let the people of Pakistan see and judge for themselves.
You are so good at manufacturing nostalgia. Any reason you look back for inspiration? Is there a dearth of themes and conflicts today?
‘Agent Vinod' is contemporary but also a throwback to films I grew up on. That was an interesting age of movies, but no, it's not about the references. There's a reference to Mahendra Sandhu because I wanted to cast him in the film since he was the original ‘Agent Vinod'. After a while too many references only become a private joke. It should work for the audience and not be seen as an inside joke. There's already so much happening in ‘Agent Vinod'. It has the fervour and excitement of a spy film with lots of twists and turns in the end.
Are you feeling the pressure after a long wait, a big budget and hype or don't you really think about the market?
I do think about the market. Initially there was negative publicity because of the increasing delay but after the trailers, there has been some positive buzz. So there's some nervous excitement but we had fun making this one.
How long did you take to script the film and how much did you change from your first draft?
We spent about a year writing it. And as we went location hunting, we would write scenes inspired by the places. We stuck to the bound script for at least 75 per cent of the film and the rest we may have changed, improvised and improved once we started shooting.
There were some reports about creative interference from Saif Ali Khan since he's also the producer.
There was a lot of brainstorming where he would suggest ‘Let's do this for the movie' but he would always leave it to me. In fact, I had more fight and arguments with my co-writer Arijit Biswas (laughs).
Is the film intentionally camp or have you tried to make it more modern like a desi update on Bond?
It is stylised to a certain extent but the treatment is more like it can happen today. It has some traits of a spoof with characters that are colourful but it has a hyper-real quality to it.
What do you think is the biggest surprise for fans?
The biggest challenge was to take a real-life couple and make them work as fairly complex characters and not just as the romance angle. It was difficult but we have managed to do something interesting.
