JOIN US'Movies are a longer execution of an idea'
The brain behind popular ad campaigns like Jago Re and Walk and Talk, he went on to conquer the film world with his sensitive but light hearted films like Cheeni Kum and Paa. Balki talks about what keeps him ticking and his love for movies.
Even after two successful films, Balki still doesn’t call himself a film-maker. “I am an advertising guy who just did a couple of films,” he says laughingly. And what is it that keeps him interested in advertising even now. “Ideas,” he says. “Any business including movies is about ideas. Movies are just a longer execution of an idea,” he adds.
He mentions that while marketing is important, it is the content that is the selling point of a film. “Before you start a film, you should be prepared on what to expect from it. A film should promise an emotion to the audience and then deliver the same,” he says.
And what does he like to convey through his films? “I think it’s about treating serious things not too seriously. That’s my trait and what I write about,” he says. He mentions that relaxing is an art that has been forgotten in the race to stand first. “It’s so cool to sit and do nothing. If somebody told me that I would get my food to eat, I would love to just chill,” he says.
And were movies a part of chilling out for him? “Huge. My mother used to shout at me to do nothing and most of my experiences have been drawn from the mindlessness of doing nothing,” he mentions.
He says that he was very lucky to be in advertising where his passion got converted to making films. “Finally when I was doing Cheeni Kum, I remembered my passion for films. Actually, I prefer watching films to making them because it is a very laborious process. But if you have something you want to keep working on for a year, then it makes sense,” he says.
So what was Paa all about for him? “I wanted to reverse the roles. I was looking at them one day and thought that I would reverse their roles. That’s how Progeria came into the
picture,” he says.
He mentions that he loves watching all kinds of movies. “My favourite is Moondram Pirai, which was Sadma in Hindi. And I recently saw Robot and thought it was awesome,” he says. He mentions that he is working on a script and will start shooting next year.
“Let me first get clarity about it in my mind and then I will speak about it,” he says.