We attended a live interview show organised by 774 ABC Radio Morning Show “Conversation Hour” where Bollywood Superstars (Creative Minds) were interviewed by John Faine and Mitu Bhowmick-Lange. When we were first offered this opportunity, we grabbed it without a blink of an eye, as I am sure it would give so many insights behind these super creative individuals’ successful journeys in the World’s Largest Creative Entertainment Industry “Bollywood”

This article will be more focused on all the juicy, powerful tips and mindsets that I observed and learnt while listening to their conversation. It is always a good idea to learn from successful people within a complimentary industry to enhance your personal journey. So here’s hoping to give you some out-of-box thinking from this conversation.

You can listen to the Full Interview on 774 Radio Podcast and View the Live recording of Mr. Anil Kapoor’s interview on our Youtube channel.

Mitu Bhowmick-Lange , is Director of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and was interviewed by John Faine at start of the show. To hear her story and dedication behind starting this hugely supported Indian Film Festival of Melbourne was very heart warming and inspiring. Ms. Bhowmick-Lange started a fresh start in Melbourne as Film Distribution and Production house after having  worked as director for 6 years in Mumbai; she could succeed in foreign land where people were not enough influenced by the Bollywood only because of her Passion and hard work!

This is why I guess we call “Australia, the Lucky Country”, where everyone gets a new opportunity!

Conversation with Mr. Anil Kapoor, Successful actor who has been in Bollywood since more than Three Decades and has made some big waves in Hollywood with Films like Slumdog Millionaire, Mission Impossible IV, TV Series 24 hours and more..

Mr. Kapoor said Script writing is a very recent phenomenon in the Bollywood industry, whereas in the early days the actors use to attend Story Narration sessions with writer and the Movie director and accept the work later. It was normal to get new dialogues or few lines impromptu to Actors, where they had no idea how those line fit in to the whole film, but did their job as told by the director. Whereas now everyone first reads the scripts and expects the production schedule to follow the set guideline and oddly both the methodologies worked only difference is the style of working / process are different.

Within first five minutes of the conversation first lesson was learnt…

Lesson 1: “Stay Adaptive to stay relevant with changing technologies, work environment and process…”

John Faine, asked Mr. Kapoor as to what aspects are important for him while selecting any movie offers?

Mr. Kapoor said something strikingly different which will be helpful to every creative individual in any field.

He said, “ I don’t have any doubts on creative skills of these people who are presenting me these new scripts, the writers, directors, casting directors all are Masters of their Craft and can produce amazing work; however without proper promotion, marketing and broadcasting partners their project will not make the cut. So, I prefer a script that I know will be well promoted, exposed to wider audience so all the efforts and craftsmanship of creative minds is worthwhile in the end”

Lesson 2:  Mr.Kapoor gave a far more insight, unlike other actors he didn’t talked fluff about scripts and directors, he did not suggested that every creative person (actor) should also be a good marketer.

He said, “You need a good marketing and broadcasting partners to get your best creations noticed by the worldwide audience”

That means, collaborating with right partners is the key to gain exposure for any kind of creativity. You can’t possibly grow trying to learn and implement everything on your own.

John Faine asked Mr. Kapoor if he watches cinema for relaxation or as leisure activity.

Mr. Kapoor likes watching cinema from different cultures and language to observe and understand the art of cinema better. He likes to learn from other creative individuals who work in different industries across the world, as he thinks we need to think global. He believes that with advancement of technology the world has become a small place and every creative person should look to collaborate or offer their skills to global audiences.

Love the immediate question asked by John Faine: Why does Indian Cinema only show certain aspect of Indian Society? Do you think Indian Society is not ready to accept the story of rising High Middle Class society?

Mr. Kapoor said that Indian Society is multi-faceted and multi layered, so every aspects of the society can’t be embodied in to one cinema; however there are many contemporary cinemas being produced which deals with many modern days Indian Society problems. He also mentioned that audience is always there to receive a well thought creation, so we shouldn’t worry about what will be accepted; rather focus on creating work that’s exemplary.

Lesson 3: Don’t Worry if your creation is different, or non-appealing to mainstream audience, there’s always an audience for every kind of creativity. Create Fearlessly

Mr. Kapoor’s interview ended with few more information about the new TV Serial format he will be introducing to Indian Audience soon by bringing Modern Family to the Indian Television later this year.

In Conversation with Lady in White Simi Garewal, was another beautiful experience listening to her in person is as pleasant as her famous TV Talk Show “Rendezvous with Simi Garewal”

I have to apologize to you for not having any video recordings of her talk, however you can listen to her interview on 774ABC Podcast for sure.

(Don’t you hate it when your phone storage is full at such occasions!!)

First time, I heard about her joining the Bollywood at the age of 15 after going on hunger strike to get permission from her Army Father to join the Film Industry. Bollywood was in its infancy stage then, but Ms. Garewal’s story was inspiring to see a 15 year old who came to Bombay (Mumbai) not knowing a soul there all the way from London to pursue her dreams. She only had 12months to prove her passion to her father and that passion with hard work certainly made her the Media powerhouse of the industry for past 50 years now. Ms. Garewal is one of the advisory Board Members for the IFFM who admires the passion, hard work and courage that Ms. Bhowmick-Lange shows in putting up such glamorous event for Indian Film Industry in Melbourne. Ms. Garewal says that she liked the journey of IFFM which grew steadily every year rather than a big flash of meteoroid that busted suddenly and died down soon…

Even the short conversation with Simi Garewal, taught me two things;

One, “If you believe in your dreams and have immense passion and hard work then you can achieve anything”

Secondly, “it’s important to grow your business / dream steadily rather than trying to achieved everything in your first year”

In conversation with Shoojit Sircar , young director who has given contemporary cinema hits like Piku , Vicki Donor and more…

Mr. Sircar is visiting Australia for the first time and he expressed how friendly and interactive WE the locals are! This started a short conversation about the strain on Australian and Indian relations following some bad experiences faced by international students few years ago. However, all three actors agreed to not having any prejudices or experiences about those media allegations during their visit.

John Faine, asked Mr. Sircar about his recent blockbuster movie Piku and how it’s different than the usual Bollywood Song Dance Movie.

Mr. Sircar, said that Piku movie has not a single song in the movie and revolves around father-daughter relationship, where the old father is selfish and the daughter’s life is tied to his.

John Faine asked ; if Indian movie goers have changed in recent years and are more receptive such out-of-box stories.

Mr.Sircar said that he realized that the audience is ready to try new concepts when his film about a sperm donor “Vicky Donor” turned out to be blockbuster hit. He created this film after being aware about the increasing infertility concerns amongst the urban population of India.

So he reiterated Mr.Kapoor’s thought “There’s an audience for every genre of work, as long as you are offering a masterpiece, they will receive it, applaud it”

Off-course, we can’t end this article before thanking the Marketing Team of ABC Radio Nat and Felicity, who gave us this opportunity to attend the event. Also, the tea and coffee with Most Yummiest Chocolate Cookies  offered after the event was an added bonus.

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