Mumbai: IANS Exclusive interview with Director R.S. Prasanna, where he shared his experience working on ‘Sitaare Zameen Par' with Aamir Khan, discussed how he wove the film's universe, also talked about the impact of collaboration with Khan on his craft, and how anxious energy drives his creativity. He also opened up about the pressure of living up to the film's legacy and how he channeled his obsession into creating something great. Prasanna's insights offer a glimpse into his creative process and the making of this iconic film.
00:02And congratulations for Satarism in Perth, that is about to release in cinemas.
00:07I want to start off by asking that, you know, while you were making this film,
00:10when the idea came to you and you started working on it,
00:14how did you eventually build the entire world around it?
00:17How did you weave the universe with every single thread?
00:21My writer, Diveri Disharma, is a wonderful partner and a wonderful writer.
00:26So, the first thought which came to my mind that this film is a very special film,
00:32that it is more than a film.
00:35It is very entertaining, yes, and it has got, you know, a lot of humour in it,
00:40but it is saying something which is very beautiful,
00:45but it requires a wonderful team to make it happen.
00:49And for that I need the correct people to be on board.
00:52So, the first thought that came to my mind, apart from the writer Divya,
00:57was that who is going to produce it, who is going to act in it, right?
01:00And while thinking of it, within a second, the name Aamir Khan flashed in my mind.
01:05And luckily, I had had a lot of, like, you know, they had reached out from their side and we had had,
01:12I had not met Aamir sir, but we had had some, you know, interactions.
01:16And I was thinking that this is a story that I think will appeal to Aamir sir.
01:22And I was seeing it from the point of view of a fan, right?
01:25What I would like to see in an Aamir Khan movie.
01:27In this movie, all of those, all of those elements were there.
01:32And there is entertainment, there is humour.
01:35There is also something very, what do I say, sensitive.
01:39And so, I felt it had a perfect package to be an Aamir Khan film.
01:44And luckily, Aamir sir also agreed, which I never believed, you know, would happen.
01:49I was honestly thinking that, after my first film, to do my second film with Aamir Khan is a very big thing.
01:56I had not banked on it.
01:57I thought, okay, at least, sir, we will say, it's probably a good story, but you won't be able to direct it.
02:04You know, but he was so kind, he was so generous.
02:07He made me comfortable.
02:08I had a meeting first before, and we had an eight-hour breakfast, lunch.
02:15Eight hours?
02:16Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:17And he, in his house, and suddenly, within two minutes, I felt like,
02:21this is real Aamir Khan or this is Aamir Khan's deep?
02:24Yeah.
02:25Because it's so simple, it's so simple.
02:26Within ten minutes, I was talking like, I'm talking to you, like, without any fear, without any nervousness.
02:32So, I realised that he is, that's the magic.
02:34He makes everyone feel so comfortable.
02:37And that gave me even more confidence that if sir comes on board as a producer,
02:42he will make sure that on the set also, I will get, you know, that calm environment,
02:47which is very important for the sitare.
02:49And for all of us, but especially for the sitare.
02:52So, yeah, it took, what do I say, a lot of sensitivity and a lot of guidance also from a consultant we had on board.
03:05Dr. Neena, she's a pediatrician, and she is a specialist in special needs education.
03:10So, we had her on board. We had a basketball coach, Sylvan. We had a team which was teaching all the sitare, the lines and acting and all that. So, it was almost a eight month, ten month casting effort.
03:23Tess Joseph was there during that time, then Anmol also.
03:26And how many artists auditioned for the part?
03:29I think, if I remember right, about 2500 people, we had to go through their online auditions.
03:35And we brought it down to about a 50 number. Then we had a series of workshops.
03:40Because to audition people who have not acted professionally before, we have to prepare and we have to enable and create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable.
03:48Only then will you be in your elements. You know, I am not checking whether you are already a professional. I want your realness and rawness to come.
