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'It's not a bad idea to get bored of what you are doing'

Sharmishta Roy. Click for bigger pic!

You may be disappointed, but you don't have much choice, do you?

I've never been disappointed. I feel we should never let work reach that stage because when you work with somebody, you take their suggestions and make your corrections. I don't think one should make a compromise, but one should understand what the director wants. It may be different from the way you want it, but that doesn't mean that what you are thinking is always right.

If you feel strongly about something, then you got to be convincing about it. After all, it's the director's film. He sees the whole film whereas I see only one aspect of that.

Do you see the costumes to decide what kind of sets would go with the character?

I do check on the style of the clothes if I can. When I am designing a house for a character, I want to know what he is wearing. Because that gives me an idea what kind of a person he is. Is he the leather jacket kind of a person or casually dressed. Does he have a mother living in the house? What does the mother dress like and where does she come from?

Are they a Punjabi or a Sindhi or South Indian? So I can add props to suit their background. What's their socio-economic status? All this makes a difference when putting up the sets. To that extent costumes are important too.

What kind of clothes do they wear? Is the lady of the house clad in a salwar kameez or a sari? Or is she Western in her clothing? It also gives me an idea about the age of the person.

Art direction is creating. Without uttering a single line of dialogue, you start conveying the character right from the beginning. If he studying in front of the Taj Mahal, you know where he is, but if he is in front of a blank wall and emoting, you have no idea where he is. You start giving life to that blank wall.

Would you like to work with a director who gives you complete freedom to do what you want in a film?

I hate that kind of freedom where I have to decide what goes and where. That's not what I am looking for. I like being directed, like all artistes like being guided. After I am told the story I need to be shown the say. Otherwise, all your films will look alike. Every artiste has his or her signature or their own style. That's part of your personality.

But every film should look like the director's film. I am not there to put in my perception or myself in the film. It has to look like his film, because he is telling the story. I cannot work with people who don't tell me what they want. I need to be moulded into the way they are thinking. I think every artiste needs to have that flexibility.

What is your signature, your unique style?

I think I've brought to my sets a certain amount of gloss and spirit. Maybe the kind of films that I'm working on demands that. If I had worked on something else, it would have been different.

I've also brought in a sense of detail where props and things are concerned.

The other day I held a seminar on art direction, and an architect got up told me that one of his clients wanted him to design a particular house the way I'd designed one in a film. I have people asking me where I bought a bedsheet or pillow cover from. I know directors who have told me to exploit a particular set because it makes things more interesting.

There have been directors who have asked me take everything away and get them something else instead. It doesn't matter that they don't want something I did; it's important that they at least want something.

I've also given importance to furnishing like drapes and things like that. I think that is one very dominant thing on my sets. The way the drapes fall... The style, the fabric. I don't pick up things at random. I take a lot of time for all these things. I look around for the right thing myself.

One of M F Husain's sketches for Gajagamini. Click for bigger pic!

Of late, it has got a little boring for me because it is getting to be a little routine. I want to try giving things a different look now. I need to pick up a different style now. Two years of a consistent look is enough, I think.

How are you going to change that?

I've to feel my way around. It's not a bad idea to get bored of what you are doing. That makes you want to experiment with new things.

The fact that I am conscious of what's happening is the first step. And the fact that I need to change means I'm making an effort to be different. So I cannot tell you what exactly I am doing.

A certain amount of maturity comes into your work when you have done enough. I can go back to my earlier work and see what I could have done better, which is maturity -- in a way. That means I can use my experience to understand what I can do to better myself in future.

I needed to take on a film like Gajagamini to have some confidence and maturity. I mean I would have run a mile if such a film had come my way two years ago. I wouldn't have been able to fathom how I could handle such a huge project. Unless you are into it, you don't know how easy it is.

It's easy to progress but it's difficult to see how you can tackle it. When you get into it, you just take it as it comes and try and resolve issues. That, I think, is a process of growing up. But I will learn. I think I'm already learning.

How different is it designing a studio set from an outdoor set?

It's different only because of the equipment and facilities available these days. It's not as if people don't want to put up sets outside anymore. It's just that when things are there naturally, why not make the best use of it?

But which is difficult? Putting something in natural settings or creating something out of blank walls?

That depends entirely on the set. Things initially seem difficult when you have not given it enough thought. But once you conceptualise everything, put it down on paper -- which is very important -- it becomes easier to implement.

Was it easier for you to enter the profession because your father is a noted art director?

It's difficult for men, forget women, to get a grip of what's happening in the industry. It's so difficult to get a break, to get a break with good banners, and to get a break to do what you really want to do. There are so many talented people around. They are willing to work just as hard and express themselves.

I had a fabulous team that was a legacy from my father. They worked just as hard as I did. It must have been hard for them to move from my father's style to mine, But it's amazing that we did films like Dil To Pagal Hai and KKHH with people who have never been to college, never been trained professionally in design. I find it amazing that they could translate all my designs into reality.

They could grasp what the new generation needs. They just keep on working. They have put up havelis for my father.

What I am doing is very yuppie. These are films my father never got a chance to do because he was easing out of work by then. For these workers to move into the yuppie age so smoothly is wonderful.

Click for bigger pic!

Did you work with your father in any films that he did?

I did work with my father on a couple of films. I worked onAaina and Darr.

Which was your first solo film?

DDLJ. My father taught me discipline. Everything had to be put down on paper. You've got to report at a certain time, at a certain place. That kind of discipline is very important for your creative process. If you are undisciplined, you will not go very far. You get stuck in a rut.

You don't want to move ahead because you are happy with what you are doing. He also taught me a sense of space. When I was studying design, I was just kind of meandering through. He made me feel more concretely.

You have done architecture?

No, I have learnt interior decoration.

How is interior design different from making huge sets in studios?

The basics are the same, the attitude is different. The technicalities of design are the same, the construction is different. When doing interior design, my whole attitude towards my client is different from that I have towards my producers and directors. My clients dictate things to me -- like, 'This is the kind of space and this is what we need.'

We are catering to real and normal people. When you are designing for films, you are doing things for a larger-than-life canvas. Everything has to be accentuated and exaggerated. I love that. I like anything that is larger than life. I think I will lead my life like that.

Do art directors make good interior designers?

I make a very bad interior designer. I love art direction. I really enjoy what I do. You ask me to do interiors and I will do it, but I am very selective in that area.

How would you describe yourself as a person?

I love to think of myself as eccentric though everybody tells me I'm not. I'm a very different person at work and at home. Professionally, I come across as hard as nails kind of a person. I am very different from that personally. I think it's true of most people. If you got to get your work done, you have to be firm about it.

What I love about my work is I don't have to come in everyday and do the same thing. I need to do different things. I need to meet different people. I need to work out different things in my mind. I find that so exciting.

How many films do you do in a year?

I try and do five in a year. And it doesn't confuse me at all. It takes about nine months to finish one film. When I find that one film is nearing completion, I take up another one.

What about research? Do you do it yourself?

The kind of films I've been doing doesn't call for any research. Just the story will do...

Photographs by Jewella C Miranda

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