Vikramaditya Motwane on Queen 2 plans.
Vikramaditya Motwane was among the co-producers of Queen, which starred Kangana Ranaut in the lead and was released in 2014.
“In art we trust,” read the line on Vikramaditya Motwane’s T-shirt as he walked into the BKC store of Apple for a recent Today at Apple session. He was introduced by the host, mentioning some of his most prominent works – Lootera, Sacred Games, and Jubilee. However, Motwane wanted to avoid talking about the projects or the stars. He was here with a motive to share his love for filmmaking and he dived into it from the word go.
Through the close to two-hour session, you could see his passion for films and cameras not only in his words but in his eyes too. Motwane made the session a fun masterclass, taking us through his journey with Apple cameras and phones, his amateur works and even revisiting the first ever Apple ad made in India which he directed before he put everyone on task to make a short film using the phone at the store. “My dad got me my first Apple product,” Motwane told Showsha in a chat after the session.
“My father very sweetly bought it to me, and there used to be an Apple reseller called Tangerine. So, we got it from there and I had seen this director that I was working to use a Mac. It was very unusual,” he said.
Motwane revealed that he was the first person in his group to have a product from the brand and was proud to be the ‘original influencer’ of his group. “So, for me, (the session) felt like a homecoming, in the sense, being able to talk about (the usage of their products in the filmmaking) and like I said at the session, it felt good (to host the session),” he said.
As part of the session, Motwane not only presented his journey of becoming a filmmaker but also put attendees down to work. The guests were put in groups and asked to make a short film in 20-odd minutes. They were not only put on the duty to film their vision but also edit it as they go. Ask Motwane if he also prefers to edit his directorial work while he is filming, the director explained, “I’m actually thinking about my edit while I’m shooting itself so I have a sense of an edit in mind in my head when I was shooting. So I construct my shots accordingly. Post productions should take time, editing should take time. It should have a sense of comfort.”
Although Motwane has had his share of big screen work, be it in the role of producer or director, he has also been one of the first acclaimed filmmakers to explore the OTT platform before it blew up. Motwane was associated with Sacred Games which was released in 2018, much before OTT space was the IT thing. Five years on, the filmmaker has Motwane-backed Netflix projects Cargo, Ghoul, Decoupled and even directed AK vs AK and Jubilee.
Ask him how much the space has changed, Motwane explained, “I think there are changes for the better and changes to the worst. I think for the better, we are seeing that there is more diversity. We are seeing that there are many, many different kinds of shows being made, and that’s great. The fact that you can make, comedies and tragedies and and anything is great. I do think though that the ambition has been a little bit tempered off late.”
“My fear is that streaming is going to become what we call TV Plus. In the sense that it’s going to go back to trying to be as broad as possible, which is almost virtually impossible in a country like India. You can never be too broad. So my fear is that from the ambition you set up saying this is new and fresh and something for everybody might end up becoming everything for one person. I hope it doesn’t go there,” Motwane confessed.
Motwane has not released a big-screen feature film since 2018’s Bhavesh Joshi Superhero (as a director) and Manmarziyaan (as a co-producer). However, the films he has worked are still talked about, one of which is the 2014 release Queen. The film recently made headlines again courtesy Kangana Ranaut and Vikas Bahl. The filmmaker confirmed he is thinking of making Queen 2.
When we asked Motwane if he believes a sequel of Queen should be made, Motwane said he is ready to see it. However, on the condition that the story is good. “If it’s the right story then of course. It all depends on the story. The first Queen worked because it was a very magical story and premise. You’re up against it because you have to create that same magic all over again and that’s what is difficult. But, yes, if they can create that magic all over again, by all means,” he concluded the chat.