03:57So, it's my job to create that environment, you know. And luckily, Amir sir was the most supportive producer.
04:03And he said, go, go with it. And during the whole long process. So, we had basic workshops. We auditioned in a very different way.
04:11We had basic workshops on acting, clowning, dance and so many. And through that, I would be walking around and observing, you know, who's got.
04:22Because we were not only looking at acting, we were also looking at personality match with the character. We have 10 characters.
04:29Plus, we have another almost 70 characters who are people with special needs who are there in the movie, who are the opponent teams and all that.
04:37So, it was a huge task. But I had a wonderful team. I had a wonderful support. And the most precious commodity of all, which is time.
04:45Yeah. So, because with Amir sir, that is something he gives his directors. So, I was very lucky to have that.
04:51And you mentioned Amir sir. Now, he's one producer or one pillar of our Hindi cinema in terms of all Indian cinema in general.
04:59Yeah.
05:00When he takes up a project, he takes the whole onus of it. You know, he works on every minute detail. He goes, like the detailing is crazy in his film.
05:07Yeah.
05:08You take every film of his, right from Surfer Rose to 2025, 20, 30 years, regularly going at it, you know, with the same intensity, same passion.
05:16When an artist works with someone like him, someone of his stature, how does their own craft evolve, you know, when they are working with him?
05:26It evolves immensely. You know, one hopes that in a movie making process, one grows as a filmmaker. I feel that if you want, if every movie that I have done, I have done only a few movies, but every movie I have done has challenged me, pushed me and made me a better filmmaker than I was when I started it.
05:46Okay.
05:47I feel that is the beauty of a journey. If I were to embark on a film where I know exactly what to do in the beginning, I might not do that film. Because maybe I'd be bored with it.
05:57I'm always scared of boredom and complacence. You become overconfident. But when you take a project which is so difficult, there is some part of you which is saying that, yes, you know, you know the storytelling of it.
06:08You know the emotion of it. You know how to say it. But you don't know anything else how it's going to happen. So I think what happens is…
06:15Is that anxious energy the driving force?
06:17Sorry?
06:18Is that anxious energy of not knowing certain areas? Is that the driving force?
06:21No, I would say the creation, the beauty of creation is the driving force. The anxiety is a friend. It will be there. But if you are driven only by anxiety, I don't think you can create.
06:31I think creative energy, if it wins over anxiety, that's when a creation happens.
06:36Yeah, true.
06:37So I think anxiety will always be there. If it's a positive anxiety, like in the Inside Out movie, it was said so beautifully. It's a favourite movie of my family.
06:44Where anxiety is like the correct balance between acceleration and braking. So if you don't accelerate, you can't move. If you don't have a brake, you will have an accident.
06:54So you need both. And I think, I feel that Aamir sir, and I can speak certainly for myself, he's worked with the best to the best directors. But I can speak for myself that Aamir sir's magic is that he makes you a better filmmaker than what you are at the beginning of the film.
07:09He makes you a better filmmaker. And I think the reason for that is he constantly wants to be better than, you know, what he was yesterday. And constantly keeping only the film in focus.
07:21Not worried about Mera Rahul ye hai and all that, you know, just, I felt like with him, it was like going back to my college days, when we were doing short films, and we were doing with a lot of camaraderie, with a lot of love, and a lot of ownership.
07:36You know, there is no question of ego or there is no question of fragile egos and walking on a eggshell around him. Anybody can walk up to him and say anything. And he will listen to everybody, be it an intern, be it an AD.
07:49And so he makes you a better filmmaker than what you are when you, is my experience.
07:58And the title, you know, it's itself attached to a very strong legacy.
08:02Yeah.
08:03Tariz Ameenpur, Sitariz Ameenpur.
08:05At any point during the making of this film or even in the post production, did the pressure get the best of you at any point?
08:11Well, because I had the same person next to me, you know, so I was okay. Because Amir sir was next to me in every scene, every thing. So I think that gave me a lot of comfort.
