Interview: Vikramaditya Motwane reveals which of his works he’s most proud of and more

Vikramaditya Motwane has said in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, that he wrote the dialogues of Udaan with Anurag Kashyap, in just four night. Anurag was preparing for his film, Gulaal at the time, and therefore had time for the dialogues only at night. Vikramaditya’s latest outing, Jubilee, released on Prime Video on Friday. (Also read: Jubilee review: Sidhant Gupta delivers star-making performance)

Here is an excerpt from the interview in which Vikramaditya talks about the new show, his toughest film and much more.

What does Jubilee talk about?

It focusses on the 40s and early 50s in terms of time period. It is about behind-the-scenes, it focuses on how stars were made, how the tehcnological advancements happened in the industry. It is also about rivalries, scandals and how the press worked. Overall, Jubilee is a dramatic, fictional view of the film industry in the 40s and 50s.

When did the journey of Jubilee begin?

It was around the time when we got to see Breaking Bad and House of Cards in India, early part of the last decade. That initial wave of great shows made us think, ‘what if we make something similar about our film industry?’ Then, we wrote a pilot and then saw it actually worrked.

You said recently that budget and research were two major challenges while working on Jubilee. How did you navigate around those?

Budget is what it is. Amazon has been good in providing whatever we needed. The research was multi-faceted. It was about the industry and also some little pegs that we want to have. For example, the banning of songs, or how playback music came into being. A lot of that was researched and we got into the oral stories we have heard about. Then there was the actual one – exploring how the cold war, Russian-Americans equations and the partition affected people here. How the refugee camps functioned, all these were heavily researched.

What did you learn while working on Jubilee?

From the research perspective, we learned a lot about how the Russian and American propaganda worked here, how India responded to those. Some of these things, we did not know. Also, each project teaches you to be a better director, to make less mistakes and to deal with the actor in a better way.

What has been your craziest experience while working with Anurag Kashyap?

Writing the dialogues of Udaan in just four nights while he was preparing for his own film Gulaal in Jaipur. That was crazy. He would prep in the day, write dialogues at night – by hand – and I would then type it in the next day. If there were any corrections, we’d sit again the next night. I have never done that again, I do not think I ever will.

Which film is the closest to your heart?

Udaan, because it is my first. But, the film I am most proud of, is Bhavesh Joshi. We achieved a lot with that film – especially from the ambition and action perspective. The film did not do well at box office but it is a film I am proud of.

Which film do you see as your most difficult one?

Jubilee. It has been amazing experience, but working on it (was challenging).