Well I haven't looked into it yet and how to use it in cinema. But mainly the harmony based orchestral arrangement is what blends better in the visual medium I think. This is certainly not a conceptual decision, simply what I've observed from experience. So yes, on Indian ragas and the moods they evoke - it is possible to develop a viewpoint on this. And there are many leading lights in this domain too.

You were in DD for a long time. So was it the problem of being in an 'official' position that led you to quit DD - so as to give freer rein to your creativity?

It's been a long time; when you talk of it; it feels like the wound hasn't yet healed;

So it was a wound, eh?

Yeah, naturally. But later when I came to reflect on it - in any government situation, there is this theory of averages. You can't hold on to the system if you are either above or below this average. If you are just average you can go along with the boat. The system expects a particular working pattern, some restrictions that come along with it.. You can't go below or above it. You need not contribute more than that or less than that. So I guess, (laughs) I couldn't meet the theory of averages. Maybe I was lesser than that.

So on a scale, you found you couldn't.....

Right, I couldn't measure up on that scale. It is good for me also; for them too that I've dropped out; so that I can contribute more.

Anyways, if it's a wound, let's try to out it behind us entirely

Fine by me; I just put it figuratively.

Another question about working on a foreign production; 'cause though the producer of 'Bokshu' is an Indian, many technicians, actors and crew were from abroad. The film was also shot abroad. So this experience of working abroad - how would you compare this with that of shooting a film back home, with our crew, among our people?

The most fundamental difference I see, well, there may be exceptions in Western films too; is that the whole thing gets started on a script. You need a script to begin with anything. Even to talk to an actor; you need a script; he has to have a script to read. There isn't this idea of 'narrating' a story at all. The director doesn't need to give a performance of the story; there is no 'pitching' by the director. You need a clear script; as to what is happening, what is the dialogue. Based on this, they have a meticulously planned manner of production. Extremely. Now with the crew and technicians of foreigners, when we shot it here in India, we achieved close to something like 70 % of that pattern. But it was when we shot in Los Angeles that I fully realized the result of this working - 100 %.

If for example, we feel the need to have a little matchstick in a corner of the set, then it would be precisely there. Provided of course, you plan for it. You plan it on the script; with a very detailed storyboard and shot list. It is a great game of planning; in which you can achieve anything you want. The technical perfection, flawlessness that we see in Western films, a kind of naturalness - isn't something that comes by chance. It is all very detailed planning and execution at work.

But our people say that such planning involves a great deal of work, it's very difficult, causes financial overheads and so on; hence not quite suited to our setup. We could well do it, but it is not quite suited to our setup.

I don't agree to that. I'm not talking about great special effects or huge sets. I'm talking detail here.

Details, huh..

Researching on the details; and a mindset, an attitude to recreate them, a working culture - that is important. Which I'm sad to say is lacking in us.

You mean about planning....

Everyone would know what I'm referring to. Here a script is ready often at the last moment. Nobody has a clue what is to be done, what is to be said. In the morning, the director may say, today we need a bullock cart for the shoot. So a guy goes looking for one. By then the best lighting condition for a cameraman may well be lost. At 10 am the cameraman comes, shoots it in top light. So everywhere there is a deterioration of quality and intent.

There is no professionalism, no planning...

Yes, that's a great lesson to be learnt from them, in working wit their crew.

On the subject of interacting with western units - among technicians, of course the director needs to be in sync with the cameraman; but you'd interact most with the actors, right. How was it like interacting with the foreign actors?

As I said earlier, one thing that profoundly affects the production is the quality of sound recording. Actors must study their lines in the scene. They should have them by-heart. They would come in the morning, with the scene well studied. Then, I'll tell you an instance of how we'd typically do a shot - we'd commence a shoot like this - supposing a scene is to be shot; I talk to the cameraman and say, 'Well, here's a scene like this where the actor comes in from there opening the door. There is a greeting on entering; and so we have a dialogue.' I explain thus to the cameraman and he says, okay so let's set it up. This is totally unlike how they would do it.

You have to enact the whole scene to them. The actors and the director 'block' the entire scene. The scene is shot as a 'master' - which conveys the flow, lighting continuity - if for example, in the course of the scene one of the actors walks to the window, there'd need to be a light source there. So when we take this first shot, the cameraman knows exactly what's going to happen in the seventh shot. Everybody is thorough as to what is totally happening on the scene, what is the total dynamism of the scene. How the scene grows, how the acting grows. It is fundamentally important for an actor, the technical crew and the director that we have the full picture, in detail, of the scene.

So you're saying planning is very important; when a scene is enacted all actors, co-actors need to be there

Certainly, and quite unlike the practice here, because we take sound live.