A little more than a decade since his directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed Udaan, Vikramaditya Motwane has emerged as one of the most experimental yet successful filmmakers of current times.
The maverick filmmaker, who would either choose to watch David Fincher’s Fight Club or Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight on a lazy Sunday afternoon, talks about being the first curator for MUBI India and the films he has chosen for the screening.
You have never limited yourself to any genre of filmmaking, what pushes you to experiment?
I have never believed in the one size fits all concept that commercial movies try to convince us with. I love watching them but I believe there’s cinema for everybody and online streaming has broadened the horizons for filmmakers and audiences. Once you understand the audience the film is being made for, you can build it up brick by brick.
You have recently made 2024 which was shot entirely on phone, has this kind of filmmaking opened new doors for budding filmmakers?
Not entirely, you cannot simply make a full-fledged tent-pole film with outstanding visual effects over a phone. However, it definitely makes filmmaking more democratic and paves the way for experimentation.
You have curated a special line-up of films for MUBI this month. What’s in store?
MUBI is home to one of the most incredible digital libraries and I have chosen seven films from across the globe. It’s a milieu of documentaries, classics, new age and political films right from the 1950s to this date.
What were you on the look-out for while curating these films?
MUBI already has so much to offer from its library. I have tried to curate hidden gems from across the world. Films that spoke to me and had a meaning were the ones I chose.
Can you name a few titles?
There's Raj Kapoor’s Awaara, which according to me was the start of Bollywood magnum opus, Satyajit Ray’s Mahapurush and About Love by the very promising filmmaker Archana Phadke. From across the seas I have chosen Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary State Funeral on Stalin’s death, Tel Aviv on Fire by Palestinian filmmaker Sameh Zoabi, a German film named Transit by Christian Petzold and a mumblecore film named Baghead by the Duplass Brothers.
The films will stream on Mubi from December 6.