Vikramaditya Motwane on MAMI Select: ‘Terrific to have the ability to make films in your pocket’ | Exclusive  

Vikramaditya Motwane

Filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane served as one of the mentors for MAMI Select - a unique initiative by MAMI Mumbai Film Festival where five emerging directors were given the opportunity to make short films on an iPhone under the guidance of mavericks like Motwane himself.

In an exclusive interaction with mid-day.com, Vikramaditya Motwane gets candid about the process of mentoring these young and raw talents to achieve something marvelous, the need for such opportunities, and more.

Vikram says that when he started as a filmmaker one had to rent a camera, and a studio to edit a film, and now the same can be done on a phone and laptop which is amazing. "We've come a long way and it's terrific that you actually have that ability to actually make films in your pocket. So, I'm all for it. This is very exciting," he says.

Explaining the process, he says, "My job as a mentor here has been to read the scripts and to guide them in whatever way that one thinks. One of the things I joked about was like, why do these filmmakers need mentors in the first place, because they're so good on their own. The process is very organic. It's very, if something works, it works. If something, if you personally feel that something could be better, then you just give a suggestion.

"I'm not imposing myself. I'm not forcing anyone to do anything that they don't want to do. They are all very instinctive as filmmakers and they've all got great visual senses and that's exactly what their strengths are. The script is written by the filmmakers. It's filmed by the filmmakers. I'm not on set ever. I see one part of the cut. As a mentor, you must enable other people's vision and not impose your vision on anybody," he adds.

When asked who he considers as his mentor starting in the industry, Vikram recalls, "Most of us have to kind of self-mentor each other. There was a partnership where I was a cinematographer on somebody's film, somebody was an editor on my film, and somebody did music, so there was that process. So I think the mentorship came from a collective. It came from people your own age who were trying to make themselves."

The filmmaker emphasises the availability of platforms like MAMI Select. "Had it been there for me as a younger filmmaker, yes, I would have had more practice. I would have made a lot more short films and the fact that you can actually get a showcase to be able to show it to the world is a huge deal compared to what it was when one was making films 20-25 years ago. It's a big difference today and it's all for the better," he concludes.