I'd love to make another film in India: Danny

For Slumdog Millionaire the India release is a homecoming, the film weaves in all the elements of a Hindi film to all the elements of the life in Mumbai. The result is a cross-cultural cocktail, which has taken the world by storm. For director Danny Boyle a self-confessed city junkie, Slumdog is an ode to both the resilience and the unlimited possibilities of the city. In an interview with CNN-IBN the director spoke about the experience of shooting in Mumbai, the film’s success and the 10 Oscar nominations that its received.

Anuradha SenGupta: The movie starts with a question, where the protagonist is on the verge of winning Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The question is has he cheated, is he plain lucky, is he a genius, or is it written. Why has Slumdog Millionaire seen this kind of incredible international affection and acclaim which one of the options would you pick?

Danny Boyle: It’s incredible, the mystery of the way it’s taken off the way it has. It’s a tribute to everybody who’s made it and his or her love, devotion, hard work and graft that has gone into it. I’ve done films before and have had that kind of dedication, hard work and graft but there’s something extra, some extra spice added somewhere that went into it and it just makes it flower in its right.

Anuradha SenGupta: So the option you’re picking is written?

Danny Boyle: I’ve grown to understand destiny a little bit more and value it really. I don’t fully understand it. I don’t think anyone from the West really can, where we view it as a charming thing or a cute thing. But I’d say there’s something much more profound.

Anuradha SenGupta: Even in the West, as a filmmaker I would believe that you would be a little more conscience. Because Slumdog Millionaire almost didn’t see a theatrical release?

Danny Boyle: That is one of places where the process was accused of destiny. It looked like the film was only going to come out on DVD only because the distributor in America closed down. What is extraordinary is that they passed it with great grace to the other distributor. They are also the people who are brilliant, who have grown this small film slowly. You benefit from a disaster, as not being released is a disaster for the film. We were lucky to get Anil Kapoor for the film and it’s only now I realise how lucky we were to get Anil and how much we have benefited from his presence in the film. It may suggest it to KBC but he also lifts it away from it as well.

Anuradha SenGupta: I’m interested in the way you’re reacting to the fact that the film was a slow starter in the US and UK and then it picked up momentum, but in India it’s being treated like a really big film?

Danny Boyle: It started very small in the US, but because of the work they’d done which culminated the Golden Globes, which meant that any subsequent release like the one in UK and the one in India could be much bigger. Because there is a built in media attention one is guaranteed, so that helped it. I’m absolutely delighted that it’s being released quite wide here; I’d love as many people get to see it. Although I think people might find the beginning of the film very tough, it’s the heart of the film, which has enormous affection.

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Anuradha SenGupta: It’s very important for you to make this point isn’t it, because there are and will be some people who will be touchy about the picture of India that is portrayed in the film?

Danny Boyle: I had the privilege of making the film in India and we made the best we could. I tried to include as much of the city as possible. It’s also a privilege to accept what people say about the film in the end. One must not fight it, because as a filmmaker I’ve had the privilege of making the film. And then it’s the people’s chance to say what they like about the film. I think when people see the film, the spirit they get from the end of the film will transcend any difficulties they’ve had with it. When you’ve worked in the slums, what you learn from it is, you wanted it to come out.

They are not places of abject suffering, they may look poor to a Western audience but actually they are breathtakingly resilient places. And if we all live as resourcefully as they live given how little they’ve got, the world will actually be a little place in the sense of community and sense of self-support that they give which was one of the big surprises to me. There are people in the West stressing over the poverty and it’s true there isn’t enough infrastructure but as a filmmaker I found the experience exhilarating. The energy of the places and the sense of pride and optimism in limited circumstances were exhilarating.

Anuradha SenGupta: Having lived in Mumbai all my life, when I saw the film I didn’t feel it’s been made with an external gaze. You’ve captured the beauty and ugliness of the city which everyone is familiar with. How did you get that point of view?

Danny Boyle: It’s because of the people I worked with. I hired a lot of very good people from the city to work with. Three people in particular, Loveleen Tandon who was originally the casting director and who we effectively made the co-director of the film. Also my first assistant director Raja Chari who’s liven in Mumbai his whole life and knew how to film here. I wanted to film here and he made it possible. The crew helped us beyond the call of duty.

There’s some advantage to being an outsider sometimes, because a local may take the city for granted. I love cities and this is the maximum city they say. There is so much life in it just vibrating in front of you. For a director that is heaven, A local may not take their city to be heaven but to a director it is. Because you have so much drama, stories and life everywhere.

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Anuradha SenGupta: There have been Hindi filmmakers like Ram Gopal Varma who have showcased the city exactly the way it’s meant to be. It’s just that a worldwide audience hasn’t seen their movies, but you’ve managed to bridge that gap?

Danny Boyle: I’ve been trying to promote Company and Anurag Kashyap’s film Black Friday because these are wonderful films, which will appeal directly to Westerners.

Anuradha SenGupta: You had said somewhere that being a filmmaker is as much about making compromises as it’s about not making compromises. Amplify this statement in the context of shooting in a city like Mumbai?

Danny Boyle: You realise very quickly, that you’re not going to be able to work the way you do. I thought we’d waste our money if we do it in the city and will also avoid the essence of the city in a way. There is something extraordinary about the city which isn’t controlled . And it’s the free movement of people everywhere we tried to capture that by going with the flow of the city.

