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[00:00:00] In the next episode, we will talk about the Quint Spotcast. Hello and welcome back to another episode of OffScreen. Today we will talk about the tip of guilty Kiara Advani and Director Ruchi Narain on how they created Netflix's latest mystery thriller. Hi guys and welcome to OffScreen.
[00:00:32] Kiara, I want to start by asking you that your last outing on Netflix's last story is actually what changed the trajectory for you right and the way people kind of looked at you and you are now back with Netflix again. What was that period like?
[00:00:45] Amazing and it was also the time Netflix had just about come into India and every year and was really excited because we finally had that platform. I remember earlier my brother went to college in the US and I remember I would keep bugging him
[00:00:58] and being a give me a password and then we were asking him, so we were calling to watch content. And then finally Netflix came and I am not sure correct me if I am mistaken was last story. It is the first that went on at Flick's from India.
[00:01:10] From India? I think it was one of the first when you had mainstream directors, actors, you know, take that plan and basically get on to the OTT platforms. So it felt in many ways I mean it felt like a first.
[00:01:27] I mean not just for me and like you said change the game for me as an actor but Do you want to be imagined right? Yeah I did not. I really felt like an audience. I did not.
[00:01:36] I felt like a film to kind of get me that kind of appreciation but I think it is just so liberating to work on a platform which allows you that creative freedom and I feel for me my I think it has been one of my best experiences
[00:01:54] like I was just thinking today. It is like a warped on a film like Guilty and there are so many things that I mean I wish
[00:02:01] sometimes like you know we would have that in all our films but the kind of experience you get when you can just creatively be and you don't have that restriction of certain things. What is the restriction of it?
[00:02:13] Generally I mean it is not in a big way or in a big thing but you have to think right because everybody once a US certificate when it comes to film.
[00:02:22] The first thing you are thinking is you know you want the children and you want this and here while we are allowed that small small things then we will get that those things like really small things like the nose, smoking, sign written down whatever it is.
[00:02:38] It is okay it is fine we have to be responsible that way but I think in Netflix you have you know you have we do not have those distractions at least. People can decide if they want to go to the market.
[00:02:51] People can decide and you know responsibly and it is just even like the kind of content that they are coming up with and I mean I think it is really proud of a film like guilty.
[00:03:00] I mean thank you Ruchi for making this film because I just feel like you know even Netflix they are looking for interesting content and something new and different and you know thought provoking and it is just like I said it is really liberating to
[00:03:14] be a kind of a film. Yes do something like that. So I have had a chance to only look at about 15 to 20 minutes of the film but it is a hood on it a mystery thriller why was there something you want to make?
[00:03:26] Well the hood on it is a format. So as a creator or a storyteller there was a story I wanted to tell which is of course the essential story and
[00:03:39] the wider story is about the way people are perceived and we perceive each other and in this context because there is an allegation of an assault. So how that the person making the allegation is perceived and how the person who is allegedly the perpetrator is perceived
[00:04:04] and how everyone's personal bias is getting to it and how societal bias you know functions. So those were the larger things which really interested me and the hood on it as a format is something which I feel inherently engages.
[00:04:22] So I really didn't want to make something which is you know difficult to watch or boring. I want to I mean I believe as a consumer as a viewer I like to be fully engaged when I watch something and I feel as a
[00:04:38] format it really keeps you hooked because you are trying to figure out what happened. Did he didn't he is she lying isn't she lying is there another angle what you want to be two steps ahead.
[00:04:52] So so I feel that way you as a viewer you can also be involved without being in the actual story. So that's what was interesting for me. Another vengeance band also short right now that we like we need that instant kind of clarification.
[00:05:09] I mean we are not just short attention spans we are all multi taskers. So we are watching and we are on social media and we're doing something else but I think now we're so used to it that we can still.
[00:05:23] Yeah you know take everything in the juggerid and still focus on what you're watching. Yeah I mean that's the anthropological explanation. You use it that your character is rebellious and you're like I can't identify with that person because I would never behave like that.
[00:05:41] I've always been I mean to the line not to the line but just kind of not. I have this habit of wanting to be like the teacher spent like I want to be correct always and I actually discover this when we were doing workshops.
[00:05:54] And in fact that was my question to Ruchi because when she narrated the story to me I was like this is so exciting but this is not me so what made you think of me as an actor to pull this off.
[00:06:06] So she said that's why I want you because no one's going to expect to see you like that.
[00:06:12] But I feel it's like an alter ego maybe maybe that side is somewhere inside of me but it's also like it's also something that like the whole mask that Nanki wears the tattoos, the hair, the piercings everything.
[00:06:30] It's just so far away from who I am and when we were sitting and we were you know so we started prepping. We first started how Sharan Khi look who is this girl and why she liked this.
[00:06:41] And I think oh my gosh we're so cool like you know we're going to have these cool clothes she likes to be color the white and we have like she's like so look at her and I was like guys.
[00:06:49] No no no I got that actually I literally did that I went like white hair. And okay that's the vanity side of it but even the tattoos and everything I mean every single tattoo on her body was actually sort why she would wear it.
[00:07:05] What is the meaning what's the reason behind it? Where in the film does she get another tattoo like I mean the way Ruchi had thought all these things through I was like super inspired and impressed.
[00:07:17] And it's going to outweigh like her physicality is quite awesome because she's someone who is wearing a mask.
[00:07:24] When you do watch the film it will make a lot of sense why she is so you know why there's so much happening and why she's constantly what is she trying to hide.
