'I am quite impulsive when making a movie. That is the reason I need to stop sometimes, probably pause.'
'Rapists do have families. I wanted to see how a father or mother would deal with it.' 'They go through shame as well and get discriminated from the rest of the village.' 'Why don't we show it that way?'
Pankaja and O'Sey Balamma bring deeply personal yet universally resonant stories to Sundance. They represent a new wave of South Indian storytelling, blending cultural authenticity with cinematic innovation, and mark an important step in amplifying regional voices on the international stage.
'Each mother I have played is different, but the writing dictates the doing of it. If it's written well, that's half the work done for an actor.'
'What interested me more than the influencers was how were they surviving in Bombay?' 'How many reels did they make per month? How much money did they need to get by?' 'Did they get a job and then come back home and do this at night?'
'You need the drishti, the experience. I am beginning to see things differently.'
'On our first day at the Kumbh Mela, there was a fire and shook our confidence. 'There must have been a few crore people there.' 'How do we place the camera in between them?'
'Thank you to the Cannes Film Festival for having our film here. Please don't wait 30 years to have another Indian film.'
'What is it about the institution of faith that makes somebody get a sense of impunity, that they believe they can get away with anything?'
'That's how big this taboo is.' 'It would be difficult for them to understand what I am trying to show with Jaggi.'
'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'
'But when we actually express ourselves, sometimes our parents can surprise us, because they just love their children.' 'Sometimes it's just that simple. That is what I wanted to show in this film.'
National award winner Chaitanya Tamhane tells us the story behind his film, Court.
'I promise you, you've never seen her do anything like this.' 'It is a complete reinvention of Janhvi Kapoor.'
'The war ended in 2009 and I believe the new generation of Tamils don't know what was going on there.' 'I felt it was my duty to tell our story.' 'Since 2009, it seems like we are sleeping.'
'I thought of a suppressed country and a free world.' 'If we travel from one to another, what will that road look like?' 'What colours, music there will be? What kind of people would you see?'
Aseem Chhabra picks Indian and other South Asian gems at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Films that amazed Aseem Chhabra at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
'I made it very clear even at the casting process that there was going to be a lot of nudity.' 'And I wanted to be sure that it would be done with ease.'
Siddharth Chauhan, winner of the Satyajit Ray Award
Mirchi Siva and Priya Anand play the lead roles in debutante director Kiruthiga Udhayanidh's film Vanakkam Chennai.
'...you start running after the star.' 'If the star says yes to the film, the ecosystem supports it.' 'The biggest cog in the wheel of the ecosystem is the audience and we forget that.'
'If there is an artiste somewhere in India or in the world who wants to express her art, I hoped that this award would inspire them, and add meaning to their journey.'
'The only violence I have had in any film of mine is a slap.' 'When Nikhil narrated the film to me, I was blown away.' 'I was literally screaming out of my chair.'
Director M Manikandan talks about his National Award-winning Tamil film Kaakka Muttai.
''I don't revisit any of my work once it's complete because I'm very self-critical.' 'I will probably exclaim, "Oh God, such bad acting!"'
'I went to a school in Baroda, where if the boys harassed us, the teachers pulled the girls aside and said, "Oh, your skirts are too short".' 'They made us feel ashamed of having any sexual feelings or having bodies that were growing up to be a young women.'
'The nicest thing is that it is not my film.' 'People bring their own stories and life histories to the film.'
'We have to do everything in our power to get as many Academy members to watch the film as possible.' 'After that, I am confident, my film will speak for itself.'
'Talvar belongs to Irrfan Khan, who plays the chief investigating officer. With each new film, this very fine actor continues to surprise us and delight us.'
'This was a film, a story that had never been told before.'
'Just like Smita Patil was unsuitable for glamour roles, I believe Nivedita is a lot in the Smita Patil mould,' P Sheshadri tells Srikanth Srinivasa/ Rediff.com
'We had decided that if the audience liked Stree, then after two or three years we would plan a sequel.' 'Because of the kind of reaction we received for the film we have already started work on it.'
'This trope must have been taken in 30 films.' 'The rogue agent is a common trope and not something unique.'
Aseem Chhabra gives us the top films that enriched his year.
Aseem Chhabra presents his list of 10 international films that mattered to him, stories that he connected with and characters that gave him a better understanding of the human condition.
'How do you stay so energised? So young?' 'Dev Anand flashed that familiar crooked grin and told me, "The mind never grows old. It urges you to surge ahead".'
'If you don't have children, that's also a problem.' 'There's no right way to live because everybody has an opinion about your personal life, and how you should live.' 'You have to listen to them, unless you can pick a fight with everyone.'
Mira's films are alive, rocking and so true to the reality I know. They are gifts that I keep revisiting, and I cannot wait for what more she will share with us, notes Aseem Chhabra.
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