Popular actor and director Rahul Ravindran said that instead of going to the shooting location and then thinking about what to shoot, directors should plan everything in advance. If you first visualize and plan the film on paper, it becomes much easier during editing at the end, he said.
Speaking at the 17th Bengaluru International Film Festival in the Master Class section, the director of ‘The Girlfriend’ said, ‘cinema is a very expensive art form. Efficiency is extremely important. You should shoot only what is necessary for one film. If you shoot enough footage for two films and later use material for only one, the extra effort, money, and time spent on the other footage is completely wasted. This causes huge losses for producers. That’s why having a bound script before shooting is very important’ said the director.
Reacting to the idea that some directors go to shoots without scenes or dialogues, he said, ‘there are examples of directors like Sukumar who went to the shooting location and created scenes and dialogues there and still succeeded. But even they had done a lot of preparation beforehand. They go to the location and then refine and improve it’ said Rahul.
Talking about the qualities a good director should have, he said, ‘most importantly, a director should have empathy for the film crew. Some people shout a lot during shooting. We are not fighting a war. Shooting requires patience. Also, on set, everyone should be treated equally. Everyone has dignity and self-respect, so no one should be looked down upon. Everyone should be treated with compassion.’
In this discussion, moderated by Latha Srinivasan, Rahul also explained how his directed films, including ‘The Girlfriend’, were developed.
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