[00:07:34] That's her reason for being this this the way she looks and everything but I also feel. So when we did these workshops and we were trying to get you know that's sort of non key. We started with these meditation classes and.
[00:07:53] Aton Munga were really like to take his name because he really helped us through the entire process and Ruchi was there she was with us. We didn't extend extensive workshop. Figuring out you know the pulse of this character and what she does why she does her motives everything.
[00:08:08] And why we were meditating he told me you know you're like your core your you know. Self you yearn for for being this correct person all the time and it's okay to be wrong.
[00:08:21] It's like he actually taught me just it's okay to say the wrong thing sometimes you don't always have to be right. And so I feel that's where I'm a little different from Ranki because I'm somebody who's like like I said I'd rather be their first Benjo and listen.
[00:08:36] She's like she's like not that girl. So I have to say because you have that trait she was definitely the director's. Yeah. So I had to. Oh, we have a bunch of dogs and no one just comes.
[00:08:52] So naturally because I think she has this inherent personality where she wants to do it right. So that actually really works out. Yeah. I know. Yeah. And I'm completely a director's actor as well. So literally by me like me like the first week of shooting.
[00:09:13] I would set a look at each other and I knew the change she'd want to the scene or something. She didn't even have to say, okay. Yeah. So we were just getting it. Like we took her and she like you are another one right?
[00:09:23] I'm like yeah and she's like this one was too. I'm like yeah. You know how to kind of. Yeah. So we have I mean for me it was amazing because she within within a week also because we prepped a lot. We've gone through the scenes. We've done workshops.
[00:09:39] We've worked extensively on the low look test. And I was like, I don't think I've worked and prepped so much for anything before. And now when I want to have the film on like but when are we gonna prepped? No, we do readings or what I don't know.
[00:09:53] We gotta do this for all. It's such an interesting format. Very. Very. I mean are you an actor who clears all her questions when you read this script in a computer or are you someone who has doubts on the set as well? Things just pop up then.
[00:10:06] I think I see a lot from my director and I've been very fortunate to work with directors who have a lot of questions. I think because I truly believe film is a director's medium.
[00:10:16] So you need to be clear on they need you know you have to have that sync with them that you know this is their vision. Like even in a narration I always prefer to hear from the director as opposed to reading the script myself.
[00:10:27] Yes of course there are questions and just trying to understand clear whatever confusion if I have in my mind like she said we prepped a lot. And then on set there's so many improvisations that happen and you know can I do this?
[00:10:41] What if we could also do this and again with Ruchi or Rili lucky because she's open to whatever you want to bring to the table and add to it. That's the fun. It was a very collaborative effort.
[00:10:53] I like to work like that because I feel you know people sick casting is half the battle and though like Kiyara and even the other actors actually all the personality types of the script. The actors in this film are literally the actors.
[00:11:09] Yeah of the characters they're playing but obviously like for me I found something in their core which I feel lens to the believability of these characters. And unless I can marry that essence of the actor with the character I don't feel they can be convincing.
[00:11:28] So I really love to work with actors and I love the improvisations.
[00:11:34] So you know like because they are thinking solely of their character whereas I'm trying to think of the story this and the other so I'm also leaning on them to bring me logical questions like but why would I do this? Why would I say that?
[00:11:50] So I do like to give them that space and see what they are bringing because I feel a film it may be a director's medium but I feel the film should be the sum of the best of everyone involved in the film.
[00:12:12] It'll be better than the best that I can be alone. So it's collaborative. But just find a question to use you know you've written the screenplay for films like Azaroq Paisha, you mean an animated film.
[00:12:25] But do you find that the presence in a hero for films even with something like Netflix is giving you the avenue to do what you really want to do?
[00:12:33] So I mean I was really excited when Karan said you know would you be open to do this for Netflix? Actually I'd rather do this for Netflix. Then everything else you don't have this in the audience.
[00:12:46] You know like Steven Spielberg said that he like why Netflix film getting nominated for Oscar is like they shouldn't be there except if you don't have that. But first of all I'm a big believer in evolution and you can't fight technology.
[00:13:00] So there's no point really I'm not into all that it's better to move it the times and as consumers also we see what is art convenience and what we like.
[00:13:12] And like Yara mentioned earlier the platform gives you a lot of creative freedom which you don't actually have when you do a theatrical.
[00:13:23] Which is why a lot of filmmakers around the world are going to do things on OTT platforms whether they're films or shows because the kind of creative liberty it entitles you to. You can't have an theatrical which is dependent on the first weekend collections.
[00:13:43] So you do end up even as a creator designing it for that. So all your decisions are based on that whereas when you make a film say for Netflix your decisions are based on what is true to the story.
[00:14:02] So I mean of course I mean I love theatrical and the reach and all that stuff but you have this. Hundred ninety country or each actually which is more worldwide.
[00:14:15] So both the things are amazing for filmmakers but the platform does allow you much more creative freedom to be true to the story you're telling. That's true. Well thank you so much for doing this and all the very best for you. Thank you.
[00:14:35] If you have any feedback you can write to me on at nankumar underscore 27 on Instagram and Twitter or drop me your mail on at nankumar.ramohan at the queen dot com.
[00:14:44] Turing every alternate Wednesday to get another episode of Opscreate and before I sign off don't forget to subscribe to the Queen's channel on Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify or any of the several platforms we're on right now. Have a great week and see you next time.