"India is bleeding everywhere" says Anant Mahadevan
Features
oi-Kalyani Prasad Keshri
By Kalyani Prasad Keshri
On
the
eve
of
release
of
his
latest
film
Red
Alert,
Anant
Mahadevan
tells
us
that
he
opted
for
Sunil
Shetty
because
of
his
looks,
especially
since
he
did
not
want
to
cast
an
actor
from
the
parallel
cinema
as
everyone
will
dub
his
film
a
predictable
art
house
film.
Let
have
a
look
at
Anant's
note
book.
Red
Alert
is
unlike
your
brand
of
films
till
date! Why
not?
Somewhere
after
writing
simple
poetry
and
prose,
you
strive
to
read
Shakespeare.
Isn"t
it?
All
of
us
including
me
have
to
graduate
to
the
higher
level.
Red
Alert
is
my
way
of
taking
not
only
cinema
more
seriously
but
also
making
people
take
me
seriously
as
a
filmmaker.
I
want
to
grow
and
become
more
mature
as
a
filmmaker.
It
is
very
difficult
to
keep
everybody
happy
all
the
time.
Was
it
a
cake
walk
to
convince
producer
T.P.
Aggarwal
to
launch
a
serious
issue
based
film
like
Red
Alert? It
was
quite
tough
to
convince
Aggarwalji
initially
because
we
were
actually
in
the
process
of
discussing
a
thriller
for
his
production
house
and
not
an
issue
based
film
like
Red
Alert.
I
had
made
thrillers
like
Agar
and
Aksar
which
had
clever
plots,
but
I
was
not
happy
with
any
of
the
new
thriller
scripts.
One
day
I
read
in
a
newspaper
about
a
poor
farmer
in
Andhra
Pradesh
who
was
unwittingly
caught
up
in
the
vortex
between
the
Naxalites
and
the
cops.
I
narrated
a
one
line
idea
to
Aggarwalji
and
could
not
believe
it
when
he
approved
it
immediately.
Why
did
Red
Alert
take
nearly
three
years
to
make? I
spent
the
maximum
time
on
the
research
as
well
as
on
paper
work
of
Red
Alert.
It
was
director
like
Aruna
Raje,
who
is
known
for
her
sensitivity,
had
taken
over
from
my
one
line
idea
and
written
the
screenplay
and
the
plot.
Aruna
flushed
out
the
characters
and
situations
and
wrote
the
dialogue
in
English
which
were
translated
into
Hindi
by
writer-director
Raman
Bharadwaj.
What
according
to
you
is
the
USP
of
Red
Alert? I"d
say
that
the
USP
of
my
film
is
that
there
is
no
compromise,
no
gimmicky
camera
angle,
no
over
the
top
performance
etc.
The
intention
was
to
transport
the
viewer
to
a
real
Naxal
camp.
What
message
did
you
set
out
to
drive
home
through
Red
Alert? I
am
not
trying
to
drive
home
any
message
through
my
film.
I
have
just
set
out
to
portray
the
situation
as
it
exists
today
and
depicted
the
stand
that
the
law
of
the
land
and
the
government
has
taken
vis
a
vis
the
Naxalite
movement.
If
you
look
at
the
map
of
India,
it
looks
like
India
is
bleeding
everywhere
because
of
various
problems.
The
issue
is
bigger
than
what
we
imagine.
In
fact,
today
Naxal
movement
is
actually
at
its
peak.
Weren"t
you
tempted
to
take
up
a
cameo
role
in
your
film
since
you
are
an
actor
too? Frankly
speaking,
it
is
a
film
with
which
the
actor
in
me
wanted
to
be
a
part
of.
The
truth
is
that
I
wanted
to
do
the
role
of
the
journalist
that
Makrand
Deshpande
did
but
felt
that
it
would
have
been
too
tough
for
me
to
cast
myself
and
also
direct
the
film.
Why
did
you
zero
in
on
an
actor
like
Sunil
Shetty
for
the
role
of
Narasimha? I
opted
for
Sunil
because
of
his
looks.
Sunil
surprises
you
with
his
unpredictability
as
an
actor.
I
have
always
believed
in
breaking
images,
as
an
actor
too.
Initially,
when
I
approached
him
for
the
role,
Sunil
actually
told
me
not
to
make
a
solo
film
with
him.
It
was
only
when
I
told
him
that
I
was
keen
on
making
a
film
on
a
burning
issue
and
narrated
the
subject
to
him
that
he
jumped
at
the
offer.
Today
every
actor
is
waiting
for
the
right
concept
but
not
getting
it.
We
could
not
recognize
Sameera
Reddy
in
your
film
because
she
was
covered
from
top
to
toe! I
knew
that
Sameera
had
acted
in
Mira
Nair"s
film
Migration
and
Buddhdeb
Dasgupta"s
Kalpurush.
I
hold
Buddhdeb
Dasgupta
in
great
esteem.
I
felt
that
Sameera
possessed
a
spark
which
needed
to
be
brought
out
and
hence
cast
her.
The
best
thing
about
Red
Alert
is
that
not
a
single
actor
has
been
wasted.
Every
actor
has
played
his
or
her
part
well.
No
actor
asked
me
what
the
length
of
his
or
her
role
was.
It
was
Naseersaab
who
opted
for
the
role
of
the
drunkard,
though
I
was
ready
to
offer
him
the
role
that
Vinod
Khanna
did,
because
he
felt
that
he
had
essayed
similar
characters
before.
How
was
the
experience
of
directing
a
film
like
Red
Alert? I
felt
drained
and
exhausted
after
completing
the
film.
I
shot
for
40
days
continuously.
Initially
it
was
in
the
dense
jungles
of
Tirupati,
which
was
a
Naxal
infested
area.
Later
we
shot
in
the
edge
of
Khandala-Lonavala,
where
we
had
a
replica
of
the
jungle
in
Tirupati.
I
hope
that
my
effort
is
recognized
as
a
new
step
in
Indian
cinema,
because
I
feel
that
only
then
can
the
face
of
Indian
cinema
be
changed.
How
would
you
evaluate
your
growth
from
a
small
time
actor
to
a
director? I
feel
that
I
have
improved
by
miles.
I
have
always
tried
to
give
something
different
in
every
film
of
mine,
even
when
I
have
made
mainstream
films,
whether
it
was
Dil
Vil
Pyar
Vyar,
Dil
Maange
More
or
for
that
matter
Anamika
or
Agar,
Aksar
or
the
English
film
Staying
Alive
and
finally
I
think
that
I
have
reached
my
destination.
I
feel
that
as
far
as
I
am
concerned,
a
new
journey
has
begun
now.
Staying
Alive,
Red
Alert
and
Mee
Sindutai
Sabkal
are
the
first
three
steps
that
I
have
taken
in
that
journey.
What
next
in
the
pipeline? I
have
directed
a
film
in
Marathi
called
Mee
Sindutai
Sabkal
with
Upendra
Limaye,
Tejaswini
Pandit
and
her
mother
Jyoti
Chandekar.
It
is
an
amazing
story
of
survival
of
a
woman,
set
in
rural
milieu.
While
Tejaswini
plays
the
character
from
20
to
40,
her
mother
plays
the
character
from
60
to
65.