"Direction is a commanding medium"

He made his directorial debut with the John Abraham-Bipasha Basu starrer Madhoshi. It's failure however didn't detriment him to make another film. Deadline- Sirf 24 Ghante is all set to release and having a talent starcast with the likes of Konkona Sen Sharma and Irrfan Khan, Tanveer Khan seemed quite ecstatic over his forthcoming film.

What is Deadline all about?
As the name suggests it is a thriller. However, it is not your usual thriller that you see all the time. This one is an intense film and has a message at the end of the day. Along with that it has a very interesting star cast as well.

Like you said it is a very interesting star cast. How did you zero in on the likes of Konkona Sen Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rajit Kapoor, Sandhya Mridul and Zakir Hussain?
When a writer writes a script, gradually he begins seeing the face of his characters. That is what happened to me. I saw these people in my head while doing the script and only after the script was finished that we decided to approach them. They read the script and all immediately agreed to sign it because they loved it so much.

Is there music in this film?
No this is a song less thriller. The script didn't require any songs and we didn't feel the need to inculcate them unnecessarily.

Relatively this seems to be a smaller film than your debut Madhoshi.
It is a smaller film but only in terms of budget. But this film is definitely not short of quality and content.

Did you get proper co-operation from the producers?
Yes, he (Ravi Agarwal) is a very innovative and serious man. He wants to be associated with meaningful cinema and so there was proper co-operation from him.

Percept Picture Company has taken over the film.
Yes, we are very fortunate. This movie got completed on schedule and on budget and without any buzz. We just had one trial show where we called in a lot of corporate houses. 3 corporates wanted the film but we chose Percept because they have a very good network.

Tell us in one line why people should go out and watch Deadline?
Because it deals with a problem which everyone can relate to in the country.

What next post Deadline?
I am writing a script for the same banner. We always will want to make good cinema.

You have moved from writing screenplays and dialogues to directing. What do you prefer?
I enjoyed my innings as a dialogue writer but somewhere I always wanted to direct. I wrote a lot for Indra Kumar and when I showed him the script of Madhoshi, he told me to go ahead with it. Direction is a commanding medium and I am loving it.

What do you think went wrong with Madhoshi?
When a film doesn't work then it can have a lot of reasons. Madhoshi revolved around Schizophrenia. There was no awareness on this topic whatsoever in India and that is why I think people could not relate to it.

Do you think you have grown as a film-maker since your last film?
Definitely, I have learnt a lot and have grown even more responsible.