Top 30 Sriram Raghavan Quotes

I do not think that when I write a female character, I intend to reflect my thoughts on gender equality, but I always make sure that my female character is not decorative, they are human, they are good, bad, complex and close to reality.

Like you don’t watch ‘Octopussy’ or any Bond film for the story. You see it for the smart lines, the glamour, the overall package.

If you’re unwell you can simply cuddle up in bed and tune into a thriller. It’s the best remedy.

I wanted to make films, but the films being made in the 1990s were not my kind. I couldn’t break in, and even if I did manage to get a foothold, I didn’t know what I would make.

I would not have been interested in doing just a revenge film simply because I have seen so many revenge films right from Clint Eastwood films to Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Zanjeer’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Ghayal’ and various variants of them.

‘Badlapur’ was my first film that did well, commercially. People have also watched the other films that I have made, but they didn’t bring in the footfall.

As a filmmaker, I tilt towards stories which are crime-led.

I have never had the problem of finding a producer for my films. I think I am just lucky because my first film didn’t do great box office business.

The stories I read or get attracted to have a kind of thrill element, or a crime.

Hollywood thrillers give away almost 70 percent of the story in promos but still the film remains interesting. In India we do a lot of cuts and put in songs in promos to create an impact.

When I started watching movies, I saw a lot of Hitchcock films. When I was 10, I saw ‘North by Northwest‘ and movies like that.

People don’t know what filmmaking is even after they have made ten films.

Often I would get offers to remake films and that didn’t interest me. I have no interest in remaking a film in Hindi which has been made in the south already. I prefer adapting from a book than a movie.

My women characters should not exist only to play the ‘love interest’ of a male character.

Ever since my first film, I had more producers than scripts. And I’ve realised that a certain project requires a certain kind of producer for it to be made well.

There’s this film called ‘The Pledge‘, with Jack Nicholson in it. Now that’s a dark film.

Frankly, you cannot match the action in a Bond or a Bourne film. Forget budgets, it needs an expertise which I probably lacked.

The experience of an actual film from idea to screen will teach me more than most books and lectures.

I’ve met Shah Rukh a couple of times. He had even dropped by on the sets of ‘Agent Vinod’.

When you are working on a real story it is your responsibility to get everything right and stay as true and authentic as possible.

If I work with Shah Rukh, it will be as an actor, not a star. Whenever I have thought of making a film with some star in mind, I’ve abandoned the film in a few weeks.

I am partial to thrillers but if somebody gives me a script like ‘King’s Speech‘ to do, I would love to do it too.

With ‘Agent Vinod’, there was a lot of chaos with schedules and the film took a year and a half to shoot.

Right from childhood, I have enjoyed films which belong to the thriller genre. As a kid, I would read novels written by Agatha Christie and James Hadley Chase.

Unless the movie is about to release, I don’t like to be in the limelight. Then I have no choice, but after that you have to get back.

I love songs but am inhibited to have my characters burst out to express themselves through songs. I use the route of using old songs at the right places.

Some of our best writers are self taught. Screenwriting is a combo of craft and art. The craft part can be taught, about how to be visual and economical with scenes. However, finally it’s the individuality of the writer that will come into play.

What you see in my script may not be what’s in the film. Sometimes it’s a very scary thing, when I have to shoot in the morning and the scene’s not good enough, and it’s only me there, and there’s no signal to even call the others and say, think of a better line.

Ek Hasina Thi’ is a love story that went sour.

If it’s a Hindi film, it has to have a Hindi title.