You can’t get trapped by people’s expectations: Raja Krishna Menon
Director Raja Krishna Menon’s last release, Airlift (2016) starring Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur was a critical and boxoffice success. After a year, Menon is back with his next film – Chef starring Saif Ali Khan, which is an adaptation of the Hollywood film by the same name. While he tasted success with Airlift, he says that he is not bogged down by expectations. “Success to me meant allowing myself to have the freedom to make films the way I want. That’s the greatest kind of gift I have got from success. If I start taking people’s expectations of me seriously, I will not be able to do my job properly. You can’t get trapped by people’s expectations,” says Raja.
The actor has had a fairly decent track record after working with with A-listers such as Akshay and Saif. How important is it to not overshoot the budgets when a big star is involved? “I have always believed that cinema is an expensive art and it’s the responsibility of the filmmakers to bring profit to everyone involved. Otherwise, you can go paint or write poetry. I have a lot of respect for producers because they’re taking a risk by putting their money into something that may or may not work. I try and make my films in the least amount of money possible without compromising on quality,” he says.
Talking about his films being made on a modest budget, he says, “Airlift was an extraordinarily small film and now Chef isn’t a big film at all. We shot Chef in 50 days like Airlift, and I believe these things matter because at the end of the day, you can at least be sure that you will be able to recover your money. I would be very worried if I made extravagant expenses on a film. The time has come for people who are involved in cinema to part take in the risk. Whether it is an actor or a director, there needs to be profit sharing. It’s unfair that someone should make a ton of money when someone else loses a ton of money. That seems unfair to me.”
Whether it is an actor or a director, there needs to be profit sharing. It’s unfair that someone should make a ton of money when someone else loses a ton of money. RAJA KRISHNA MENON, DIRECTOR