BHARATI PAWASKAR
Steering the lively discussion well Naman Ramachandran allowed the audience to look beyond and see the human side of the celebrity duo, Nitesh Tiwari and Vetri Maaran. Nitesh Tiwari whose directional debut Chillar Party won him the national film award for the Best Children’s Film for that year, began his story with the announcement, “I am a self-taught filmmaker.” Coming from advertisement to films, Tiwari was inspired by films Indiana Jones and Last Crusade that paved his way to be a director. Always interested in what a director does to take a movie to such heights, he never dreamt that one day he would also join their tribe. An engineer, he began scriptwriting for advertisements and did it very methodically. As one had to explain the objective of why a particular scene or shot is there, Tiwari inculcated this habit and carried forward it in his film script writing too. “It was a passion of doing the homework well before constructing any scene or frame that eventually made me a director and Chillar Party fell into my lap, all by luck,” smiles Tiwari.
There was not much unlearning for Tiwari while shifting from advertising to films. “In fact I got valuable inputs, thanks to my advertising background and the screenplay turned out to be a good one. As in advertising, I wrote down the objective of each scene and that became the strength of the film, making Chillar Party very authentic. Same is with Dangal. It took us four years to travel from the concept to script, roping Amir Khan in and ultimately making it to the silver screen. Dangal which earned 2000 crore in China shows that films made with honesty and sincerity are accepted by the world audience. People must relate to what you are saying,” says Tiwari.
Vetri Maaran’s journey is slightly different. Offering the credit of what and who is to his mentors - Balu Mahendra and Kadar. Balu taught him what a good cinema and a bad cinema is, and then to learn which cinema one should make, Maaran cherishes his bond with his teacher. “It was like a father-son relation. Balu’s role in my life was very instrumental and it defines the filmmaker I am today. He kept me engaged. We watched three cinemas a week and discussed. He made me read big, fat novels and asked to write synopses which he didn’t even read. But this compelled me to read a lot. Whereas, Kadar taught me how to extract work and do it intensely. His was regimental work and it helped me to learn not to give up when I am tired,” maintains Maaran.