You do have to compromise on the classical nature of filmmaking; the benefit you get in the end is far away from those compromises because you get a sense of the city. It’s a strange thing because you can never quite get it.

Anuradha SenGupta: What is the one thing or the several things that you didn’t compromise in the context of Slumdog Millionaire?

Danny Boyle: I didn’t compromise anything else; I deliberately didn’t exclude anything and tried not to be taste regulator. What is extraordinary about the city is its constant clashing together. There are these extremes that you see, some wonderful and some disturbing and I’ve tried to include everything. And then you hope in the end that people find it satisfying and clearly they do. They feel like they’ve been on a real journey and this character has been on a real adversity. He’s not an easy hero; he’s overcome his background and what everybody thought of him, television and money, which doesn’t become his god.

He sits there at the station in the end and you can see he’s isn’t really bothered about the money. Because what matters to him is the girl and finally and thankfully she turns up.

Anuradha SenGupta: Was it a given that you would pick A R Rahman, because he is someone who picked the song for the Inside Man?

Danny Boyle: I remember hearing Chaiya Chaiya at the end of Inside Man. I always stay for the credits and when I heard it at the end of the Inside Man, I loved it. When I came here I rang him up, and he was wonderful. He doesn’t talk very much which I love about him because his music talks. I remember showing him apart of the film and he said he liked it. He did a wonderful job and I was so proud when he won the Golden Globe because I knew what it meant here for him to be acknowledged by Hollywood.

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Anuradha SenGupta: We see him as a national treasure and his Golden Globe win was the ultimate as far as the industry is concerned?

Danny Boyle: I don’t know about that. In terms of Hollywood and Bollywood, these are huge tech tonic plates of filmmaking in the world. It’s wonderful to see one say you’ve got the greatest composer in the world.

Anuradha SenGupta: In India we use this word called Jugaad, which means things simply just get done. So any instances of Jugaad while shooting of Slumdog Millionaire?

Danny Boyle: I’m sure there were plenty of them. Thankfully we had this extraordinary company called Indiatech productions by these guys who we called the three musketeers who kept all the issues away from me. Everyday was exhilarating; I used to think what are we going to face today, and I used to think when we do hit problems do not just accept them. It’s a question of trust, which taught me a lot watching these guys.

Anuradha SenGupta: You’re not ready to live in Mumbai isn’t it?

Danny Boyle: I find it very easy to get lost in. I would get lost in it.

Anuradha SenGupta: Trainspotting made the world take notice of you. In 2004 you made Millions which not many have heard of. So what are the kind of movies you make?

Danny Boyle: What I try to do each time is that I try to start as naively and innocently as possible on a subject and that is why I tend to genre hop. Because the danger of being a filmmaker is you learn how to do it which isn’t really a good thing to telling a story sometimes. Each time I try to do something very different. I try to start at the bottom so you learn as we make the film as you go along. And then it becomes a real journey. In a way I was at school here learning how to make a film. And I think that’s a wonderful place to be. But the thing is it’s got a wide-eyed wonder about it and that’s what love about cinema.

Anuradha SenGupta: When you read Simon’s script what made you decide on making the film, given that it would be quite a challenge?

Danny Boyle: It’s like a stray dog picks you. You get chosen by a film, it happened to me with Trainspotting when I read it I knew I was going to make that film. So there’s something organic that you have to trust going on with your instincts. You can’t quit rationalise. But if you want to look it rationally I would say Simon’s impression of the city in the first 15 pages is what enticed me.

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Anuradha SenGupta: As a filmmaker how do you stay focussed and not get involved with the reality of the context you are shooting?

Danny Boyle: To be honest, all filmmakers are magpies. We take bits of people’s lives and use it in our stories. Sometimes it’s more morally debatable and you do question you decisions. But also nothing should be excluded from films and so the story should happen everywhere. I’m a great believer in the underdog, in the people who apparently don’t have much to offer. I come from a very simple background and so my heart is really in that story.

Anuradha SenGupta: So as a filmmaker you don’t feel exploitative instead you’re optimistic that the films and the stories you tell will be engendering more compassion, understanding and hope?

Danny Boyle: I believe so and I don’t expect everybody to believe that. And I can understand people thinking that filmmakers to exploit where they come from. I think you have to maintain some kind of responsibility. You can’t go directly into people’s lives, like the two kids in the film, we’ve put them in school and are trying to keep them in schools till they are 16. Because in five years time the film will be history but their lives go on, And I want them to have gained something from the film.

Anuradha SenGupta: What is this incredible success you’re seeing with this film. How is that going to change things for you?

Danny Boyle: I know what I’m best at which is working on this kind of scale of film. Though in the West it’s quite a limited project but those are the kind of films I like to make. I like to get a group of people around me and I try to inspire them to make the film as big as possible. To make it look like $100 million and those are the kind of films that I’m better at and what I’m not good at is making a $100 million film look like $105 million. So I’ll tend to stay in this kind of arena really.

Anuradha SenGupta: Will the $100 million films come knocking on your door? How does it work?

Danny Boyle: They definitely do that, but I don’t live in Los Angeles, I live in London and I’m very delighted to live there. It keeps me away from some of the daily pressures people face in the middle of the industry there. I’d love to make another film in India and I’d love to make a thriller in India. I’m not just saying that I think it’s an amazing city for a thriller. I’ve only crossed my fingers about the Oscars because it’s an extraordinary thing to get 10 nominations. It’s also a finale to the journey of making this film.