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He is one of the new entrants in the Hindi film world who is willing to experiment not only with the subject but also the format of film medium. You can’t label Anand Gandhi as audacious but he is someone who likes to create his own path: be it starting the trend on TV serials or films. Though his earlier two directorial films Right here, right now and Continuum didn’t create much ripple, his latest Ship of Theseus has won him worldwide appreciation and recognition. Selected as one of the film from Indian panorama, at IFFI in Goa, it received good response. Excerpts from an interview: Was it tough to transit from a writer to the director? As a writer be it for TV or for theatre, it has a different barometer of imagination where as director's vision for a film is entirely different. So how did it happen? With the exception of TV, I have always written and directed my work. I wrote and directed many plays and short films before I made Ship of Theseus (SoT), so it wasn’t a transition, it was a process. Was it life's experience or just sheer imagination when you wrote the two most successful saas-bahu sagas (Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhie Bahu Thi and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki) for the small screen? Do you regret those writings as you now seem to scoff at the very genre of TV serials that you started? A mix of both, I guess. I don’t regret writing it as much as I am disappointed in its adamancy of not showing any signs of aesthetic and intellectual progress. Was films the natural transition or was it your dream from beginning to be in this industry? Who has been your inspiration? What made you opt for the entertainment industry? I realised that cinema is a great medium to make a significant and a relevant contribution to the collective pool of knowledge and understanding. I have been inspired by a range of filmmakers through my life. However, the filmmaker who made cinema suddenly accessible and doable for me was Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. I saw his films when I was about 18, and suddenly thought to myself, "Wow, you can speak the truth so openly and so easily? I want do this!" They say the first work of any person is almost an autobiography. So can we see a glimpse of Anand Gandhi in any of his works? I always wanted to make films. So much of what I learnt in my younger days, was influenced by films. Some of that was really important learning. Though a lot of that turned out not to be true at all! What do you attribute for the success of Ship of Theseus? The novel factor of different cinema, maturity of audience, good publicity or success of earlier film like Bombay talkies (which too had similar format — bouquet of short stories) before the Ship of Theseus got released in India? It’s the coming together of many factors, of course. A new cinema is now emerging because the audiences as well as the authors are far more aware and informed than they ever could be, mainly thanks to the internet, and the democracy of open source culture. Which was the most difficult story — Aaliya, the blind photographer, the Jain monk or the Kidney racket — to handle? Did you pick up the Jain monk by observing it from close quarters? The monk’s story is a product of lifelong introspection. The character is informed by the journeys of many amazing individuals — Abhay Mehta, Rajchandra, Gandhi, Satish Kumar and Peter Singer. Of the three mediums — TV, films and theatre — which do you prefer? Would you like to write again or direct for TV? I love cinema the most because of the way the medium has influenced me through my growing up years. That said, I think both stage and TV (and now internet) are extremely potent media to simulate and exchange experiences, knowledge and ideas. What next? Any plan to go to Hollywood? We do have some plans to make international co-productions, but it’s a bit early to talk about that at this stage.
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