08:24I think my primary purpose in this movie was A, to make a film which I can show proudly to Amir sir. Because that was for me the guiding light because he is a person I have looked up to.
08:36And he is for me the Mount Everest, you know, like to work with him. So I would always, once I am okay with something, I would be anxious to see if A, K, sir is also okay with it.
08:47You know, so that slowly, slowly over the years that confidence also came to me that okay. And yeah. So regarding the Tariz Ameenpur connect, that came very naturally and organically.
08:58When we were discussing the movie, when we were about to go to shoot or a little before that, very naturally, we used to keep referencing and talking about Tariz Ameenpur.
09:06I used to in fact keep talking to him about Tariz Ameenpur and how similar these movies are in search of, in terms of the heart.
09:13Not in terms of the characters of the world, but in terms of the source. So organically, one day when we were discussing and then it was Sir's, I think, I would say generosity,
09:24that he said, hey, why don't we, you know, make this like the spiritual sequel of Tariz Ameenpur. I was really left speechless. I don't know if Sir noticed it.
09:33But I usually talk and I usually have an opinion about everything. In this, I was just, I just shut up. And I think Aamir sir usually, you know, asks everybody,
09:43came to me and I said, sir, in this part, I cannot say anything because I'm just stunned. Of course, you must remember I'm the kid who saw that film.
09:50Yeah. And I don't know what to say. So it's your call, you know. And I think it's his absolute generosity that, that he allowed this to be part of that legacy.
10:00Yeah. So it is just his kindness. Okay. And what I have observed about the creative process is that whenever an artist gets an idea, they start thinking around it, you know, they start building the structure around it.
10:15And then there comes a point wherein an artist starts getting obsessed with that idea, you know, to put that forward, you know, day and night you're thinking about that.
10:23Correct.
10:24How do you deal with that obsession? How do you make sure that, you know, something positive or something really great comes out of the other end of that obsession?
10:32Wow. That's a great question. Yeah. I think like I said that everything I feel that every second is like a what I've come to realize when I'm again working with Aamir sir and all.
10:42Like I would assume that if I were to work with a Sachin Tendulkar or something, you know, if I were to observe all the achievers and the icons and the legends we meet,
10:50I think one constant thing I've learned from them is that they are facing every day as a new ball.
10:57Like that ball. So they don't rest on their laurels. They don't allow the anxiety also to kind of take over.
11:06I think there is a Zen like what both are Zen like mode or you know, like even the Bhagat Gita says the same thing that you need to be a Karam Yogi.
11:16You do your job and just leave the rest for the universe or God or whatever is your belief to take over because that is the only thing under your control.
11:24Yeah. Yeah. So as a cricket analogy, so you that ball, you don't know, you know, what's going to come. Is it a off cutter, leg spin, fastball, in swing, you don't know.
11:33So what is it under your control? Your response to it is under your control. So I think what I've learnt in this journey is that you're always going to be anxious.
11:42You're always going to be scared. You're always going to be, you know, feeling like one day like the king of the world.
11:50When somebody watches your cut and says, wow, very good. Then next day nobody laughs. Then like, oh, God, then you want to hide yourself somewhere.
11:58So I think this is going to be the life of an artist. That's okay. But I think the obsession is very important when it is a positive obsession.
12:10Because I think what else is there in life? Otherwise, if you're not obsessed with something and it can be whatever, it can be an obsession for,
12:17some people I know are just obsessed with kindness. They want to be NGO and you know, like, like they want to help people.
12:24I'm I don't have the obsession to help people. I feel I'm a very selfish guy compared to my wife and my grandmother and my mother.
12:32I can never be like that. So I'm obsessed with filmmaking, you know. So in that you try to be doing your best every day.
12:40But it's very difficult also. Very difficult. But everything in life is difficult. But I think in cinema, if you love something, then if you're in love with a girl, everything is beautiful.
