India In A Dayis a film project where Indians from around the country shoot visuals of their day and send them to you. Isn’t the task of cohesively bringing together this vast data a challenging one?
Yes. It is a monumental task, but it’s a lot simpler when you’re being supported by people like Ridley Scott, Anurag Kashyap, Pankaj Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar and Balki. It also helps that your data management infrastructure comes from a small company called Google ( laughs ). As a filmmaker, I enjoy the experience of exploring and understanding this country. I’ve spent 15 years doing so when I made my Hindi films Amal and Siddharth and would love to spend another 50 in order to learn more.
What type of film are you making with all this footage?
It’ll be a feature-like documentary. It’s like I’ve been entrusted to write a novel without having the letters to write them yet.
How is it to work with Ridley Scott?
I have never been so excited to get editing notes from someone ( laughs ). It was his idea to make a film ‘about a day’. He had the foresight to see how a regular person’s life might be interesting to others, even if it seems normal to that person. So, he felt it would be better to get a whole nation to get their camera phones out and shoot their day.
Weren’t you afraid that the footage you receive from the cities would outweigh those from villages?
Yes. We felt we could be dealing with too much content from the cities. But for me, it is very important that we go deep into the interiors of the country and learn how people there go about their lives. We want visuals from the North East just as much as those from Mumbai.
Are there specific visuals that you would love to include in the film?
I would love to see interactions between people and animals. I don’t want the film to be an exotic trip through India, and I certainly don’t want it to reinforce any stereotypes. So, our efforts will be to tell a colourful tale about breaking barriers through technology.
How does this film become personal to you, especially since you’re an Indian settled in Canada?
A film that talks about the different stages of a society is right up my alley. My earlier film, Siddharth , talked about a father’s search for his son.
It was based on an incident where I was able to locate the son’s whereabouts within seconds using Google, even when the father walked around from person to person, asking about his son. If we are able to get stories of compassion like the one of a chaiwallah offering free tea out of his goodness… a rickshawallah who refuses to take extra money… it would be great for India In A Day .
