After directing commercial films like The Expose and Dil Maange More, Anant Mahadevan is veering more towards non-mainstream cinema — he helmed Gaur Hari Daastaan and now he has come up with another different film, Rough Book, which is based on our education system and has been garnering decent reviews.
Ask Ananth if he will ever return to making The Expose kind of films or if he plans to continue making experimental films and he replies after some thought. “I won’t say these are experimental films — the language of cinema is different. I make films because I need to earn my bread and butter but these films don’t give me my bread and butter so I do them for the love of it. At most times, I end up not being paid at all, but I don’t mind because I have made a film I wanted to make. The satisfaction, acclaim and the awards that these films get me are my remuneration. It helps me grow as a director.”
But he doesn’t seem to be in the mood to forsake mainstream cinema entirely. “On the other hand, mainstream entertainment is something that pays you. When you have regular producers who launches a film in a big way and pay you the money that you ask for, it takes care of your kitchen. You can’t follow your passion unless your bills are paid.”