<p>Breaking tradition, especially in film-making, is a tough act. Be it holding the audience in a willing suspension of disbelief or building up suspense and fear, Manoj Night Shyamalan has time and again kept the audience guessing. Only to prove their guesses wrong. One of the most unconventional directors of our time, Night has been telling stories, well, in a whole new light!<br /><br /></p>.<p> He’s now back with ‘After Earth’, a science-fiction film, starring Will and Jaden Smith. In London for the promotion of the film, Manoj is vocal when he describes how <br />unconventional his works are. He says, “My instincts are unconventional. I have a little battle of faith in an unconventional way.”<br /><br />‘After Earth’ is set in the future. To be precise, more than 1,000 years in the future. How Will Smith and he got together for this is a rather unconventional story too. “Will Smith called on my birthday to wish me. And we got talking about his son. I like Jaden. All of a sudden he said, ‘I have a movie for you’ and he pitched me two ideas. I didn’t like the first one. The second one, I did and told him I will do it. When I heard the story, I knew I was going to make the film,” says the screen-writer-director. <br /><br /> ‘After Earth’, to be released in India on June 7 by Sony Pictures, is also about the tale of a father and son. “It’s a drama at the core, a science-fiction adventure. I think you’ll see more action in this one. There’s a leaning towards action,” he says.<br /><br />While the ‘The Sixth Sense’ won accolades, knives were out for some of his other films. “It may be a taste thing. I am a very emotional film-maker and emotion is a delicate thing. It can polarise you. ‘The Sixth Sense’ also did not receive good reviews initially. On the morning of its release, I opened the ‘New York Times’ and the review was awful. But the reviews in other countries were good. It helped to find the balance,” he laughs.<br /><br />Undoubtedly, for the filmmaker, the process is cathartic. “It’s a balancing act. Sometimes, you are more emotional, sometimes you are not so.”<br />Be it the ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘The Village’, or the ‘Signs’, his definition of characters are a cut apart, not to speak of the beautiful frames. After all, he started filming at the age of eight when his father gifted him a camera. <br /><br />The story-teller, who comes out with twists in the tales, says it’s not really a twist. “It’s a way of formatting the story. In the ‘The Sixth Sense’, I tell the story from the perspective of a child. I look at the angle which is most incomplete or one that is most mysterious. <br />And it’s not a gimmick,” he informs. But springing such surprises is not everbody’s forte. <br />How does he do it? “I am drawn to a loop. The loop could be small. It could be a line, a dialogue or the plot.” He particularly points at the 1992 film ‘Singles’, and how the line ‘Bless You’ becomes so pivotal in the film. “That’s what I like,” he says.<br /><br />The underlying fear of the unknown looms large in his films. The auteur has an explanation, “I’m fascinated by the question of why human beings fear the unknown. Fear could keep you alive. Playing with that in a movie is a fun thing, and in ‘After Earth’, it’s about a father teaching a son how to overcome that. It’s a wonderful lesson because if you can learn how to control your fear of the unknown, you can do anything.”<br /></p>
<p>Breaking tradition, especially in film-making, is a tough act. Be it holding the audience in a willing suspension of disbelief or building up suspense and fear, Manoj Night Shyamalan has time and again kept the audience guessing. Only to prove their guesses wrong. One of the most unconventional directors of our time, Night has been telling stories, well, in a whole new light!<br /><br /></p>.<p> He’s now back with ‘After Earth’, a science-fiction film, starring Will and Jaden Smith. In London for the promotion of the film, Manoj is vocal when he describes how <br />unconventional his works are. He says, “My instincts are unconventional. I have a little battle of faith in an unconventional way.”<br /><br />‘After Earth’ is set in the future. To be precise, more than 1,000 years in the future. How Will Smith and he got together for this is a rather unconventional story too. “Will Smith called on my birthday to wish me. And we got talking about his son. I like Jaden. All of a sudden he said, ‘I have a movie for you’ and he pitched me two ideas. I didn’t like the first one. The second one, I did and told him I will do it. When I heard the story, I knew I was going to make the film,” says the screen-writer-director. <br /><br /> ‘After Earth’, to be released in India on June 7 by Sony Pictures, is also about the tale of a father and son. “It’s a drama at the core, a science-fiction adventure. I think you’ll see more action in this one. There’s a leaning towards action,” he says.<br /><br />While the ‘The Sixth Sense’ won accolades, knives were out for some of his other films. “It may be a taste thing. I am a very emotional film-maker and emotion is a delicate thing. It can polarise you. ‘The Sixth Sense’ also did not receive good reviews initially. On the morning of its release, I opened the ‘New York Times’ and the review was awful. But the reviews in other countries were good. It helped to find the balance,” he laughs.<br /><br />Undoubtedly, for the filmmaker, the process is cathartic. “It’s a balancing act. Sometimes, you are more emotional, sometimes you are not so.”<br />Be it the ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘The Village’, or the ‘Signs’, his definition of characters are a cut apart, not to speak of the beautiful frames. After all, he started filming at the age of eight when his father gifted him a camera. <br /><br />The story-teller, who comes out with twists in the tales, says it’s not really a twist. “It’s a way of formatting the story. In the ‘The Sixth Sense’, I tell the story from the perspective of a child. I look at the angle which is most incomplete or one that is most mysterious. <br />And it’s not a gimmick,” he informs. But springing such surprises is not everbody’s forte. <br />How does he do it? “I am drawn to a loop. The loop could be small. It could be a line, a dialogue or the plot.” He particularly points at the 1992 film ‘Singles’, and how the line ‘Bless You’ becomes so pivotal in the film. “That’s what I like,” he says.<br /><br />The underlying fear of the unknown looms large in his films. The auteur has an explanation, “I’m fascinated by the question of why human beings fear the unknown. Fear could keep you alive. Playing with that in a movie is a fun thing, and in ‘After Earth’, it’s about a father teaching a son how to overcome that. It’s a wonderful lesson because if you can learn how to control your fear of the unknown, you can do anything.”<br /></p>
