MUMBAI: The students at Whistling Woods International had a master class with director and scriptwriter Sudhir Mishra, who is known for his movies like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Khoya Khoya Chand and Yeh Saali Zindagi. Mishra spoke about his experiences and also answered students’ queries.

Mishra started the master class by quoting one of Steven Spielberg’s famous lines, “If I don’t get nervous every time I walk to my set, I might as well quit film making.”

He explained that every time he looked back at films; he saw an unexpected factor to it.

When asked about how conscious he is in structuring his movies, he replied that he often rewrites his scripts and there are a lot of changes during the editing of the film as well.

On being asked about his perception on his own movies, he said, “People who did not like Khoya Khoya Chand, I assume, are dumb. Soha Ali Khan was not playing Meena Kumari. I wanted to project the Bollywood of the 50s. I was breaking the stereotypes.”

In the Q&A session with the students, he spoke about his journey as a filmmaker, which began at age of four. From watching a Dara Singh movie, to the movies of the Lucknowi Film Society, he fondly remembers every experience and he credits those movies for his foresight.

He talked about the funding of his films and how marketing movies has become very expensive. When asked about distribution, he said, “If you insist on doing what you want, it’s never easy.”

At the end of the session, Mishra’s parting advice to the students was, “When you’re acting, be yourself and do not be a mimic. You become different from others when you play yourself. You have to make films, which are more imaginative. It’s about the script and the idea.”