‘Stars shouldn’t tell me how to make my film’

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QWhy are the protagonists of your films so full of angst?
Have you ever asked the mainstream directors why their characters are so frothy? Why don’t they have any substance? My characters are real people. Have you met a person who is so completely devoid of everything? There are characters in Indian films like that — devoid of any kind of emotion, feelings, angst or happiness. You meet them and you feel that they are so not interesting. So why should I make films about people who are not interesting? What interests me is people who have something more than what they look like.

Q Why do you not like to work with stars?
I don’t have a problem with stars but they should not come on my set and tell me how to make my film. I am wary of that. But when I am making a big budget film I might need a star. Wasseypur is a big film but I don’t need a star. Bombay Velvet is bigger so I will need a star. But I can’t get someone on board just for the sake of having a star. He also has to be the character.

Q That Girl In Yellow Boots has been a talking point for a year now.
The film was ready last September and it is releasing this September. The one-year delay was conscious because we wanted to find an international distributor

QThe title of your film sounds similar to Swedish writer Stieg Larsson The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Earlier also there have been titles such as The Girl On A Motorcycle (1968). No title has been borrowed from anywhere. My film is about a character and you signify a character by saying “that girl”.